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Oasis "D'You Know What I Mean?" "Re-think"


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Old 22-07-2016, 18:03
Ollie_h19
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To launch the reissue of Be Here Now (which I liked!) Noel has revealed his reworking of their number 1 hit from 1997. Shops opened at midnight for people to buy the original!

The "re-think" features more prominent strings rather than the layered guitar tracks of the original version. I quite like it!

https://youtu.be/xKsT0Z6HW5k
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Old 22-07-2016, 20:47
divingbboy
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To launch the reissue of Be Here Now (which I liked!) Noel has revealed his reworking of their number 1 hit from 1997. Shops opened at midnight for people to buy the original!

The "re-think" features more prominent strings rather than the layered guitar tracks of the original version. I quite like it!

https://youtu.be/xKsT0Z6HW5k
It's a massive improvement on the original mix. And I say that as a big fan of 'Be Here Now' which is, admittedly, a bloated, OTT album. This track is basically 'D'You Know What I Mean?' with all the coke removed.
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Old 23-07-2016, 17:24
DRAGON LANCE
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I was a massive Oasis fan when I was young. When I heard Live Forever it was perhaps the song that turned me into the music obsessive I am today. Definitely Maybe inspired me to learn how to play guitar. Morning Glory took over the world and the B sides they did were phenomenal too. They really were the new Beatles and you thought this was just the beginning of one classic album after another.

Then they released Be Here Now and... oh... dear...

So this song. I bloody hated the original. And you know what... I LOVE this new version. Oh god why didn't they record it like this in the first place??? Why, why why??? The remake is awesome.

To be fair the Be Here Now album might have been a step down from their first two albums but it’s still got more decent songs on it than most of todays indie bands can muster. Thing I love with Oasis songs were they lent themselves to mass rock concert sing alongs but they just had grit to them too. Current wet anaemic middle class boy indie cannot compete on either song writing or the ballsy grit level. I'm looking at you Bastille.

Given what Noel has done with D'You Know What I Mean it will be interesting to hear the full reboot of the album and see if it deserves reappraisal.
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Old 23-07-2016, 20:33
divingbboy
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I was a massive Oasis fan when I was young. When I heard Live Forever it was perhaps the song that turned me into the music obsessive I am today. Definitely Maybe inspired me to learn how to play guitar. Morning Glory took over the world and the B sides they did were phenomenal too. They really were the new Beatles and you thought this was just the beginning of one classic album after another.

Then they released Be Here Now and... oh... dear...

So this song. I bloody hated the original. And you know what... I LOVE this new version. Oh god why didn't they record it like this in the first place??? Why, why why??? The remake is awesome.

To be fair the Be Here Now album might have been a step down from their first two albums but it’s still got more decent songs on it than most of todays indie bands can muster. Thing I love with Oasis songs were they lent themselves to mass rock concert sing alongs but they just had grit to them too. Current wet anaemic middle class boy indie cannot compete on either song writing or the ballsy grit level. I'm looking at you Bastille.

Given what Noel has done with D'You Know What I Mean it will be interesting to hear the full reboot of the album and see if it deserves reappraisal.
The songs on the album are mostly fantastic, in my opinion. The problem is the bloated, ridiculous production and lack of editing. It's a typical coke album, as Noel himself admits. It wasn't enough to have a couple of guitar overdubs on 'D'ya Know What I Mean?' No, he had to have fifty bloody guitar overdubs and lose any subtlety or charm. It's just bombast for the sake of bombast, and it's such a shame. Even a nice little tune like 'Stand By Me' is almost ruined by the ridiculously unnecessary production. I'm looking forward to the re-release.
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Old 24-07-2016, 03:25
spaceygal
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Be Here Now and Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants are my two least favourite Oasis albums but there are some great songs on both albums, this being one of them. I love the original but I agree with others that this is a big improvement on the original. It does sound less cluttered and it has a fresh, crisp sound to it. Much better production. So is the whole album reworked in this way? If so I'll definitely be giving it a listen and giving it another go.

I miss Oasis. Such a great band. So many people seemed to have given up on them by the time of Dig Out Your Soul, which I think is a great shame as they were still making great music. That album has some brilliant songs on it.
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Old 24-07-2016, 10:15
SaddlerSteve
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The problem with Be Here Now stemmed from the massive success of the previous 2 albums. Oasis were known for the "wall of sound" guitars and praised for it by the music press. I can imagine being coked up in the studio Noel thinking well I'll give them an even bigger "wall" and it'll be amazing. The album has some great songs but they're buried under the production.

What happened with Be Here Now then contributed to the low feeling follow up, Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants.

To be fair I don't think Oasis recovered properly till Don't Believe The Turth which was a really great album.
Dig Out Your Soul had potential but it's half great album, half filler.
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Old 24-07-2016, 10:25
SaddlerSteve
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So is the whole album reworked in this way? If so I'll definitely be giving it a listen and giving it another go.
It's the entire album being remastered.
Also there is a 3-disc version which has all the b-sides remastered, demos of unreleased songs, some live performances and the original Mustique demos of the album songs.
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Old 24-07-2016, 10:51
DRAGON LANCE
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Totally spot on comments from everybody above. And totally agree they got their Mojo back with Don't Believe The Truth- a very underrated album. I think there has been a huge hole in the indie rock world since their demise that has never been filled. Whether its because the talent isn't out there or because the corporate people moved onto wanting bands to be something blander safer and more Coldplay, they have never been replaced.
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Old 24-07-2016, 18:02
SaddlerSteve
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That's the problem with a lot of indie rock at the moment. It's all arty farty blandness.

The appeal of Oasis is they were a bunch of blokes from Manchester without any pretentious ideas and just playing tunes people could identify with.
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Old 24-07-2016, 20:23
roger_50
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This is, quite clearly, a big improvement. For the reasons already stated.

But I still feel Be Here Now was a massive step down in terms of songwriting and melody, compared to their first two albums - regardless of the silly overproduction. Noel ran out of juice by then, at least in terms of his god-tier level of the first 2 albums + associated b-sides.

After that, they really became a bits and pieces band. The odd standout track now and then but mostly a pale shadow of their former selves.

He can finetune the BHN tracks as much as he wants, but it'll always be a pretty mediocre bunch of songs overall.
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Old 24-07-2016, 20:53
Steven88
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Better but still too long.
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Old 24-07-2016, 21:44
SaddlerSteve
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This is, quite clearly, a big improvement. For the reasons already stated.

But I still feel Be Here Now was a massive step down in terms of songwriting and melody, compared to their first two albums - regardless of the silly overproduction. Noel ran out of juice by then, at least in terms of his god-tier level of the first 2 albums + associated b-sides.

After that, they really became a bits and pieces band. The odd standout track now and then but mostly a pale shadow of their former selves.

He can finetune the BHN tracks as much as he wants, but it'll always be a pretty mediocre bunch of songs overall.
I think song wise BHN is mostly still very good. There's only really Magic Pie and possibly Be Here Now that I don't like that much. Annoyingly there are B-sides on the 3 singles which would have been a lot better in their place.

And I think that is what continued to happen to most of the Oasis albums that followed (except DBTT). A lot of the better songs ended up residing as B-sides leaving half good albums.
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Old 24-07-2016, 22:02
SaddlerSteve
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Better but still too long.
That's actually a really good point. The production was a big put off but the length of the songs was also way too long.
Noel went mental adding in extra choruses and bridges not to mention the 3 key changes in All Around The World.

Out of the 12 tracks on the original album only 3 are below 5 minutes long and one of those is a 2 minute reprise. Most are 6-7 minutes long with one over 9 minutes.

The remaster of DYKWIM released appears to be exactly the same length as the original single (7:24). So no cuts have been made to it at all. But as this is a remaster of the album I wonder if that will be the same with all the tracks.
The original album version is about 20 seconds longer anyway as it has the plane landing sound so will be interesting to see if that remains.
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Old 25-07-2016, 01:25
spaceygal
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It's the entire album being remastered.
Also there is a 3-disc version which has all the b-sides remastered, demos of unreleased songs, some live performances and the original Mustique demos of the album songs.
But is the main album just being remastered (as in digitally restored/sound upgrade but the songs themselves aren't altered in any way) or actually REWORKED with new instrumentation and arrangements, like with this one song? The demos of unreleased songs will be cool to hear.
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Old 25-07-2016, 02:30
Apollo Creed
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I remember as a 14 year old waiting for this single for what seemed like decades. I never liked it at the time and was hugely disappointed but now I think the original song is one of their best songs. The complete epic nonsense of it is what makes it brilliant.

Not keen on the strings in the chorus here but you can actually here the bass which is good . The song itself has to go down as one the most anticipated songs in British music history. It was ridiculous how big Oasis were in 1997
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Old 25-07-2016, 02:35
Apollo Creed
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The songs on the album are mostly fantastic, in my opinion. The problem is the bloated, ridiculous production and lack of editing. It's a typical coke album, as Noel himself admits. It wasn't enough to have a couple of guitar overdubs on 'D'ya Know What I Mean?' No, he had to have fifty bloody guitar overdubs and lose any subtlety or charm. It's just bombast for the sake of bombast, and it's such a shame. Even a nice little tune like 'Stand By Me' is almost ruined by the ridiculously unnecessary production. I'm looking forward to the re-release.
Totally agree. The songs are good. Maybe as good as the stuff on Morning Glory but the production is outrageous
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Old 25-07-2016, 03:37
SaddlerSteve
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But is the main album just being remastered (as in digitally restored/sound upgrade but the songs themselves aren't altered in any way) or actually REWORKED with new instrumentation and arrangements, like with this one song? The demos of unreleased songs will be cool to hear.
I think it's all in the same vein as this track.
I also don't think there is any "new" instrumentation or arrangement on this song. I think a lot of the guitar tracks have just been quietened and some taken out. I'm guessing the string parts were already on the master tapes but were either too quiet and drowned out or just silenced when Noel and Owen decided against them in the mastering.
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Old 25-07-2016, 06:06
dee123
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Better but still too long.
Yes. Think has always been my problem, i like the song but 7 or 8 minutes or whatever the hell it is. No thanks.
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Old 25-07-2016, 09:19
SaddlerSteve
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Yes. Think has always been my problem, i like the song but 7 or 8 minutes or whatever the hell it is. No thanks.
I just noticed in the YouTube description there are quotes from Noel about remastering the song and he says that people always told him it was too long..... yet the remaster is exactly the same length as the original.

I just listened to the original and it does actually have the string parts. Loads of the guitars and sound effects have been taken off or lowered in the mix to make the strings
more prominent.
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Old 27-07-2016, 09:12
bryemycaz
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I remember as a 14 year old waiting for this single for what seemed like decades. I never liked it at the time and was hugely disappointed but now I think the original song is one of their best songs. The complete epic nonsense of it is what makes it brilliant.

Not keen on the strings in the chorus here but you can actually here the bass which is good . The song itself has to go down as one the most anticipated songs in British music history. It was ridiculous how big Oasis were in 1997

Yes it was certianly pretentious to put the albums release date as part of the album cover. Thursday August 21st 1997. I don't think any of the biggest albums in the world ever did that.

I still like the album though however Urban Hymns was the better album of 1997 thats for sure.

Subsequent albums have been hit and miss but I will admit to enjoying Heathen Chemistry it's better than Standing on The Shoulder.

I put the Oasis albums in this order

Definatly Maybe
What's The Story
The Masterplan (Yes It's a B sides compilation but makes a very good album)
Don't Believe The Truth
Heathen Chemistry
Dig Out Your Soul
Be Here Now
Standing on the Shoulder of Giants
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Old 27-07-2016, 17:26
SaddlerSteve
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Yes it was certianly pretentious to put the albums release date as part of the album cover. Thursday August 21st 1997. I don't think any of the biggest albums in the world ever did that.

I still like the album though however Urban Hymns was the better album of 1997 thats for sure.

Subsequent albums have been hit and miss but I will admit to enjoying Heathen Chemistry it's better than Standing on The Shoulder.

I put the Oasis albums in this order

Definatly Maybe
What's The Story
The Masterplan (Yes It's a B sides compilation but makes a very good album)
Don't Believe The Truth
Heathen Chemistry
Dig Out Your Soul
Be Here Now
Standing on the Shoulder of Giants
I'd agree with that although I'd swap HC and BHN round.

SOTSOG was just a byproduct of its time during the bands history. After the hype and overblown ambition of Be Here Now they went on a really long world tour to support it. Noel gave up drugs and started ridding himself of the hangers on. He got divorced. In the run up to the album Bonehead had a disagreement and left during recording swiftly followed by Guigsy. The recordings on that album were pretty much Noel, Liam and Alan White. It's no wonder it's a bit of a downer of an album. They also used a new producer who'd not been involved in the first 3 albums and a new artwork designer. Too much changed at once.

The album itself has a few good songs but it's not great as an album. For a start there's only 10 tracks. The first track is an instrumental which is quite good but then only leaves 9 tracks to make up the bulk of the album.

2 of the tracks (PYMWYMI and ICSAL) are just filler. Pub rock with rubbish lyrics. I'd go as far to say they are both some of the worst songs Noels ever written. Sunday Morning Call (although released as s single) is just dull.
Little James should have been relegated to a b-side at best but Noel decided because it was Liams first proper song that it should go on. You're left with 5 songs that are mostly melancholy in feel.

Annoyingly there are some good b-sides on the singles that could have made the album better and a few songs demoed which weren't released till later albums.
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Old 27-07-2016, 21:12
bryemycaz
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I'd agree with that although I'd swap HC and BHN round.

SOTSOG was just a byproduct of its time during the bands history. After the hype and overblown ambition of Be Here Now they went on a really long world tour to support it. Noel gave up drugs and started ridding himself of the hangers on. He got divorced. In the run up to the album Bonehead had a disagreement and left during recording swiftly followed by Guigsy. The recordings on that album were pretty much Noel, Liam and Alan White. It's no wonder it's a bit of a downer of an album. They also used a new producer who'd not been involved in the first 3 albums and a new artwork designer. Too much changed at once.

The album itself has a few good songs but it's not great as an album. For a start there's only 10 tracks. The first track is an instrumental which is quite good but then only leaves 9 tracks to make up the bulk of the album.

2 of the tracks (PYMWYMI and ICSAL) are just filler. Pub rock with rubbish lyrics. I'd go as far to say they are both some of the worst songs Noels ever written. Sunday Morning Call (although released as s single) is just dull.
Little James should have been relegated to a b-side at best but Noel decided because it was Liams first proper song that it should go on. You're left with 5 songs that are mostly melancholy in feel.

Annoyingly there are some good b-sides on the singles that could have made the album better and a few songs demoed which weren't released till later albums.
Yes the song Let's All Make Believe should have been on the album. One Way Road was another very good SOTS B side which could have replaced one of the weaker album tracks.
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Old 28-07-2016, 11:32
fruitloop27
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To launch the reissue of Be Here Now (which I liked!) Noel has revealed his reworking of their number 1 hit from 1997. Shops opened at midnight for people to buy the original!

The "re-think" features more prominent strings rather than the layered guitar tracks of the original version. I quite like it!

https://youtu.be/xKsT0Z6HW5k
I prefer the original. I like it's bombastic nature.
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Old 28-07-2016, 12:56
Entropy_Nebula
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Prefer the original.....there's only so much you can polish something. That's not to say I dislike DYKWIM, it's just there's not that much that can be done with it when he's left it the same length!!

I loved DYKWIM when it came out but for me the magic of the single was 'Stay Young' and 'Angel Child'. God the fight I had to get tickets for the Be Here Now tour.....saw them at Exeter and Wembley Arena in 1997.

I honestly quite like Be Here Now as an album (ignoring Magic Pie) as it was brilliantly written and as a then learning guitarist it was a great album to play along to. But I fully understand why people going from What's The Story would think it's tripe. I think being a superfan at the time I was already used to the massive over production they gradually built up on each single. Compare the Supersonic single with it's B-Sides such as Take Me Away and then with Wonderwall's ' B-Side Masterplan it was obvious Be Here Now was going to be massively over produced.

I have an unofficial bootleg CD which contains different mixes of the Be Here Now with a few of the singles thrown in. Some of the mixes for things like 'It's getting better man' sound much better stripped back. Also it contained the versions off the BBC documentary airing the day Be Here Now launched.

For me the demise was Standing on The Shoulder's of Giants. The music world had moved on and instantly Oasis sounded bloated and just lame tbh. Nu-metal/punk ska was coming in and it was almost a repeat of the anti 'rock band' (death of 'hair metal' shall we say) feel of grunge that preceded it ten years earlier. Kid's didn't want 3 minutes of intro, they wanted it given to them quick hence things like Blink 182 and Limp Bizkit went massive really quickly.

As a guitarist I thought NG was god back in 1997 but very quickly you learn he's appalling as a guitarist, the same tired cliched Minor Pentatonic solo in every song with just a few notes switched around. Great song writer though

After a massive obsession with them I just find them hard to listen to these days. I love the music but the words are just rhyming *&%^%$£s!!!
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Old 28-07-2016, 14:23
Rocketpop
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Crap version of a crap song off a crap album by a crap band.

Britpop would have been far more interesting if these dullards with their pub rock/football anthems hadn't hijacked it and spawned and even worse set of imitators (Embrace, Toploader & Ocean Color Scene....)
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