(What's the Story) Morning Glory?
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| (What's the Story) Morning Glory? | ||
| ||
| Studio album by Oasis | ||
| Released | October 2 1995 (UK) October 3 1995 (U.S.) | |
| Recorded | March - June 1995 at Rockfield Studios in Monmouth, Wales | |
| Genre | Rock/Britpop | |
| Length | 50:03 | |
| Label | Creation (UK) CRELP 189 (LP) CRECD 189 (CD) Big Brother (UK) RKIDLP007 (LP) RKIDCD007 (CD) Epic (U.S.) EK 67351 (CD) ES 67351 (SACD) | |
| Producer(s) | Owen Morris, Noel Gallagher | |
| Professional reviews | ||
|---|---|---|
| Oasis chronology | ||
| Definitely Maybe (1994) | (What's the Story) Morning Glory? (1995) | Be Here Now (1997)
|
(What's the Story) Morning Glory? is the highly acclaimed and award-winning second album by the English rock band Oasis, released in October 1995. The success of "Morning Glory" catapulted Oasis from a moderately successful Britpop band to a world of fame with a peak being reached in the spring and summer of 1996 with several massive open air concerts in the UK, which included two nights at Knebworth in front of a combined audience of 250,000 people.
The album, which was reportedly recorded in less than two weeks, contains arguably the band's two most famous songs, "Wonderwall" and "Don't Look Back in Anger, along with "Champagne Supernova" and their first UK #1 single, "Some Might Say".
The album went straight to #1 in the UK, selling 347,000 in its first week. The album spawned 4 Top 2 singles in the UK, two of which were #1s. The album sold over 20 million copies worldwide, including over 4.3 million copies in the UK, and is the third biggest-selling album in UK chart history. <ref>http://www.mirror.co.uk/northernireland/news/tm_method=full%26objectid=18104022%26siteid=94762-name_page.html</ref>
Contents |
[edit] The Battle of Britpop
For many people (What's the Story) Morning Glory? represents the epitome of the Britpop movement. The year before its release, Britain's two biggest bands, Blur and Oasis, had released massively successful albums and had begun making inroads in the United States. However, the two bands constantly attacked each other in the media.
Things came to a head when Oasis and Blur decided to release a single from their highly anticipated albums on the same day, August 14 1995. This event caused a media sensation that extended beyond the music industry to the point where the bands were regularly mentioned on the evening news.
The challenge was dubbed "The Battle of Britpop" and was considered a fight between the gritty, working class Oasis and the arty, middle class Blur. Blur's "Country House" single sold 274,000 copies to Oasis' 216,000 copies of "Roll With It".
However, in the end, Oasis' album (What's the Story) Morning Glory? was far more successful than Blur's The Great Escape. In the UK, it spent over three times as long on the charts (a total of three years) and outsold Blur's album fourteen times platinum compared with three times platinum. Oasis' album is hailed as the essence of Britpop for its impact on mainstream society, debt to 1960s music, and anthemic nature.
Despite often being cited as inferior to Oasis' début album by critics, in 1997 Morning Glory was named the 5th greatest album of all time in a 'Music of the Millennium' poll conducted by HMV, Channel 4, The Guardian and Classic FM. In 1998 Q magazine readers placed it at number 8, and in 2000 it achieved the same position in Q's list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. At the end of the 1990s, it was named Q's "Album of the Decade" in their "90 of the 90's" article. In 2003, the album was ranked number 376 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. In 2006, it was named the 5th greatest album of all time in a poll by NME and the book of British Hit Singles and Albums to commemorate 50 years of the UK Album Chart. Also in 2006, it was voted #13 in a poll conducted by BBC Radio 2 to celebrate 50 years of the chart.
The album has remained highly popular for almost a decade, returning to the UK album charts in May 2005 at number 50. By mid-June, it reached #44.
On the cover of the album, (designed and directed by Microdot's Brian Cannon) a man is seen brandishing what looks to be a vinyl record in its sleeve, it is in actual fact the master tape. The man in question is Owen Morris, the producer. The photo was taken on Berwick Street in Soho, a London street well known for its independent record shops. The other man is BBC London's very own Sean Rowley.
Also, perhaps as a joke, the first track on the album starts off with Wonderwall playing very quietly, but is stopped when the actual song, Hello begins. Perhaps, the joke would be that the listener would turn up the stereo loudly, thinking that he would have to do so in order to hear the album, and then have to quickly turn it down to avoid going deaf, an Owen Morris trademark. Morris used a similar tactic on The Verve's 1995 album A Northern Soul.
- "Wonderwall" (file info) — play in browser (beta)
- 25 second sample of "Wonderwall"
- Problems listening to the file? See media help.
- "Champagne Supernova" (file info) — play in browser (beta)
- 30 second sample of "Champagne Supernova"
- Problems listening to the file? See media help.
</div>
[edit] Track listing
- All tracks written by Noel Gallagher except where stated.
- "Hello" (Gallagher/Glitter/Leander) – 3:21
- "Roll With It" – 3:59
- "Wonderwall" – 4:18
- "Don't Look Back in Anger" – 4:48
- "Hey Now!" – 5:41
- (Untitled) – 0:44
- "Some Might Say" – 5:29
- "Cast No Shadow" – 4:51
- "She's Electric" – 3:40
- "Morning Glory" – 5:03
- (Untitled) – 0:39
- "Champagne Supernova" – 7:27
Note:
- The excerpts from 'The Swamp Song' are parts of the instrumental B-side to the Wonderwall single.
- The vinyl LP edition of the album features a bonus track, "Bonehead's Bank Holiday". This song appears as the 7th track on the album, immediately after the 44-second untitled track.
- Step Out had to be removed from the album at the last minute. The song, sung by Noel, was intended to have been the original track 8 (after Some Might Say and before Cast No Shadow), but was removed as the chorus was similar to the chorus of Stevie Wonder's 1965 track Uptight (Everything's Alright). Wonder's publishing company were alleged to have demanded a substantial amount of royalties from the album which Oasis weren't prepared to pay, so the track was removed, although not before the first promotional copies of the album had been released with Step Out included. The track was eventually released as a b-side on Oasis' 1996 single Don't Look Back In Anger, with an amended song writing credit of 'Gallagher / Wonder / Cosby / May,' and was included on the live album Familiar To Millions.
[edit] Singles
| Cover | Information |
|---|---|
| Some Might Say
|
| Roll With It
|
| Image:MorningGlory.jpg | Morning Glory (AUS only)
|
| Wonderwall
|
| Image:Uk dont look back lg.jpg | Don't Look Back in Anger
|
| Champagne Supernova (AUS only)
|
[edit] Personnel
- Liam Gallagher - vocals
- Noel Gallagher - lead Guitar, vocals, piano, co-producer, mellotron, E-bow
- Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs - rhythm guitar, mellotron, piano
- Paul McGuigan - bass guitar
- Alan White - drums, percussion
with
- Tony McCarroll also plays drums on Some Might Say
- Paul Weller contributes lead guitar and backing vocals to Champagne Supernova
[edit] Miscellanea
- The album reached #1 in the United Kingdom on 8 October where it only stayed for 1 week then again on 7 January where this time it stayed for 6 weeks and a finally 3 week stint starting on February 25 meaning it spent a total of 10 weeks on the top of the UK charts, and #4 in the United States, and has sold around 20 million copies worldwide. The album was confirmed in November 2006 to be the third biggest selling album of all time in the UK [1] and #62 amongst the biggest selling albums of all time [2].
- The title is said to have been inspired by a friend of Noel's who used the phrase during a telephone conversation. The phrase "Morning Glory" is British slang, referring to an erection experienced after waking up [3].
- The title is possibly inspired by the Gordon Lightfoot song Morning Glory which includes the line "What's the story, Morning Glory?", from his East of Midnight album.
- The title is further possibly explained by the pair's use of the hallucinogenic 'Morning Glory' seeds.
- The phrase "what's the story, morning glory" occurs as a lyric in the song "The Telephone Hour" from the 1960 Broadway musical Bye Bye Birdie. Not a likely inspiration for the Gallagher brothers, but perhaps the origin of the phrase itself.
- Hello, contains elements of Gary Glitter's Hello Hello I'm Back Again as Noel jokingly sings part of the song's chorus as the song begins to fade out.
- The untitled tracks are short excerpts of an instrumental track called The Swamp Song, which was later released as a b-side on the Wonderwall single. At the end of the first excerpt, just before Some Might Say starts, there is a short piece of hidden dialogue. If you reverse and speed this up by 100%, you'll hear Noel saying "Fuckin' 'ell". This is sampled from the demo for Some Might Say where Noel says "Fuckin' 'ell" just before the intro starts.
[edit] Chart info
In the U.S., Oasis enjoyed single success with Wonderwall peaking at #8 (with the single going Gold (500,000) as of November 2005). (What's the Story) Morning Glory? was the 2nd best-selling album of 1995 and 1996 in the UK and also was the biggest selling album of the decade with over-the-counter sales well over 4 million. "(What's the Story) Morning Glory?" was undoubtedly a critical and commercial success.[4]</small>.
To date the album has spent 376 weeks in the UK album charts , its last week in the UK charts was 16 September 2006.
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| |The Billboard 200 | 4 |
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | "Morning Glory" | Modern Rock Tracks | 24 |
| 1995 | "Wonderwall" | Mainstream Rock Tracks | 9 |
| 1995 | "Wonderwall" | Modern Rock Tracks | 1 |
| 1996 | "Champagne Supernova" | Adult Top 40 | 33 |
| 1996 | "Champagne Supernova" | Mainstream Rock Tracks | 8 |
| 1996 | "Champagne Supernova" | Modern Rock Tracks | 1 |
| 1996 | "Champagne Supernova" | Top 40 Mainstream | 10 |
| 1996 | "Don't Look Back in Anger" | Modern Rock Tracks | 10 |
| 1996 | "Don't Look Back in Anger" | The Billboard Hot 100 | 55 |
| 1996 | "Don't Look Back in Anger" | Top 40 Mainstream | 33 |
| 1996 | "Wonderwall" | Adult Top 40 | 30 |
| 1996 | "Wonderwall" | Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales | 17 |
| 1996 | "Wonderwall" | The Billboard Hot 100 | 8 |
| 1996 | "Wonderwall" | Top 40 Mainstream | 10 |
[edit] References
<references/>
| Oasis |
| Liam Gallagher | Noel Gallagher | Gem Archer | Andy Bell | Zak Starkey |
| Tony McCarroll | Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs | Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan | Alan White |
| Discography |
|---|
| Studio albums: Definitely Maybe | (What's the Story) Morning Glory? | Be Here Now | Standing on the Shoulder of Giants | Heathen Chemistry | Don't Believe the Truth |
| Compilations: The Masterplan | Stop the Clocks |
| DVDs: Live by the Sea | …There and Then | Familiar to Millions | Definitely Maybe – The DVD |
| Films: Lord Don't Slow Me Down |
| Related articles |
| The Rain | Britpop | Owen Morris | Creation Records | Big Brother | Awards and nominations |
et:(What's the Story) Morning Glory? es:(What's the Story) Morning Glory? fr:(What's the Story) Morning Glory? it:(What's the Story) Morning Glory? he:?What's The Story) Morning Glory) nl:(What's the story) Morning glory? ja:モーニング・グローリー no:(What's the Story) Morning Glory? pl:(What's the Story) Morning Glory? pt:(What's the Story) Morning Glory ? ru:(What's the Story) Morning Glory? fi:(What's the Story) Morning Glory? sv:(What's the Story) Morning Glory?
