Oasis | B-sides

: Originally the B-side to "Cigarettes & Alcohol," this track features both Liam and Noel on vocals. It’s widely considered one of their most powerful anthems and is a staple of their live sets.

The band released , a 14-track compilation of their best B-sides. The album was an instant commercial and critical success. Many critics noted a harsh truth: The Masterplan was a vastly superior, more cohesive record than Be Here Now , serving as the true spiritual bridge between their first two albums.

A sweeping, orchestral epic complete with a horn section, backwards guitar solos, and some of Noel’s most philosophical lyrics. Noel Gallagher has openly stated that releasing "The Masterplan" as a B-side is the biggest mistake of his musical career, acknowledging it should have been a flagship single on a studio album.

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The legacy of Oasis B-sides is a testament to the fact that, for a few short years, Noel Gallagher's songwriting was so transcendent that he could afford to "waste" career-defining tracks on the flip sides of his singles. This embarrassment of riches has created a secondary musical universe for fans, one filled with anthems, ballads, and psychedelic journeys that are every bit as essential as the band's biggest hits. While the era of the physical B-side may be long gone, the music remains, a permanent monument to a band whose "cast-offs" were often more brilliant than most bands' greatest achievements.

: The B-side to "Whatever" and the iconic theme for The Royle Family .

This album misses later gems like Let's All Make Believe and Pass Me Down the Wine , but for the 1994-1997 era, it is perfect. : Originally the B-side to "Cigarettes & Alcohol,"

Furthermore, the music industry of the 1990s demanded a relentless release schedule. UK singles routinely required three or four tracks to qualify for the charts. Instead of hoarding his best work for future albums, Noel adopted a fearless, short-term philosophy: put the best songs out immediately.

Avoid "Flashbax" and "My Sister Lover" unless you are a completionist. They are the first signs of fatigue.

The legend of Oasis B-sides continues to grow, with lost material still being unearthed decades later. In a remarkable discovery in 2025, a collector named Kyle Dale found a long-lost DAT tape from the Be Here Now era simply labeled "B-sides". The tape contained three previously unheard Noel Gallagher demos. One track, tentatively titled "I'm Alive," was hailed by the collector as "one of the best songs I've ever heard Noel write" and described as a "time capsule" from 1997. This tape, along with covers of The Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows" and unused ideas that later evolved into the 2000 hit "Go Let It Out," confirms that even after The Masterplan , Noel's vaults still hold secrets. The album was an instant commercial and critical success

(Stand By Me, 1997) – A Burt Bacharach-inspired song that showed a more mature, jazz-influenced side of Noel.

A cynical look at aging, “Fade Away” features one of Oasis’s most infectious riffs. It’s a song about the fear of becoming "ordinary," delivered with extraordinary conviction. “Talk Tonight” (Some Might Say, 1995)

Instead, when it came time to record Be Here Now , Noel found himself creatively drained and facing severe writer's block. He was forced to pad out the album with over-produced, nine-minute songs because he had already spent his finest currency on the backs of singles. The subsequent decline of the Britpop movement was hastened by the fact that Oasis’s best songs of 1997-1998 were already sitting on fans' shelves from 1995. Legacy and Impact

In 1998, recognizing the staggering quality of their non-album material, Oasis released The Masterplan . This compilation album brought together 14 of their best B-sides. It remains one of the most celebrated collections in rock history, serving as definitive proof of the band’s depth.

In the 1990s, the UK music industry relied heavily on physical multi-track CD singles. To entice fans to buy a single, bands had to include two or three extra songs.