We've listened to The Masterplan remastered and Oasis never sounded better - release date and track listing

Oasis’ B-side compilation album ‘The Masterplan’ is to be remastered later this year. The album, first released in 1998, turns 25 this year and is a collection of the band's various B-side tracks which- up until 1998- hadn’t been included on albums. 

Definitely Maybe (1994), (What's the Story) Morning Glory? (1995) and Be Here Now (1997) were all released before ‘The Masterplan’. Albums after these went on to take Oasis further, but the 25th anniversary of the compilation album is without doubt one worth celebrating. 

For over an hour, this celebration of songs which Oasis didn’t think would cut it on a main record blows the mind. Opening up with Acquiesce, the B-side to the 1995 single ‘Some Might Say’ shows fans old and new the high calibre which the band had back in the mid 1990s. 

One of three B-side tracks on Oasis’ single ‘Wonderwall’, arguably their best known song, is sixth in the tracklist. ‘The Swamp Song’. The song has no lyrics, and is instead an ode to the slick guitar work and musical dominance of the band. 

A song which Oasis covered from Liverpool’s finest The Beatles has a prominent spot on the album, including the new remastered version. ‘I Am The Walrus’ is a psychedelic trip, and a live performance of it in Glasgow was put on the B-side of ‘Cigarettes and Alcohol’. 

‘Half the World Away’ feels a song which is significantly Manucian, and not just because of who wrote and sang it. The song has become known as the theme tune to the hit TV sitcom ‘The Royle Family’, is one which is no doubt many people’s favourite Oasis songs. Its strength comes from the powerful lyrics and clinical guitar work of the band. 

Few bands in the modern era can command such authority through the songs they release as singles. But the fact that few of those released by Oasis were seen as underwhelming is evidence that they were great at what they did. Oasis singles were eagerly anticipated, and the fact that the tracks on ‘The Masterplan’ weren’t initially selected for albums is an insight into the depth of quality Oasis had at their disposal. 

This collaboration of B-sides ends in an almost typically Oasis fashion, with the raucous classic rock of ‘Headshrinker’ being complimented by title track ‘The Masterplan’. The fusion of these two tracks is a timely reminder, on the 25th anniversary of this record, of the quality Oasis brought to the UK music scene for years. 

‘The Masterplan’ was released on the B-side of ‘Wonderwall’, making for surely one of Oasis’ better single releases back in the late 1990s. We may never see them together again on stage, but what Oasis gave to world music before disbanding is summed up in ‘The Masterplan’. 

On November 3, the 25th anniversary since the release of ‘The Masterplan’, fans will be able to get hold of new formats made available including CD, cream cassette and limited-edition double vinyl formats (heavyweight silver, green and black marble and black).

You can pre-order the limited edition reissue of the album by visiting Oasis music. 

Oasis – The Masterplan (Remastered Edition) – album track listing

01 Acquiesce (Remastered)

02 Underneath The Sky (Remastered)

03 Talk Tonight (Remastered)

04 Going Nowhere (Remastered)

05 Fade Away (Remastered)

06 The Swamp Song (Remastered)

07 I Am The Walrus – Live Glasgow Cathouse June ‘94 (Remastered)

08 Listen Up (Remastered)

09 Rockin' Chair (Remastered)

10 Half The World Away (Remastered)

11 (It's Good) To Be Free (Remastered)

12 Stay Young (Remastered)

13 Headshrinker (Remastered)

14 The Masterplan (Remastered)