Oasis Masterplan album re-issue as rumours buzz over major reunion gig

Their envious following are never short of material and gossip and of course music as well. Recently I found Big Brother Recordings had issued The Masterplan (25th Anniversary Remastered Edition) on CD and as a double LP.

This was a compilation album from way back in 1998 consisting of ‘B’ sides of singles that never made it on to an album and now this remastered version would reactivate the interest and tide over any loose ends.

In all fairness any one of these tracks could have been a single in their own right among what was an overwhelming flood of Gallagher approval at that time. The Beatles’ I Am The Walrus was a recognised concert closer for them anyway and this version from the Cathouse in Glasgow from June 1994 has all the elements of the live experience. Fade Away is very typical Oasis, but did not fit on the Definitely Maybe album while Half A World Away found new audiences as the theme to The Royale Family on TV - rightly so too as its naked acoustic rhythm does not fit with their album of the day and in sharp contrast to the grinding guitars associated with the band.

Similarly, but with harmonies, Talk Tonight shows that every song has a story as written in Austin Texas after a disastrous show at the Whiskey A-Go-Go in Los Angeles. Acquiesce was written on the train which broke down on the way to Wales and appeared as an extra track on the massive Some Might Say single.

Perhaps a new generation will discover these sounds but note that fans have snapped all copies of the double green & black marbled LP edition but can console themselves with the still available CD version, at £12 while the original CD is still around at a bargain £8.