It’s National Album Day in the UK tomorrow, as I’m sure you all know. The anticipation on the streets of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is palpable. Everyone’s eager to hit play on those albums and find out what all the fuss is about. And now Oasis are getting in on the whole thing in the most perfect way. They’re celebrating the art of the LP by putting out a lyric video for a B-side.
Come on, people, what says ‘I love albums’ more than listening to a single track that was rejected from the tracklist of a long-player? I mean, to be fair, Oasis were always a pretty good B-sides band, back when such things existed.
The B-side in question is 'Listen Up’, which was released alongside ‘Cigarettes & Alcohol’ from the band’s 1994 debut album ‘Definitely Maybe’. It also features on their 1998 B-sides compilation ‘The Masterplan’, which is set to be re-issued to mark its 25th anniversary on 3 Nov. And a compilation is a bit like an album, isn’t it?
Anyway, this video will be exclusively available to stream on the National Album Day website from 10am tomorrow and for 24 hours only.
If you’re still thinking you might like to celebrate an actual Oasis album or two tomorrow, you’re in luck. Steve Wright is set to host a countdown of the UK’s top 40 most streamed albums of the 90s - this year’s National Album Day focussing on that particular decade - and the band’s first two albums ‘Definitely Maybe’ and ‘(What’s The Story) Morning Glory?’ have come out top. I won’t spoil the surprise by telling you which one was at number one.
“I’m THRILLED, but I wouldn't say I was that surprised that ‘(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?’ has been voted the most streamed album of the 90s - I still do have my faith in the taste of people in this country”, says Noel Gallagher. “I mean if you've got ‘Wonderwall’ and ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’ on an album, you're gonna be all right aren’t ya?”
Fuck’s sake, Noel. I thought we agreed we weren’t going to spoil the surprise? Also, I don’t think this was a public vote. That’s not really how deciding on the most streamed album works, is it? That’s not something you can have an opinion on.
Anyway, whatever, he’s started talking now, so we might as well let him finish. He goes on: “For certain people, it'll be bringing back memories of their youth in the 90s and that brilliantly amazing decade we all lived through, and then for the young people coming to it now, the songs deal with just the universal truths of life, and they will always be timeless”.
“You know, of love and loss and heartbreak and friendship and the weather”, he muses on. “All the universal things that we that we live through on a day-to-day basis that we don't really notice. So thanks to everybody”.
Anyway, this lyric video is going to be right here tomorrow from 10am. Don’t forget to stop listening to whatever album you’ve got playing so you can have a little look. Then later in the day, Steve Wright’s most-streamed albums of the 90s countdown will air on BBC Radio 2 from 1-3pm.