Oasis' Seven Studio Albums

With the release of Dig Out Your Soul last week, the British rock band Oasis has now released seven studio albums (along with the B-Sides collection The Masterplan.) In this article I'll give a short overview of each of those seven studio albums. If you are new to Oasis, you can use this article as a guide to which Oasis albums you'd like to buy first.

Oasis broke onto the UK scene in a big way with their debut album Definitely Maybe in 1994. Many music critics and Oasis fans still think Definitely Maybe is their best album to date. It's their only album where every song is sang by Liam Gallagher (Noel Gallagher sings at least one song on each album released since.)

With songs like "Rock 'n' Roll Star," "Columbia," "Supersonic," "Bring It On Down," & "Cigarettes and Alcohol" it's hard to argue against Definitely Maybe being the most "rock" of all Oasis albums. But while it's heavy on the rock, it also has some transcendent sing along (but still rocking) songs such as "Live Forever" & "Slide Away." Many Oasis fans still think "Live Forever" is the best song they've ever done.

They followed up with 1995's (What's the Story) Morning Glory? and it was an even bigger success commercially as it really broke the band big time in the United States behind the success of "Champagne Supernova," "Don't Look Back in Anger," and of course "Wonderwall."

"Wonderwall" is one of the most popular songs of the entire 1990s as shown by it's constant high rankings on the "most played tracks" charts on Last.FM even 13 years after it's release.

Besides those three hits the album also includes Oasis classics such as "Some Might Say," & "Cast No Shadow." If you're more into melodies than rock then Morning Glory? may be a better choice for you than Definitely Maybe (not that it doesn't also have some great melodies.)

1997's Be Here Now was considered by many to be a big disappointment at the time but I think it has aged pretty well. Now some of it's excesses seem kind of endearing although others sometimes not as much (particularly the fact that all of the songs are about two minutes too long.)

I still think "D'You Know What I Mean?" is one of the best songs Oasis has recorded. It's got a great psychedelic rock stomp. It's a direction I would have liked to see them go more towards. "Magic Pie," "Don't Go Away," & "Fade In-Out" are other highlights for me.

2000's Standing on the Shoulder of Giants is an album I liked a lot when it was first released as I felt it was an exciting new psychedelic turn for the band but unlike Be Here Now, I don't think it's aged as well.

That being said I am a big fan of the slow motion closer "Roll It Over" & the experimental (by Oasis standards) "Gas Panic!" I also think "Go Let It Out" & "Who Feels Love?" are underrated tracks.

I believe the band hit a low point (so far) with 2002's Heathen Chemistry. While it had a couple of decent songs like the opener "The Hindu Times" and Liam Gallagher's "Songbird" overall it's easily their worst album in my opinion. The ballads are too hokey and the rockers don't connect.

2005's Don't Believe the Truth was a return to form for the band. Songs like "Love Like A Bomb," "The Importance Of Being Idle," & "Guess God Thinks I'm Abel" along with the beautiful closer "Let There Be Love" make for a fantastic album that I think ranks up there with their '90s work in some ways.

And this year Oasis released their 7th album, Dig Out Your Soul. While Don't Believe the Truth was a return to form, Dig Out Your Soul is an advancement to a new sounds for Oasis. Every song (save maybe "Ain't Got Nothin'")sounds like a vital part of the album. Unlike most of their albums, there isn't much in the way of "obvious singles" on the album but in a way that makes it even better. It seems to just fit together as a whole. I highly recommend it if you are an Oasis fan and even if you are not.