A Sound So Very Loud: The Inside Story of Every Song Oasis Recorded

Music journalists Kessler (To Ease My Troubled Mind) and MacBain celebrate rock group Oasis with this enthusiastic if uneven analysis. Spanning from 1993 (two years after the band’s founding in Manchester, England, by brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher) to 2020, the account spotlights hits like 1996’s “supremely elegant” “Champagne Supernova,” and 1995’s “Wonderwall,” which, despite never reaching number one on British music charts, quickly achieved “cultural ubiquity” (though its popularity often frustrated the band—when the audience drowned out his rendition during one concert, Liam exclaimed, “I can’t fucking stand that fucking song!”). Also explored are the band’s “staggeringly strong” B-sides, including 1994’s “Listen Up,” and the brothers’ musical careers following the band’s 2009 breakup (Liam’s “hastily formed” Beady Eye fell apart in 2014 after two “commercially disappointing” albums). Interspersed between album analyses are anecdotes from the authors’ interviews with the band, which touch on their “cheeky” attitude toward the press, fondness for illegal substances (“The whole of the first three albums were written on drugs... That’s why they’re so good,” Noel once quipped), and the fraternal conflict that led to their breakup. Unfortunately, the interesting trivia and moments of perceptive insight are buried in clunky writing and hyperbolic comparisons to juggernauts like the Beatles and Queen. Only the most committed Oasis fans need apply. (Aug.)