We are all familiar with Oasis’ smash hits from the 90’s: “Wonderwall,” “Champagne Supernova,” and “Don’t Look Back In Anger.” However, with the release of Oasis’ new album, “Dig Out Your Soul,” the band strays away from their normal ballads of lyrical and emotional melodies into a more Beatles-inspired, heavy-rock album.
Oasis’s seventh album arrives donning drum fills, a sample from John Lennon’s final radio interview, a tribute to “The Turning” from Dear Prudence, lyrical references to Lennon’s “Gimme Some Truth” and Ian MacDonald’s book “Revolution in the Head.” While many critics of the band have dubbed Oasis as “The Bogus Beatles” for supposedly stealing material from other artists, fans have supported the band in their attempt to draw inspiration from other pop culture and musical geniuses. The direct references to the Beatles are a refreshing tribute to Oasis’ source of inspiration; instead of just stealing the Beatles’ tunes, the band gives credit where credit is due.
One of the best songs on the CD, “I’m Outta Time,” features a sample of John Lennon’s final interview at the end. The song, a love ballad, draws on several key Lennonisms in its instrumentation. “I’m Outta Time” is such unique song in that it reshapes many sentiments of the 1960s counterculture movement into a more modern point of view. Similarly, the music video for “The Shock of Lightning” reproduces the concepts of the hippie era: the band is filmed in a way to mimic Andy Warhol’s painting of The Beatles. However, unlike the free-love, peaceful concepts during the ‘60s, Oasis puts a more modern twist on this music video by using darker images of a nuclear bomb, an exploding sun, and lightning bolts.
With the release of this new album, the band has embraced the growing free music culture by allowing fans to listen to their new album on MySpace on the site (www.myspace.com/oasis). Oasis has announced they will post this much-anticipated seventh studio album on social networking websites in an attempt to make their music available to more people.
The album is the follow-up to 2005’s “Don’t Believe the Truth,” which was a huge hit in the US and left fans wanting more from Oasis. The band’s three-year hiatus between the two albums was well worth the wait: “Dig Out Your Soul” offers a new sound and a greater depth to their loyal fans of the 90’s.
