It was just meant to be played once, on that day.
December 3, 2016 7:21 AM   Subscribe

Noel Gallagher talks about the making of Be Here Now, and why D'You Know What I Mean? needed to be remixed.
"So you've got this huge desk the size of Bradford, you've got a tape machine which couldn't handle the amount of tracks so you had to get another tape machine. It's the only time I've ever seen it in the history of music... When we separated all a hundred guitars, all doing the same thing, and got the key elements, and then did that remix, it sounds amazing. You can actually hear the strings, the bass guitar, and you can actually hear everything."

When Britpop group Oasis released their third album Be Here Now back in 1997, they sold so many copies in the first week that it would take a full 18 years before Adele broke the record. For the 2016 reissue, Noel Gallagher took away the original tapes and started remixing. He got as far as the first single, D'You Know What I Mean? The video, featuring 2 real and many CGI Westland Lynx helicopters was also recut and reproduced for the HD age.

For best results, try the original co-produced by cocaine version first, followed by the remix. For bonus listening, try the 7 minute album version of the remix, or for the visually inclined, a handy side-by-side view of the two videos.
posted by Juso No Thankyou (25 comments total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
Cocaine's a hell of a drug. Allegedly Noel wanted to do the same thing for the first album, but the producer was a lot more in charge and just started deleting guitar tracks left right and centre.
posted by kersplunk at 7:59 AM on December 3, 2016


I kind of prefer the co-produced by cocaine version, myself. The remix sounds very Jeff Lynn-ish, where you are damned well going to hear every instrument used, equally and cleanly. The original has far more...Personality? Umph? Balls? Atmosphere?
posted by Thorzdad at 8:20 AM on December 3, 2016


It sounds like the older version is mixed and/or mastered with a bit more of an EQ "smile" than the new one. At lower volumes I think I prefer the older version but when I crank it on my studio monitors... it's not night and day to me, but I'm on the opposite side of Thorzdad on this one.
posted by tclark at 8:35 AM on December 3, 2016


I get why he wanted to remix it and it's gorgeous and rich but the original mix rocks harder. If this was the goal for the albums sound overall, it explains a lot. The rest of the album would benefit from this sort of remix since it sounds like sludge. The sludge just happens to work on this track.
posted by Joey Michaels at 8:43 AM on December 3, 2016


This sounds like a classic Noel track -- he wants the acoustic guitar and strings right in the mix, and he wants Liam's vocal buried farther down. It takes all the oomph out of it, though, because the original martial version matched the "ah fook, I come from a shite town, but I got my mates so it's fine, we're gonna party" theme of the lyrics.

So, it sounds beautiful, but it's a totally different song with this mix, it feels more melancholy, more resigned -- makes sense, now that Noel's an older gent.
posted by gsh at 8:53 AM on December 3, 2016


At lower volumes I think I prefer the older version but when I crank it on my studio monitors... it's not night and day to me...

I get that, and a part of me appreciates the clarity of the remix. But, when I crank the original up, it becomes a glorious roar with a fat bottom end, which is my ear candy sweet-spot. The remix is too flat for my taste. Instead of the EQ "smile", it's a straightline EQ "meh."
posted by Thorzdad at 8:55 AM on December 3, 2016 [1 favorite]


very Jeff Lynn-ish

I cringe every time I hear Free As a Bird.
posted by My Dad at 9:05 AM on December 3, 2016


It's the only time I've ever seen it in the history of music...

I suspect that Noel underestimates the number of things in the history of music that he's not seen.
posted by Grangousier at 9:13 AM on December 3, 2016 [9 favorites]


I suspect that Noel underestimates the number of things in the history of music that he's not seen.

I second that.
posted by nevercalm at 9:19 AM on December 3, 2016


That interview is hilarious. King of the Humblebrag is he.

Comparing the two versions, I was amusing myself by imagining the helicopter pilots in the video thinking "These wankers are worth how much? Do you realize how much training and skill it takes to fly one of these safely?"

That said, the original has a certain...well, basically what Thorzdad said above about how fat the original sounds.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 9:23 AM on December 3, 2016


Still awaiting a complete collection of the b-sides and non-LP tracks. Until then Oasis doesn't get a dime from me.
posted by Ber at 9:40 AM on December 3, 2016


Wow. I love hearing it like this, it's a different song, though the chorus especially seems a bit too stringsy; and it departs rather dramatically from the spirit of the original, which was 'oh, you can't hear anything but the electric guitar? why didn't you say so? in that case FUCK OFF.'

This was probably the first Oasis song I heard. I've listened to it about one hundred thousand times, not in total, just up 'til now. Thanks for posting.
posted by Sing Or Swim at 10:15 AM on December 3, 2016




Oh I really like the remix. That just sounds so much better.
posted by fshgrl at 10:40 AM on December 3, 2016 [1 favorite]


All me fookin videos are shite mate yt
posted by jcruelty at 10:33 AM on December 3 [1 favorite −] Favorite added! [!]


Nobody makes relentless negativity more fun than Noel Gallagher.
posted by klanawa at 10:52 AM on December 3, 2016 [2 favorites]


the chorus especially seems a bit too stringsy

I think it makes it more obvious that Noel was originally going for Kashmir part 2.
posted by kersplunk at 10:53 AM on December 3, 2016 [2 favorites]


Wait they aren't really playing through Marshall and Orange stacks outdoors with helicopters and just recording it on an iPhone?

Both mixes sound like week-old fruit salad to me.
posted by spitbull at 11:01 AM on December 3, 2016 [2 favorites]


You know what needed to be remixed? Wonderwall.
posted by koeselitz at 11:40 AM on December 3, 2016 [4 favorites]


ah fook, I come from a shite town, but I got my mates so it's fine, we're gonna party" theme of the lyrics.

So it's an Oasis song?
posted by atoxyl at 12:30 PM on December 3, 2016 [1 favorite]


First time I've hear either version. I prefer the remix. Fwiw. Which isn't much.

I like it. Will listen again.
posted by greermahoney at 1:21 PM on December 3, 2016


Jeez those strings are well upfront. Never mind the Lynxes, they should have CGI'd an orchestra into that burnt out building because the video makes absolutely no sense in relation to this mix.
posted by freya_lamb at 1:34 PM on December 3, 2016 [2 favorites]


The soup is what makes the original so awesome, sticking with what works.
posted by Cosine at 4:37 PM on December 3, 2016


Anyways, here's "Wonderwall".
posted by koavf at 12:15 AM on December 4, 2016


I'm on Team Coke as well. The sound and the gesture of it expresses the life they were in at the time, for better or worse, whereas the remix is just some music.
posted by Coda Tronca at 11:55 AM on December 4, 2016 [1 favorite]


I may be weird, in that Be Here Now is my favourite Oasis album, and I will defend it as a good album, even. Definitely Maybe and What's The Story can both go do one as far as I'm concerned, but Be Here Now can stay.

I'm looking forward to listening to the new mix, but am having a hard time imagining I'll prefer it.
posted by Dysk at 4:07 AM on December 5, 2016


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