Yahoo! Music Album Review

Released on 20/11/06
Label: Big Brother

If Christmas means compilation albums, then Oasis' first proper 'greatest hits' collection appears to be a gift from Scrooge. Featuring no new material, it bears all the hallmarks of a major label cash-in and only grudging input from the band themselves who have now left the corporate confines of SonyBMG - quite pointedly, the title "Stop The Clocks" refers to an unreleased Noel Gallagher song from 2003, which is presumably being squirreled away for a later, more worthy, occasion.

So, unloved it might be, but what about the music? Well, if anyone needed telling, there's a slight '60-ish - definitely, maybe - Beatlesy edge to proceedings. Fourteen of "Stop The Clocks"' 18 tracks are culled from Oasis' alka-seltzer sniffing Creation heyday, which is probably no bad thing. Their debut album's amalgamation of Noel's hook-laden magpie-eyed songwriting, Liam's electric vocal and a "one louder" approach to production retains the satisfying thump of a Joey Barton tackle.

At that point they were famished for success: "Slide Away" still soars stratospherically, "Rock'N'Roll Star" distils the frustration of life as an Inspiral Carpets roadie, and "Live Forever" is gloriously anthemic. Until the Arctic Monkeys, few other British bands have risked presenting themselves in such a raw unadulterated state. There are tender moments too, and with Noel dispensing such quality tracks as "Talk Tonight", "Half The World Away" and "The Masterplan" as b-sides, ten years ago he seemed a worthy successor to Weller and Morrissey & Marr.

But, as we all know, following the critically-panned but gazillion-selling "What's The Story (Morning Glory)", Oasis came crashing to Earth. Looking back, their creative high point was probably the flip-side to their first number one, "Some Might Say". The brutal twin guitar attack of "Acquiesce" (not a word you can imagine Gallagher Jnr uttering too often) was the Oasis manifesto writ large - an affirmation of brotherly love/hate, with Liam attacking the verse in a cocaine frenzy until the chords descend into Noel's soulful chorus.

Much celebrated for the gibberish of his lyrics, the sentiments here - "We need each other, we believe in one another, and I know we're gonna uncover, what's sleeping in our souls" - chip tears from the bone. After that, the wheels fell off completely. Liam's voice metamorphosised into a rasping parody ("shiiiiiine"), Noel ran out of other people's ideas, and Bonehead and Guigsy shuffled back to civvy street. "Lyla", "The Importance Of Being Idle", "Songbird" and "Go Let It Out" are the only evidence of Oasis' career since 1996 and, perhaps unsurprisingly, there's no room for the likes of "Magic Pie" and "Gas Panic!".

Ultimately then, this is a great music collection, but one with no relevance. The most important aspect of "Stop The Clocks" is not the hilariously brilliant swagger of "Cigarettes and Alcohol" or the stupid genius of "Champagne Supernova", but the fact that collections like this simply don't matter any more. For the retailers and record companies who have traditionally relied upon them, that's grave news indeed - but post-iTunes we can all compile our own version of Oasis' greatest hits thankyou very much.

    by Adam Webb