The Masterplan

11/03/1998 3:00 AM, LAUNCH
Chris Morris

Every time I listen to Oasis, I have a hard time getting the image of the Bros. Gallagher drunkenly beating the living clay out of each other on Celebrity Death Match out of my mind. Yep, these boys are wankers, tosspots, and living, puking proof that being a Rock Star is a backdated, stupid, and useless idea, but they still manage to generally operate on an accomplished enough level that even collections of B-side detritus like this one may be classified without reservation as pretty damn fine. O.K., so there's nothing quite in the "Live Forever" pantheon here (one of the best songs of the last decade, that), but meaty 'toons like "Acquiesce," "Going Nowhere," "Half The World Away," and "Stay Young" deliver the anthemic goods. Even slop like the soundcheck jam "The Swamp Song" and that perennial encore "I Am The Walrus" skates by dint of sheer musculature. Sure, Liam and Noel are arrogant slobs and thieves to boot, but they steal from the best, and they know the road to Rockville.