Tag: Trad rock

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Vinyl

Vinyl love: Oasis “Definitely maybe”

(Vinyl Love is a series of posts that quite simply lists, describes, and displays the pieces in my growing vinyl collection. You can bet that each record was given a spin during the drafting of each corresponding post.)

Artist: Oasis
Album Title: Definitely maybe
Year released: 1994
Details: Gatefold, double LP, original pressing

The skinny: A few weeks ago I posted about how purchasing Oasis’s b-sides compilation, “The masterplan”, completed* the Oasis section of my vinyl collection. So I thought I might spin and take pics of the rest of said section over the next few weeks. (Don’t worry, I don’t have everything they ever released, just the important pieces.) And as mentioned in the preamble to my record collection list, Oasis’s debut album, “Definitely maybe”, was one of two albums purchased by wife at a Greenwich Village street sale, effectively kick-starting my obsession with vinyl. Not coincidentally, it is also one of the only two used records in my collection. As your can see by the pics, the album’s sleeve is not perfect, yet in pretty good shape considering its age. However, the sound that comes from the discs’ grooves is immaculate. Victoria once told me that she wouldn’t be offended if I wanted to dump this record in favour of a new reissue but the thought has never crossed my mind. It already has that built-in sentiment because it came from her. And oh yeah, the album? In my opinion, it’s up there amongst the best debut albums ever.

Standout track: “Live forever”

* I say ‘completed’ but I might be tempted if I ever found certain EPs or singles on vinyl out there in the wild.

Categories
Vinyl

Vinyl love: Oasis “The masterplan”

(Vinyl Love is a series of posts that quite simply lists, describes, and displays the pieces in my growing vinyl collection. You can bet that each record was given a spin during the drafting of each corresponding post.)

Artist: Oasis
Album Title: The masterplan
Year released: 1998
Year reissued: 2016
Details: Gatefold, double LP, 180 gram

The skinny: So here’s one of my more recent purchases and having it pretty much completes my Oasis vinyl collection. Not that I have everything they ever released, but I think I have the ones now that really matter. When I brought the disc up to the counter at one of my favourite local shops, the clerk mentioned what a great album it was as he put it in the bag. To which, I agreed and commented on the fact that it was likely one of my favourite B-sides compilations ever. The clerk’s response: “It just speaks to how prolific they were at the time.” And he was so right. This amazing collection of songs were “throwaways” from the short period around the recording of just their first two records. It’s definitely worth a spin if you haven’t heard it and you love yourself a bit of early Oasis.

Standout track: “The masterplan”

Categories
Tunes

Best tunes of 2002: #28 The Jeevas “Once upon a time in America”

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Crispian Mills is the son of Walt Disney child actress (and Miss Bliss from “Saved by the Bell”), Hayley Mills. He also happens to be the frontman of a psychedelic pop rock outfit called Kula Shaker that came to prominence in the late 1990s. Like pretty much any band from England that had a vaguely alternative pop/rock sound at the time, Kula Shaker was lumped in under the BritPop umbrella. Mills split up the group after only two albums in 1999 with a mind of going it solo but finally re-formed the group in 2005 after a handful of unsuccessful musical endeavours.

The Jeevas was the closest project during this time that Mills had put together to find a sense a stability. Formed as a trio, with two former members of the band Straw, the group actually released two full-length albums in 2002 and 2003, matching the output of Kula Shaker by that point. They are largely forgotten these days, rightly or wrongly, but I always thought they had a few high moments that were worth mentioning at the beginning of the 21st century.

I couldn’t tell you now how I first heard of the group and came upon their debut album, “1-2-3-4”. I was definitely active in looking for new music on the internet in those days, by both new and old favourite bands. Living in North America, I never did hear a lot about Kula Shaker’s dissolution and since I loved their first two records, I was probably searching for news of the group and its frontman on the regular. I definitely remember recognizing the sound in The Jeevas’ music upon first listen. It was kind of like Kula Shaker but without all the traditional Indian instruments, a mimicking of psych rock of the 60s and 70s and Mills’ furthuring his Lennon-like vocals.

There was something about “Once upon a time in America” that stuck for me amongst rest of the songs on “1-2-3-4”. It just popped with all the energy of a live performance out in the hot sun. I’ve never really paid much attention to what Crispian Mills is singing about here but sometimes, that doesn’t necessarily matter. The guitars cavorted between crisply bouncy and messy noise, the drums pound and crash, and Mills just lays it out there. If these three ever made it big, this could’ve been their stadium anthem.

For the rest of the Best tunes of 2002 list, click here.