I finally got around to watching the 2016 documentary Oasis: Supersonic while on the flight home from Amsterdam. This account in Spin offers a solid summary.
The New Oasis Documentary Reminds You Why They Mattered, by Kyle McGovern
... The Gallagher brothers themselves—always entertaining interviews—are articulate and speak with self-awareness, reminding you how sneakily sharp they can be, despite regularly behaving like parodies of themselves in public. It really is a small miracle that Liam and Noel—now 44 and 49, respectively—both agreed to be involved with this project, coming aboard to executive produce and be questioned separately. Even more amazing is how warm they are when discussing the band they both anchored for nearly two decades. They each attempt to describe their dynamic—Noel says it’s as simple as the differences between a cat and a dog—but there’s virtually none of the pettiness and ugliness that’s hung over the brothers since Oasis imploded in 2009. No one’s torn down or compared to a potato, and their still-ongoing feud is merely alluded to, never addressed directly. (Of course, when Liam saw the film, he apparently couldn’t help but throw popcorn at the screen every time Noel appeared.)
There's not much to add. The documentary does not attain unflinching honesty, but warts are allowed to appear. The framing device of Oasis' 1996 shows at Knebworth is significant, because if there is any one "moral" to the story, it's that such a phenomenon won't be witnessed again.
Two-and-a-half million people applied for tickets
More than four per cent of the population applied for tickets to see Oasis at Knebworth, the largest ever demand for concert tickets in British history. A whopping 250,000 people got to see the band over two nights - another record - but incredibly, Oasis could have sold out another 18 Knebworth shows.
The conventional wisdom holds that Knebworth was the peak of the Oasis' trajectory; after two timeless classic albums -- Definitely Maybe (1994) and (What's the Story) Morning Glory (1995) -- and loads of hysteria, the band left the rails for good with Be Here Now, its third album, released in 1997, finally disintegrating in 2009 after another four workmanlike but hardly inspired releases.
But there is a worthy exception to this thinking. At the 1:25 mark of the trailer (above), a song can be heard that does not appear on either of the first two Oasis albums. It's the title track from The Masterplan (1998), a collection of B-sides and other songs recorded early in band's career, but not included on the two seminal LP releases.
In essence, The Masterplan functions as the third album of what should be viewed as a career-beginning tryptych. At AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine explains there was even more where The Masterplan came from.
For American audiences, the phenomenal worldwide success of Oasis was a little puzzling. That's because they only had part of the picture -- unless they were hardcore fans, they didn't hear nearly three albums of material released on B-sides and non-LP singles. Critics and fans alike claimed that the best of these B-sides were as strong as the best moments on the albums, and they were right.
None of the albums had a song that rocked as hard as "Fade Away" (cleverly built on a stolen melody from Wham!'s "Freedom"), "Headshrinker," or "Acquiesce." There was nothing as charming as the lite psychedelic pastiche "Underneath the Sky" or the Bacharach tribute "Going Nowhere"; there was nothing as affecting as Noel Gallagher's acoustic plea "Talk Tonight" or the minor-key, McCartney-esque "Rockin' Chair," nothing as epic as "The Masterplan."
Most bands wouldn't throw songs of this caliber away on B-sides, but Noel Gallagher followed the example of his heroes the Jam and the Smiths, who released singles where the B-sides rivaled the A-sides. This meant many American fans missed these songs, so to remedy this situation, Oasis released the B-sides compilation The Masterplan.
Oasis unfortunately chose to opt for a single disc of highlights instead of a complete double-disc set, which means a wealth of great songs -- "Take Me Away," "Whatever," "D'Yer Wanna Be a Spaceman?," "Round Are Way," "It's Better People," "Step Out," a raging cover of "Cum on Feel the Noize" -- are missing. But The Masterplan winds up quite enjoyable anyway. Apart from the sludgy instrumental "The Swamp Song," there isn't a weak track here, and the brilliant moments are essential not only for Oasis fans, but any casual follower of Britpop or post-grunge rock & roll.
If you're an Oasis fan and haven't viewed the documentary, or if you're indifferent to Brit Pop but have a taste for what now must be regarded as ancient history, consider watching it.
For better or worse, rock and roll simply isn't going to see another Oasis.
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