RARE CUTS: Oasis—The New Masterplan: 1997-2009

24 songs that didn't make the band's last five studio albums—but some of them definitely (maybe) should have.

“Oasis only made two great albums” is a statement you’ll hear over and over again. “Three if you include The Masterplan” they might add grudgingly. The fact that the band only played one song post-1997 in their recent comeback gigs (and only three post-1995) tends to feed into these ideas that they peaked early and were rubbish afterwards.

I’m not about to make a case for the respective merits of those other albums. That’s not what we’re here for. But what I will do is say that Oasis had plenty of great songs in the mix throughout their entire career. They just didn’t always seem to be the best judge of which ones should go on their albums, and many of these ended up essentially discarded on b-sides, Japanese bonus tracks, deluxe edition exclusives or just plain unreleased.

One of the smartest things the band ever did was release The Masterplan in 1998, because it not only gathered up a bunch of great b-sides, it secured those songs’ legacy for all time. Witness the fact that songs like Fade Away, Talk Tonight, Acquiesce, Half The World Away and The Masterplan were all played at their reunion gigs, and greeted like chart-topping hits. Six (including Whatever) of the 23-song set devoted to non-album tracks. How many other bands would/could do that?

But one the dumbest things the band ever did was not releasing a sequel to The Masterplan, like The Smiths did, when they followed 1984’s Hatful Of Hollow with The World Won’t Listen in 1987. Neither were studio albums, but both kept a stack of non-album tracks from falling through the cracks.

The fact is, a huge number of Oasis tracks fell through the cracks after 1997, and it baffles me that to this day the band has failed to capitalise and fashion another top class compilation in service of its legacy. But thanks to the wonders of streaming, and DIY playlisting, I can have a crack at imagining what such an album would contain, and how it would be best sequenced.

Without even trying, you can gather together dozens of tracks that didn’t feature on either the studio albums or The Masterplan. There are even more than that to draw from, but some are not currently available on streaming (for example, the Japanese bonus tracks on several of the albums are currently missing, and the deluxe Dig Out Your Soul ) also means a few songs cannot be included at this time. All are on YouTube (and I’ve popped a few in here out of interest), but let’s focus on the low hanging fruit and not get bogged down with all the bits and bobs or we’ll be here all year.

My instinct is to trim the fat. There’s no doubt throwing everything into the pot would be a pointless, exhausting exercise. The remit here is to imagine a double vinyl release, which gives us roughly 24 minutes per sides, so 96 minutes of the best non-album material Oasis put out. That affords us 24 songs, meaning we can eliminate several covers, live versions, remixes and sketchy demos that, while interesting, spoil the flow a little. Behold: The New Masterplan

The one I like to kick off a collection like this is the Noel-sung Lord Don’t Slow Me Down. Although technically a single—it was one of the very few that wasn’t attached to a studio album, and has always stuck me as one of the mightiest Oasis tunes of all, never mind the latter period. So much sass and energy, and some of the best production choices the band ever made. It sounds massive. Whenever people carp on about later period Oasis, I just want to play this at full volume and say “sorry mate, what was that?”

On a similar vein the charmingly titled Eyeball Tickler (b-side of Lyla) is another full-power rocker. Liam is on top form on this Gem Archer penned stormer, and the band really sound like they want a proper mosh to kick off. It sounds more like a single than most of their singles, so the fact it didn’t even make Don’t Believe The Truth beggars belief. Perhaps Noel wanted to avoid paying Gem a bigger slice of royalties…

The same may have also applied to another Gem Archer-penned number, the charming acoustic ditty The Quiet Ones—one of two classy b-sides to 2005’sThe Importance of Being Idle. Another, Pass Me Down The Wine, is notable for being one of the best songs Liam ever wrote for Oasis. I can imagine the arguments for not including these on DBTT were intense.

Don’t Believe The Truth was critically regarded as a real return to form at the time, and rightly so. It gets off to a blazing start with some of their best-ever tunes, but tails off in the second half—this track and Eyeball Tickler would have improved matters significantly. Again, when people slag off late period Oasis, it suggests they don’t know what they’re talking about. And as if to emphasise that point, the next track, Won’t Let You Down also makes a decent case for inclusion on that record. Again penned by Liam, he was in the form of his life songwriting wise, but inferior songs were picked instead. Songwriting democracy was in full swing, and it was no longer The Noel Show—but they arguably had too much to choose from. It does make our fantasy album rather good, though. Even the more-Lennon-than-Lennon Sittin’ Here In Silence On My Own (the b-side to Let There Be Love) is a decent throwaway. Certainly not a crowdpleaser, but one the hardcore will appreciate.

Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants from 2000 has a varied reputation, to be polite, but it also left a few better songs on the cutting room floor. I’ve always had a soft spot for (As Long As They’ve Got) Cigarettes In Hell. It’s one of Noel’s softer tunes, and he sings it in his crooning register particularly well. Surely this song would have fit perfectly on the latter stages of that album. It’s got pre-climactic end track written all over it—yet I bet everyone’s totally forgotten about it.

The SOTSOG album sessions weren’t brimming with b-side classics, but some more Noel-sung numbers feature, such as Sunday Morning Call flip side Carry Us All, a sort of sweet partner song to Little By Little. Another totally forgotten Noel-sung tune, One Way Road (lifted from Who Feels Love?) is nice to hear out of context, the type of swoony delicate number he could turn out in his sleep. Full On (also from Sunday Morning Call) is interesting in what a total departure it is from anything the band ever did, with its dark swampy vocals and punk glam stomp. Suffice to say they never returned to this style.

Be Here Now, meanwhile, is worthy of a feature all of its own regarding what happened with this album. Track choices. Production choices. Let’s just say it could and should have been better but for cocaine hubris. The band already used the sublime Going Nowhere and Stay Young on the original The Masterplan, and still managed to leave behind songs that bolster our fantasy The New Masterplan album. Chief of these is My Sister Lover, which has real swing to it, and has the required bombast and melodicism allied to a hooky chorus. I dare you to suggest it wouldn’t have improved the album.

Two Noel sung BHN session tracks, The Fame and Flashbax also have an easy confidence and charm about them that fit much more with the intent of BHN than resulted. (I Got) The Fever is a real nearly song, with a cracking chorus, but verses that are melodically far too close to Acquiesce for comfort—you feel that Noel could have easily reworked it into a classic, but it still has a period charm to it. I always wonder what Angel Child could have blossomed into had it made it past the demo stage. It’s place as a b-side was correct, though. It was never an A-list classic.

The Heathen Chemistry sessions, curiously, produced a disproportionate run of b-side ballads sung by Noel. Maybe that was the mode Noel found himself in at the time after a divorce, so we ended up with the plaintive piano-lead Idler’s Dream, the weary Just Getting Older alongside You’ve Got The Heart Of A Star and Shout It Out Loud. None of these are bad songs-per se, but next to the energetic rockers the band were famous for, you can probably guess why Liam did not sing them. Ironically, the most rocking b-side of this period was a rare Andy Bell composition Thank You For The Good Times, giving a fair approximation of the Some Might Say style.

Even right at the end of their studio career, there were still decent b-sides appearing if you could be bothered to seek them out. Liam’s The Boy With The Blues off the Dig Out Your Soul deluxe extra is a pleasingly psychedelic little number, with its Macca bass riff, and Beatles-tinged harmonies. Those Swollen Hand Blues from the excellent Falling Down single is another that probably sneaked under the radar for the vast majority of fans. Noel coos his way through another especially psychedelic tune—they were really onto something around that time, and I think people have forgotten how much the band’s sound had evolved.

After the band split in 2009, a steady drip feed of bits and bobs have leaked out since—early demos, different sessions (most notably the very interesting 1996 Mustique sessions for Be Here Now (on disk 3 of the deluxe edition), which was revealing in how it should have turned out) , and the odd genuinely unreleased track. Several songs written and demoed during the Oasis era ended up on Noel’s solo albums (e.g. the stunning Stop The Clocks and I Wanna Live In A Dream In My Record Machine), and no doubt most of Beady Eye’s output originated during those times as well. Since the advent of YouTube, many of these early Oasis-era versions have ended up uploaded, even if the band don’t wish for them to have an official release. However, one outtake, reportedly from a Hong Kong soundcheck of April 2009, the Noel-sung Don’t Stop, got officially issued (by Noel) in 2020, and sneaks onto our fantasy album.

So there you have it. 24 relatively unknown Oasis songs for fans old and new to immerse in. No covers. No acoustic sessions. 96 minutes of songs released from 1997 to 2009 as the perfect counterpart to The Masterplan, and a reminder that there is a lot more to the band than those celebrated early years. Perfect for double vinyl release for Record Store Day 2026. How about it, Liam and Noel?