Don't Look Back In Anger

Album review

Here's import EP number nine. On this EP, "Step Out" finally appears, sung with gusto by guitarist Noel Gallagher. It was originally recorded for the now blockbuster (What's the Story) Morning Glory?, but was deleted at the last minute because the digging chorus is (once again!) overtly burglarized, this time from Stevie Wonder's 1966 number three hit, "Uptight (Everything's Alright)." Perpetual thief Gallagher thus has to share the royalties with Wonder (and his co-writers Cosby and Moy). It's one of Gallagher's titillating fast ones in the manner of "Acquiesce" or "Morning Glory," as is the cover of U.K. glam legend Slade's "Cum on Feel the Noise" (a number one hit in Britain in 1973 that didn't even make the charts here, damn!). Oasis has well reclaimed this boisterous classic from the awful metal version by Quiet Riot (number five here in 1983, yuck!). In between, the stylish Mersey shuffle of "Underneath the Sky" is enticing, with a cool Liam Gallagher vocal. Most bands' singles can't match these ego-bloated, but always excellent, pop princes' supposed B-material.

© Jack Rabid /TiVo