Here is an excellent ‘live’ rendition of The Universal, from the BBC series Later with Jools Holland.

Blur – The Universal – Later with Jools Holland

Oasis – Wonderwall

Oasis were formed when Noel Gallagher joined the band that his younger brother was playing in at the time in 1991. The band originally consisted of Liam Gallagher (vocals), Paul Arthurs (guitar), Paul McGuigan (bass) and Tony McCarroll (drums).

Noel Gallagher provided the song writing skills and led the band into a new direction creating a simplistic musical approach of barre chords and basic drum patterns with the guitar amplifiers turned high enough to distort.

The band were ’spotted’ by Creation Records co-owner Alan McGee in 1993 and released their first single Supersonic in 1994. The single reached number 31 in the UK charts. This was followed by the release of Shakermaker and then Live Forever, the latter becoming their first top ten hit.

By the time the debut album Definitely Maybe was released in September 1994, the hype around the band was such that it entered the UK album chart at number one.

Commercial success followed in 1995 when the band released their second album (What’s The Story) Morning Glory, the album became the third best selling album of all time in the UK.

Some Might Say was the first single to be taken from the new album and it was to become their first UK number one single in April 1995. The Gallagher’s at this point replaced drummer Tony Carroll with Alan White just in time for the new drummer to debut on Top Of The Pops.

Don’t Look Back In Anger another excellent Oasis track also reached number one in the UK and Wonderwall almost repeating the feat, peaking at number two. For some reason unknown, Oasis or maybe their record company, decided not to release what was obviously the best track on an excellent album, the track that everyone was talking about was Champagne Supernova.

Perversely the track was released as a single in the USA where it reached number twenty on the billboard chart, and also I understand in Australia where I think it was a top ten hit.

This is a fantastic ‘live’ version of the song which sounds better than the recorded version. Oasis will be touring again later this year, if this whets your appetite then check out Oasis Tickets at Viagogo.

It’s a shame that Oasis didn’t get to do any of the festivals this year although maybe there is a chance yet. There are still some good ones to come and you can get Reading Festival Tickets, or if you prefer the reverse leg, Leeds Festival tickets from Viagogo now.

It borrows heavily on Bowies Boys Keep Swinging, but in fairness the song writing is credited to Blur/Bowie/Eno.

Blur – M.O.R.

The second album in 1994, which saw the departure of guitarist and joint songwriter Bernard Butler, before it was recorded, didn’t hit the same spot with the music press. Dog Man Star  was a darker deeper album than the first and competing directly with Blur and Oasis at the forefront of BritPop, Suede fell some way short.

The album did however contain their best song, in my opinion. The Wild Ones ,Butler and Brett Andersons finest, a fact that the singer is in agreeance with.

Suede – The Wild Ones