Be Here Now

Oasis | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 26, 1997)
• Original Release Date: August 26, 1997
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B000002C25
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MiniDisc  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (283 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #104,244 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. D'You Know What I Mean?

2. My Big Mouth

3. Magic Pie

4. Stand by Me

5. I Hope, I Think, I Know

6. The Girl in the Dirty Shirt

7. Fade In-Out

8. Don't Go Away

9. Be Here Now

10. All Around the World

11. It's Gettin' Better (Man!!)

12. All Around the World (Reprise)

Editorial Reviews

Cd in very good condition. Jewel case has a small cracks. Ships 1st class.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Walking slowly down the hall of fame, September 6, 2005

By 

W. M. Davidson (St. Louis, MO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Be Here Now (Audio CD)

Unbridled arrogance, excess, and obnoxiousness. Also known as, the essence of rock 'n' roll! This amazing album is larger, longer, and louder than life. It's almost too much to take in all at once; I can understand why so many people just can't get their heads around it. But give "Be Here Now" a chance and you will find smart songwriting, great melodies, and stellar musicianship. The arrogance is justified.

"D'You Know What I Mean?" is an absolute monster, a swaggering psychedelic epic so huge it leaves you almost too exhausted to continue. Definitely one of the coolest album openers ever and one of my personal all-time favorite songs. But that's just the beginning.

"My Big Mouth" is the sound of 24 blazing guitar tracks all turned up to 11, with drums and vocals fighting furiously to catch up for the 5-minute running time (and it's one of the shorter tracks!). "Magic Pie" is the album's second 7-minute epic, featuring a soaring chorus, an excellent Noel Gallagher vocal performance, and a long found-sound coda. "Stand by Me" and "I Hope, I Think, I Know" are anthemic stadium rockers that keep the adrenaline level high.

From here the album dips back into '60s psychedelia for "The Girl in the Dirty Shirt" and the epic (see how that word keeps coming up?) "Fade In-Out." "Don't Go Away" finally scales back the guitar pyrotechnics for some tender acoustic plucking and a beautiful, wistful melody backed by bombastic strings and horns. The title track, "All Around the World," and "It's Gettin' Better (Man!!)" return to blisteringly loud guitars and huge, anthemic choruses. Finally, "All Around the World (Reprise)" takes us out with an orchestral restatement of the song's outro and the sound of a door closing. (Between the song proper and the reprise, that's almost 12 minutes of "All Around the World." Wow.)

This record has certainly taken a beating over the years, but it really doesn't deserve the bad reputation. Take another listen to "Definitely Maybe" and "(What's the Story) Morning Glory?"-- isn't the bombast and brashness part of the charm? "Be Here Now" just takes that musical philosophy beyond the limits of common sense, to its lunatic extreme. Sometimes bigger actually is better, and "Be Here Now" is as big as rock music gets.

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars In retrospect, October 20, 2005

By 

Books & Music (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Be Here Now (Audio CD)

For a long time it was impossible for people to take an objective view of Oasis. They were either the greatest band in the world or a joke, depending on who you asked. I think grunge had trained a lot of people into thinking it wasn't cool to like partying, acting stupid, and just rocking --- which is really what Oasis were about. In this sense they were more like Guns n Roses than the Beatles. And just like GNR their career basically imploded following their third, bloated album.

But in retrospect "Be Here Now" was everything Oasis was meant to be from the beginning--- totally over the top. Like others here have mentioned, the reversal of critical opinion regarding "Be Here Now" was striking. Having ignored the first two Oasis albums (which turned out to be seminal), the music press rushed to proclaim "Be Here Now" a great album upon release. But the problem was that Oasis had fulfilled their destiny in becoming drugged out, over-produced, groupie shagging rock stars. Like many bands that were huge in Britain, Americans just didn't seem to get it. There was really no where left for Oasis to go. Opinion of the album accordingly shifted.

Having watched Oasis flounder with "Standing on the Shoulders of Giants" and "Heathen Chemistry," and regroup with this year's "Don't Believe the Truth," it's easier to judge "Be Here Now" in context. It's a sprawling, out of control record that has a life of its own.

I don't think any band could purposefully set out to make a record this audacious. "Be Here Now" is a product of a band that was too high and wrapped up in their own fame to believe they had limits. When you listen to it now it sounds overblown in the best way possible-- like T.Rex's "The Slider" or the "Use Your Illusion" records.

The sound is huge, arena rock. The songs last too long. The album as a whole lasts too long. The cover art is ridiculous. The lyrics are ridiculous. It's almost a parody. But beneath it all, the songs are good. It's loud. It sounds great when you're drunk. There are a couple of good ballads that might even cause the drunk girl next to you to drunkenly make-out with you. In short, this is what rock n roll is supposed to be.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Criminally underrated..., July 12, 2002

By 

"aowen" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Be Here Now (Audio CD)

When it was released, Be Here Now was greeted by rapturous reviews and unbelievable sales (885,000 copies sold in Britain that week, the equivalent of 4-5 million copies in a week here). Within a couple of months (largely due, in my opinion, to the comparative brilliance of OK Computer and Urban Hymns) Be Here Now was reviled as a cocaine excess and Oasis' short reign as the biggest group in the world was over. Oasis certainly has never recovered. But this is a great album, full of long, loud songs that never forget the importance of a great tune. Sure, the lyrics are naff but who cares when they're being sung by the best singer of his generation, Mr. Liam Gallagher (except for Magic Pie, a top song despite the absolute worst, most pretentious lyrics ever). I'm not going to go through the strengths and weaknesses of each song (others have done it better) but let me just point out three songs:
1. Do You Know What I Mean? A massive, massive song, the first new Oasis song to follow the trailblazing Morning Glory album. This song is so 1997 but still conjures up a feeling of companionship, the idea that we're all in this together. Just awesome.
2. Fade In-Out: Not everyone loves it but this song really is the missed opportunity for Oasis, their chance to truly become the Stone Roses of the nineties. But Oasis zigged when they should have zagged, going mellow when it was time to rock out. But at least we have this song. The scream three minutes into the song is one of the most exciting moments in rock and roll.
3. Don't Go Away: I'll never understand why this one didn't strike the same chord as Wonderwall. If it had gotten the airplay it deserved, this album wouldn't be considered such a flop. Beautiful with Liam's voice keeping it from being too sentimental (a problem in the last couple of Oasis albums where Noel's decided to take on more of the singing duties).