Track Listing

1. Acquiesce
2. Underneath the sky
3. Talk tonight
4. Going nowhere
5. Fade away
6. The swamp song
7. I am the walrus (live)
8. Listen up
9. Rockin' chair
10. Half the world away
11. (it's good) to be free
12. Stay young
13. Headshrinker
14. The masterplan

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4583 in Music
• Released on: 2000-02-17
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
It's often the way of rock & roll--the accidental stuff you don't sweat over often turns out to be better than the supposedly generation-defining monolith you rupture your life to expel. So it was with Oasis and their third album, Be Here Now--soaked with sweat, it left Noel and Liam purple-faced with effort and stank like old egg sandwiches in a sock. Meanwhile The Masterplan--b-sides and live tracks--came out a year later and effortlessly reminded everyone why they'd liked the hairy brothers in the first place. "Acquiesce"--don't worry, they admitted they didn't know what the word meant, they just liked the sound of it--was the greatest single they never released: a huge, affirmative sibling bellow-fest that makes "D'You Know What I Mean?" sound like a polite old grandma coughing in comparison. The mournful "Rockin' Chair"--another "lost" Oasis classic, makes it onto here, along with a truly execrable live version of the Beatles' "I Am The Walrus", which actually sounds like they got a walrus to sing it, but no matter. The magic, so latterly absent in Oasis's career, is here in spades. --Caitlin Moran

CD Description
After proving their staying power with 1997's BE HERE NOW, Oasis culls together b-sides and tracks which were previously available only as imports in the US on THE MASTERPLAN. This aptly titled collection fleshes out the legend, going backto older b-sides like "Fade Away" and "(It's Good) To Be Free" and newer flip-sides like "Stay Young". Opening with explosive live favourite "Acquiesce", THE MASTERPLAN will satiate the rabid completist but, with tracks as powerful as the slow-building anthem "Half the World Away", it's also sure to convert any newcomers. The ambitious (though, truth be told, not surprising) live cover choice of "I Am The Walrus" rounds out this energetic, often unexpected chapter in the story of this modern pop phenomenon.

Customer Reviews

Truly some of Oasis' best ever work
While Oasis have often thrilled the world with their dynamic original album tracks, this collection of B-sides may stand the test of time better than even their first two albums.
It's been said a million times that Oasis throw away tracks that other bands could make a career from, and with this album it's easy to see why people believe it.
From the blustering rock of 'Fade Away' and 'Stay Young' to perennial acoustic favourites 'Talk Tonight,' 'Half the World Away' and the divine 'Masterplan' it's obvious that this is a band - and Noel in particular - are phenomenal.
The range of the selected 14 tunes is massive, as is the quality, with almost any track being good enough to sit on an album and, in many cases, far superior to tracks that have appeared on their five current studio releases.
Criminally, Round Are Way was passed over and ideally, the CD would also have D'Yer Wanna Be A Spaceman, Heroes, Cum On Feel the Noize and Step Out at the expense of the boring Swamp Song, overlong Listen Up, Headshrinker and lyrically weak Rockin' Chair.
However, the bonus is that Noel made sure one of his oldest songs 'Going Nowhere on a Train' made the final order and this is as good as anything Oasis will ever do. If you've never heard the sweeping orchestral number with Noel on lead vocals, it's worth picking this album up for that reason alone.

Fitting title
With three albums under their belt, two of them generation-definers but the third a flabby ego-booster, it didn't seem like Oasis were going anywhere fast. Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants was a later indication of just that, but before that came about they took the time to release this gem.

Probably the most important fact is that most of this stuff is pre-Be Here Now, pre superstardom. Acquiese was written on a train, (It's Good) To Be Free during a bad tour. There's a raw edge to this, partially present in Definitely Maybe and absolutely absent in Be Here Now. It's what's good about the Gallaghers in the first place, sadly an essense now lost. They would do well to rediscover it, and it's surprising that, after The Masterplan, they still didn't.

But that's the future. As it is, the album has some of Oasis' best songs. Ever. Acquiese is heroic to put it simply - a Noel/Liam duet, and all the more memorable for it. Talk Tonight is an acoustic Oasis legend, and gems like Half The World Away are as yet unbearably unreleased (though it made it as the themetune for The Royle Family). The title track is a major curiosity. Packing more power than Wonderwall ever could, it's a deep, string-laden Whatever of a song, yet with Noel's best lyrics (trust him to put them in a B-Side) and a fantastic vocal. Frankly it's a mystery to the world why on earth he kept this masterpiece a B-Side.

Still, stuff like Underneath the Sky and Going Nowhere (fantastic lyrics and a great Baccarac tune, there) are no less sophisticated. Fade Away and Headshrinker are really, really raw Oasis. Fast, hummable, fantastic. The Swamp Song may only be a warmup song, but it feels like an essense rather than a song - a masterful wallop of a tune, stomping along from start to finish. We could perhaps do without the unnecessary influence reminder that is the I Am The Walrus cover... yes, we KNOW you love the beatles, but how about you carve out your own name for a change rather than plugging them... but all is made well again with decent tunes Listen Up and Rockin' Chair. (It's Good) To Be Free is one of the less happy moments of the album, but it's still an accomplished one. Stay Young is loathed by the band, but poppy or not it's well written and cheerful... and quite irresistable: "Hey, stay young and invincible."

This is distilled Oasis, the band at their truest and best. No egos have tainted it, no Wonderwalls have gotten too much in the way. It sounds like a bunch of guys making music, with or without the money. And it's times like that I wish Live Forever and Wonderwall had never occured - maybe then we'd get a career of Masterplan albums. Alas that wasn't to be, and they continued on with their "we're great, you're not" attitude to everything. Any self respecting fan should have this, as it will pretty much explain what it is you see in the band. Easily on a par with Definitely Maybe, this could well be the best they've done.

Best Oasis album yet!
If you have heard Definitely Maybe, you will know what Oasis are capable of. This album is, in my opinion, better than Definitely Maybe. Aquiesce is one of the best first tracks of any album, except for Smells Like Teen Spirit. The last track, Masterplan, is the best Oasis song ever and, in my opinion, one of the best songs ever written. The chord sequences are fantastic, the choice of instruments is sublime. Noel's voice is much better suited to this style of music, which is why he sings it. This is the best Noel's voice gets except for Step Out on the Familiar to Millions CD. The album as a whole just fits together nicely to form one of the best albums on the market today. Buy it and you won't be disappointed.