Standing on the Shoulder of Giants

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This article is about the Oasis album. For the metaphor, see Standing on the shoulders of giants.
Standing on the Shoulder of Giants
Standing on the Shoulder of Giants cover
Studio album by Oasis
Released February 28, 2000 (UK)
February 29, 2000 (U.S.)
Recorded April–August 1999 in France (Chateau De La Colle Noire) and London, England (Olympic Studios, Supernova Heights, and Wheeler End Studios)
Genre Rock
Psychedelic rock
Britpop
Length 46:41
Label Big Brother, Epic
Producer Mark Stent, Noel Gallagher
Professional reviews
Oasis chronology
The Masterplan
(1998)		 Standing on the Shoulder of Giants
(2000)		 Familiar to Millions
(2000)
Singles from Standing on the Shoulder of Giants
  1. "Go Let It Out"
    Released: 7 February 2000
  2. "Who Feels Love?"
    Released: 17 April 2000
  3. "Sunday Morning Call"
    Released: 3 July 2000

Standing on the Shoulder of Giants is the fourth studio album by the English rock band Oasis, released on February 28, 2000. In 1999, the year preceding the final release of this album, Oasis had lost two founding members (Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs and Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan) and hired a new producer (Mark "Spike" Stent) to replace Owen Morris.

Songs such as the Indian-influenced "Who Feels Love?", the progressive "Gas Panic!" and the electronica "Go Let It Out" were a departure from the band's earlier style. The album was the sixth fastest selling album in UK chart history, selling over 310,000 copies in its first week.[citation needed] Despite becoming their fourth number one album in the UK, it is also the band's lowest-selling studio album, selling 3 million copies worldwide.

Contents

[edit] History

The album's title was taken from the words made famous by Sir Isaac Newton: "If I can see further than anyone else, it is only because I am standing on the shoulders of giants". Noel Gallagher saw the quote on the side of a £2 coin while in a pub and liked it so much he thought it would be a suitable name for Oasis' new album. He then wrote the name on the side of a cigarette packet while drunk. When he awoke in the morning, he realised he had written "Standing on the Shoulder of Giants". [1] Missing a letter, the album title is grammatically incorrect: it has the singular form of "shoulder" and the plural form of "giant". Due to the departure of Bonehead and Guigsy from the band while the album was still in production, their parts had to be re-recorded, for legal reasons.[citation needed] Thus, the album only features the Gallagher brothers and Alan White, and the sleeve of the album also features them.

[edit] Album cover

The album's artwork features the photo of New York skyline made from the rooftop of the Rockefeller Center. Some famous buildings can be seen here, for example the Empire State Building is seen in front and the WTC is seen in the back. This photo has a very special effect - it is impossible to say during what time of day it was shot. To achieve this effect, the photographer had to capture the same frame every half an hour in 18 hours during the whole day's course. Then the photos were digitally edited and united into the actual picture. No visual effects were used while creating it. All of the singles released from this album contained artwork that was based on the album artwork; the shot used for "Go Let It Out" can be seen above one of the buildings at the front.

[edit] Reception

The album received mixed reviews by the media. It was a darker album possibly reflecting the times, or perhaps reflecting the loss of two original members. But It was also seen by many as a change of direction, a more mature effort from the production to the lyrics and also a transitional period for the band after band members Bonehead and Guigsy had left halfway through the recording of the album. After the departures Noel was left to play lead, rhythm and bass guitar on the album.

After the dust had settled and some reflection critics and fans have said some of Oasis' best work was on the album with tracks "Go Let It Out", "Gas Panic!", "Sunday Morning Call" and "Roll It Over" being picked out as some of the band's best material . Noel has said, "Even though it wasn't our finest hour, it's a good album born through tough times. I worked harder on that album than anything before and anything since."

The album featured the debut of Liam Gallagher's songwritting skills with the song "Little James". Liam cited at the time that the inspiration for the song came from listening to John Lennon's "Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)" over and over again on a loop.

When Oasis released the single "Sunday Morning Call" many people cited it as proof the band was coming to an end, due to Liam and Noel falling out on tour and the fact that Liam does not feature on any of the songs on the single, even the B-sides, but this was quickly debunked by the band.

Q Magazine ranked Standing on the Shoulder of Giants 46th in their list of The 50 Worst Albums Ever.[2] Although magazine gave it 4/5 stars and the B-side to Go Let It Out, called "Lets All Make Believe" was featured in Q's top 500 lost tracks and said that if "Lets All Make Believe" were on the album "it probably would have carried the album to another star". This would mean that it would have earned 5/5, being a "Q Classic".

Although the album received lukewarm reviews, many Oasis fans rank this album high on their favorites list.

[edit] Track listing

All tracks written by Noel Gallagher, except where noted.

  1. "Fuckin' in the Bushes" – 3:21
  2. "Go Let It Out" – 4:41
  3. "Who Feels Love?" – 5:46
  4. "Put Yer Money Where Yer Mouth Is" – 4:29
  5. "Little James" (Liam Gallagher) – 4:17
  6. "Gas Panic!" – 6:10
  7. "Where Did It All Go Wrong?" – 4:29
  8. "Sunday Morning Call" – 5:15
  9. "I Can See a Liar" – 3:15
  10. "Roll It Over" – 6:31

[edit] Demos

A bootleg of demo sessions recorded for this album was leaked onto the internet in January 2000. Most of these songs were recorded by Noel Gallagher with the help of a couple of friends in his home studio at Supernova Heights and at Oasis' own Wheeler End Studios complex. All of the songs, apart from "Little James", were sung by Noel.

The track listing of the demo bootleg is:

  1. "Carry Us All"
  2. "Who Feels Love?"
  3. "Fuckin' in the Bushes"
  4. "Little James"
  5. "Gas Panic!"
  6. "Put Yer Money Where Yer Mouth Is"
  7. "Sunday Morning Call"
  8. "I Can See a Liar"
  9. "Go Let It Out"
  10. "Roll It Over"
  11. "Revolution Song"
  12. "Where Did It All Go Wrong?"
  13. "(As Long As They've Got) Cigarettes in Hell"
  14. "Just Getting Older"
  15. "Let There Be Love"

At the time of the leak, four songs ("Carry Us All", "Revolution Song", "Just Getting Older" and "Let There Be Love") were not scheduled for release on either the album or as B-sides on the new single "Go Let It Out". These songs were also completely undocumented, apart from "Revolution Song", which had been mentioned by author Paolo Hewitt in his 1999 book Forever the People — Six Months on the Road with Oasis. As such, these four songs had made-up titles based on commonly-repeated phrases mentioned in the songs. Whilst "Carry Us All" and "Just Getting Older" were correctly guessed, the other two tracks were given titles which, in time, would prove to be incorrect. "Revolution Song" was given the title "Solve My Mystery" and "Let There Be Love" was given the title "It's a Crime". "Let There Be Love" was released on Don't Believe the Truth. Because Noel mentioned in a February 23, 2000 interview with Melody Maker magazine that "Revolution Song" had been demoed — but not released because Blur had recently released a similar sounding song ("Tender") — it can be assumed that these titles are correct.

Currently, only one song ("Revolution Song") remains commercially unreleased.

[edit] Charts

[edit] Album

Information
"Go Let It Out"
"Who Feels Love?"
  • Released: April 17, 2000
  • Writer: Noel Gallagher
  • Producers: Oasis & Mark Stent
  • Chart positions: #4 (UK)
"Sunday Morning Call"
  • Released: July 3, 2000
  • Writer: Noel Gallagher
  • Producers: Oasis & Mark Stent
  • Chart positions: #4 (UK)
Year Chart Position
2000 The Billboard 200 24
2000 Billboard Top Canadian Albums 8
2000 Billboard Top Internet Albums 7
2000 Lista Top-40 (Finland) 4
2000 UK Album Chart 1

[edit] Singles

Year Single Chart Position
2000 "Go Let It Out" Billboard Modern Rock Tracks 14
2000 "Sunday Morning Call" Billboard Canadian Singles Chart 8

[edit] Release details

Country Date Label Format Catalog
United Kingdom February 28, 2000 Big Brother LP RKIDLP002
CD RKIDCD002
United States February 29, 2000 Epic Records CD EK63586 / 0 7464-63586-2 7

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Oasisnet "A Bum Title" which was also missing a letter due to him actually meaning to write "Album title Standing on the Shoulders of Giants. [1]
  2. ^ Q lists - page3
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Oasis
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