Oasis return to past glory

By GRAHAM REID

(Herald Rating: * * * * * )

When Oasis, out of Manchester, started to gain momentum a decade ago one wag wrote to a Britrock magazine and said this was all very well, but they were dull to watch live: just hold a postcard of them at arm's length and move it about a bit, he said, and that's about it.

That was true but he forgot to factor in one thing, that they could also be thrilling.

We didn't see them at their best here but I caught them in Birmingham and they had me dancing like a demented chimp.

They delivered a brilliant debut album with Definitely Maybe. And despite them having lost momentum this past five years, the sheer head-rush of that career milestone comes back in all its glory with the Definitely Maybe 10th anniversary DVD which manages to stack in four hours of footage of interviews and live videos of every track.

From the opener Rock'n'Roll Star, Noel Gallagher nailed his colours up for all to hear: "I live my life in the city, there's no easy way out tonight, I'm a rock'n'roll star".

The interviews with former and current band members, Creation label boss Alan McGee, manager Marcus Russell, guitar techs and friends are illuminating: Noel saying that the line "we've seen things they'll never see" on the anthemic Live Forever encapsulated his relationship with brother Liam who comes off throughout as typically moronic, and a man of considerable head-butting charm.

The whole torturous process of recording the album is revealed, and there are alternative versions of the videos, clips from early live shows and from their television appearances. It's also a DVD that requires you to explore and discover hidden treats.

It is a reminder of the uncompromising, non-working class ethic which drove the band and the album. As manager Russell says of an album which had songs as connected with its audience as Cigarettes and Alcohol: "It personified what a lot of kids were feeling and thinking at that time."

And it still sounds a powerful and brilliant album of something as unfashionable as brainless, rocks-off rock'n'roll.

Label: Sony