Oasis Albums Not A Lost Cause

It's been said by Owen Morris himself that nothing can be done to improve the sound quality of the first few Oasis albums because all that compression/limiting is 'baked' into the multitrack tapes and thus can't be removed. But the truth is they actually can be made to sound better.

Consider the album version of "Champagne Supernova" and the Brendan Lynch Mix of the same song. The album version is brickwalled to hell. The Brendan Lynch mix (made directly from the multitrack tapes) has better dynamics. Here are screenshots of both waveforms at the exact same point during a very loud part of the song:

Album Version



Brendan Lynch Mix


The difference is not huge but it's certainly an improvement and it makes the song a lot more listenable. So if this track can be improved then every track on those early Oasis albums can be improved. But for that to happen new reduction mixes need to be made from the multitrack tapes.

If only Noel would agree to the idea. It's obvious that a helluva lot of fans would buy the improved versions thus adding a considerable amount of cash to Mr. Gallagher's bank account. He just needs to be convinced.

We need an engineer who could do these albums justice to get the ball rolling on this. Some great engineers are members and guests of this well-respected forum. Who's up for it?

 

It will never happen because Noel loves the sound of the albums

 

What'd make Oasis albums more listenable, and "Champagne Supernova" especially, is if they had better lyrics.

Lyrics like "Slowly walking down the hall/Faster than a cannonball" and "I'm gonna start a revolution from my bed/Cuz you said the brains I had went to my head" just make albums like Morning Glory unbearable to listen to.

 

Noel loves money even more. And the old versions will still be out there.

 

The 5.1 surround mix of the SACD is also much much less compressed than the original mix.

 

True but we need better sounding vinyl versions.

 

The oasis albums sounded great in a club or in the car on cd , absolutely belted out of the speakers

 

Good luck with that.

 

That's a great line, not everything in popular music needs to be placed alongside Verlaine or Rimbaud. If you arrive at Oasis nitpicking about lyrical content arguably you've missed the point.

'A whop bop-a-lu a whop bam boo' is one of my personal favourite lyrics.

'I am the egg man, goo goo g'joob' that's another good one.

Gertcha!

 

Wanting lyrics to otherwise great music that make sense and don't sound like their written by an adolescent isn't nitpicking, it's just common sense.

 

Ten posts and the thread is already off topic. The quality of Oasis lyrics is irrelevant to the idea of better SQ for these albums.

 

I’m not an Oasis fan by any stretch of the imagination, but I think the nonsensical lyrics are ok.

But then again, I’m a huge fan of KISS

If you think the cannonball and brains lyrics are bad, what would you make of ‘Put your hand in my pocket, grab on to my rocket’?

I love them, but I have often been accused of acting like a 12 year old.



I have the Morning Glory SACD, listening to a downmix of the surround version is a huge improvement on the sound. At the risk of being shot by most English people, I think the album is ok at best. Although ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’ is a brilliant track.

 

Ok.

 

Noel Gallagher has claimed that he wanted the songs to be so loud that they'd be heard above all the noise in a typical pub environment when played on jukeboxes so people would pay attention to them.

Owen Morris has claimed that he needed to overcompress everything in order to better hide the "inept playing by certain members" of the band" (thanks to forum resident wbhendrix for this info which he obtained directly from Morris and posted with permission in another thread).

So Noel and Owen share the blame 50-50 for the ridiculously bad SQ of Oasis albums. But these albums could be improved. They def could be made to sound better. It's just a lie to say otherwise. Morris has stated that the sound cannot be improved. That's actually not true.

 

I love the lyrics. They're completely meaningless, and are there because they sounded good to Noel. I'm just here for the music, I have plenty of other artists to turn to for super complex, deep lyrical stuff.


The 5.1 of Morning Glory proves there's some room for improvement if they went back to the multis. I wish they would.

 

Exactly. No sense in claiming otherwise as Owen Morris has done. Someone needs to push for this project to become a reality.

 

Yes, those John and Yoko albums are unbearable to listen to.

 

IIRC, the original vinyl versions of "Definitely Maybe" and "Morning Glory" are significantly less compressed than their corresponding original CD releases.

 

This could lead to the end of the Brick Walling Wars.

 

What's wrong with the original Creation pressings? Never had a problem with them.

 

Rock and Roll lyrics aren't supposed to make sense, they are just supposed to sound good. Unless, of course, you prefer the poetry of Jewel.

 

That waveform of the album version made me laugh!

Thanks for posting!

 

True. But my Creation vinyl pressings have too much surface noise.

I suppose I could pay Tom Port $200 each for his so-called Hot Stampers. But that's not really a solution to the problem. So many classic albums have now been remastered and sound superior to the original records. It's time for the early Oasis catalog to get the same treatment.

 

More proof that it can be done.