No movement did more to dilute the majesty and power of rock's first few golden ages than first-wave early-'90s Britpop. Suffice to say that if it weren't for Oasis's populist revolution of the mid '90s, whereby coke replaced E and cocky bravado leapfrogged over melancholy shoegaze pillow fights, the present world would be even less rocking than it is now. But few bands have fallen as deeply as Oasis into the abyss of rock's black hole, and it's a mixed blessing that they have, with their last album and this new one, returned to the world of the living — while somehow managing to be one of the last great guitar bands still standing.
Even though we'll never get another "Slide Away" or "Columbia" out of these blokes, that doesn't detract from the relentless sonic assault of Dig Out Your Soul. The lyrics are garbage (of course), and the whole thing means nothing, but who cares? Opener "Bag It Up" starts innocuously enough, then overstays its welcome in the most glorious way imaginable, as if the band had decided mid-song to be carelessly psychedelic.
And what would an Oasis album be without blatant ripoffs? That "Bag It Up" makes lyrical reference to the Stones' "Monkey Man" and "Waiting for the Rapture" flagrantly swipes the Doors' "Five to One" fits in with the band's general pining- for-classic-rock æsthetic, but the rip of "It's Raining Men" on "Bag It Up" shows that these guys are getting loopier by the year, and thank God for that.
