Oasis Greatest Hits Album Review - Time Flies

The UK’s biggest band finally imploded nearly a year ago on that fateful night in Paris. Since then, the focus has shifted to the Gallagher brothers’ first output without each other, with Liam’s ‘Beady Eye’ in the studio as we speak.

But before the predictable, and no doubt entertaining, chart sibling chart rivalry begins, ‘Time Flies – 1994-2009’ gives us a chance to remember them in their glory days.

Although a bloated collection of 27 songs we’ve all heard before is not exactly essential listening, ‘Time Flies’ does serve as the perfect ending to a musical career that kept us all enthralled for 15 years. From the early, swaggering sneer of ‘Supersonic’ through to the introspective maturity of ‘I’m Outta Time’, ‘Time Flies’ reminds us exactly why Oasis were considered the biggest, best and most influential band of the past 20 years.

Like all singles collections though, there are some that don’t quite hit the mark. Noel Gallagher has said the track-listing of ‘Time Flies’ was organised so as to represent a gig. But it seems more likely that they chose not to list the singles chronologically in order to avoid listeners switching off half-way through. Especially when they get to the drearier cuts from their ‘difficult period’, particularly the singles from ‘...Shoulders of Giants’ and ‘Heathen Chemistry’. In fairness, though, songs like ‘Stop Crying Your Heart Out’ are given a new lease of life when listened to in tandem with earlier classics like ‘Cigarettes and Alcohol’. And that’s the point of this singles retrospective. It’s a chance to listen to their most popular songs and remember the best of their musical output as a whole, without the headlines and the various career highs and lows to cloud the judgement.

Verdict: Although it may not be the most vital recent album release, ‘Time Flies’ still serves a purpose as a rewarding full-stop to the career of the biggest UK band of the last two decades.

8/10

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