Is Liam Going Soft

Is Liam Going Soft - PROOF, if any were needed, that Liam Gallagher's wildman days are well and truly over.

The Champagne Supernova singer has been spotted enjoying a normal family holiday - on a luxury yacht off Mauritius, natch.

He even ditched the beers in favour of flutes of bubbly, canap?s and a smooch with his girlfriend Nicole Appleton. Ahh. Also with the 33-yearold Oasis frontman were his son Gene and mum Peggy on a holiday in the Indian Ocean. The boy's gone soft.

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Blast From The Past

Oasis Pictures From Sky Magazine March 1996

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Noel`s Local Wins A Battle

Noel`s Local Wins A Battle - British actress Helena Bonham Carter and boyfriend Tim Burton have lost a battle to stop the pub next to their London home opening late.

The pair wrote an angry letter to Camden Council after the The Sir Richard Steele pub applied for a later license, fearing the noise from late-night revellers would disturb their peace.

The letter read, "If the hours are extended we fear that our quality of living is going to be severely hampered by even later noise as, of course, you have to bear in mind that it does not just finish once the pub doors close but long, long after. "

But the request was ignored and the pub - popular with other famous locals including Ewan Mcgregor and Noel Gallagher - will be allowed to open until midnight.

There is one reprieve for the couple - who have a two year old son Billy - the pub's bid for a live music license failed.

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Definitely Maybe A Bad Call

Definitely Maybe A Bad Call - Even the Gallagher brothers would have to admit the album is not the greatest ever, writes Barry Divola.

LAST Saturday morning, the sky started filling with angry grey clouds, the wind began to roar and a thunderstorm threatened. I'd just read what 40,000 music fans had voted the greatest album of all time for the Guinness Book of British Hit Singles & Albums, so I assumed that on some astral plane, John Lennon had just made a cup of tea, started buttering his toast, put on his glasses and read it, too.

And he wasn't turning off his mind, relaxing and floating downstream. He was one angry (albeit dead) ex-Beatle.

The great unwashed had not come up with Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band or Revolver or The Beatles (better known as The White Album). They had not bestowed the honour on that other constant contender, Pet Sounds, by the Beach Boys. They hadn't grunged out (Nirvana's Nevermind), punked it up (the Clash's London Calling), taken it easy ( Hotel California by the Eagles), pretended to be cooler than they really were (Kraftwerk? The Velvet Underground?) or rigged it for a laugh (the Knack? Flock of Seagulls?).

They hadn't even played the "well, it sold by the skipload so it must be the best" card by awarding the medal to Michael Jackson's Thriller, Fleetwood Mac's Rumours, or something by Abba.

No, the greatest album of all time is apparently Oasis's Definitely Maybe. Presumably the entire poll was conducted outside pubs in Manchester and Bondi at closing time.

Definitely Maybe was definitely one of the 20 best albums of 1994. It was maybe one of the hundred best albums of the '90s. But even the Gallagher brothers, who are not renowned for their shyness when it comes to trumpeting their own worth, would have to hide their blushes and admit that calling their debut album the greatest of all time is a folly. Or, as Liam would have put it if Blur's Parklife had won, "total f---in' bollocks".

In fact, if you're weighing consistency, recognition, influence and just plain singalongability, Definitely Maybe isn't even the greatest Oasis album. It is full of swagger and vinegar and amazing confidence for a debut, and it does contain Rock 'n' Roll Star, Cigarettes and Alcohol and Live Forever. But the follow-up, 1995's (What's The Story) Morning Glory?, indisputably features their best-loved songs to this day - Don't Look Back In Anger, Some Might Say, Cast No Shadow, Champagne Supernova and every drunken Briton's national anthem, Wonderwall.

As for the band's longevity, their next album, 1997's Be Here Now, was a bloated monster of a thing that was the result of overblown egos and massive drug consumption. It is "the sound of a bunch of guys on coke in the studio not giving a f---". And that's not a critic talking - it's the opinion of Noel Gallagher. Still, Be Here Now is better than any of the three albums they've somehow squeezed out between arguments, sackings and divorces since then, despite the British music press cheerleading to the contrary with predictable and increasingly desperate calls of "return to form!"

Even Noel, in a rare moment of modesty, once admitted: "I pretty much summed up what I wanted to say in Rock 'n' Roll Star, Live Forever and Cigarettes and Alcohol. After that I'm repeating myself."

The Guinness World Records people also compile a more factual chart that lists the most successful artists of all time, based on how many weeks their singles and albums appeared in the British charts. Oasis comes in at No. 28 on that one. And sorry, but the Beatles only make it to No. 3. Elvis Presley tops the list, but No.2 is a real shock. It's not the Stones, not Madonna, not Michael Jackson, not U2, and not Elton John.

No, the second most successful artist of all time is Cliff Richard. What's even more frightening is the fact that his backing band, the Shadows, are at No. 7. No wonder people refer to the Guinness World Records. Suddenly I definitely (not maybe) feel like a stiff drink. And it's only 11 am.

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Top 100 Albums Of All Time

Top 100 Albums Of All Time - Oasis debut tops great albums poll - It epitomised the Britpop phenomenon more than 10 years ago - and now Definitely Maybe, the Oasis debut, has been named the Greatest Album of All Time.

The album, which featured hits such as Live Forever and Supersonic, pushed the Beatles' Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band into second place in the poll of more than 40,000 music fans.

Another Beatles album, Revolver, came third, followed by Radiohead's OK Computer, and another Oasis release (What's the Story) Morning Glory? in fifth place.Up the Bracket, the 2002 debut by Pete Doherty's former band The Libertines, is the newest album in the top 20 in 15th place.

Nirvana's Nevermind, in sixth place, and The Strokes' Is This It, in 20th place, are the only two bands from the US to make the top 20.

The Stone Roses' self-titled album is seventh followed by Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon, and The Smiths' The Queen Is Dead.

Radiohead's The Bends is next in the Top 100, followed by U2's The Joshua Tree.Definitely Maybe, which cost £85,000 to produce, was released on August 30 1994 and debuted at number one in the charts a week later.

The survey was organised by the book of British Hit Singles and Albums and NME.com and votes came from as far afield as New Zealand, Croatia and Colombia.Fans were given no pre-ordained list to chose from in the survey, to celebrate 50 years of the Official UK Albums Chart.

01. Definitely Maybe, Oasis

02. Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles

03. Revolver, The Beatles

04. OK Computer, Radiohead

05. (Whats The Story) Morning Glory?, Oasis

06. Nevermind, Nirvana

07. The Stone Roses, The Stone Roses

08. Dark Side Of The Moon, Pink Floyd

09. The Queen Is Dead, Smiths

10. The Bends, Radiohead

11. The Joshua Tree, U2

12. London Calling, The Clash

13. The Beatles (The White Album), The Beatles

14. Abbey Road, The Beatles

15. Up The Bracket, The Libertines

16. Never Mind The Bollocks Heres The Sex Pistols, Sex Pistols

17. Four Symbols (Led Zeppelin IV), Led Zeppelin

18. The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars, David Bowie

19. A Night At The Opera, Queen

20. Is This It, The Strokes

21. Hot Fuss, The Killers

22. Pet Sounds, The Beach Boys

23. Grace, Jeff Buckley

24. The Holy Bible, Manic Street Preachers

25. Bat Out Of Hell, MeatLoaf

26. Appetite For Destruction, Guns N Roses

27. Employment, Kaiser Chiefs

28. Rubber Soul, The Beatles

29. Rumours, Fleetwood Mac

30. The Libertines, The Libertines

31. Urban Hymns, The Verve

32. American Idiot, Green Day

33. A Rush Of Blood To The Head, Coldplay

34. Parklife, Blur

35. Thriller, Michael Jackson

36. The Wall, Pink Floyd

37. Automatic For The People, R.E.M.

38. Franz Ferdinand, Franz Ferdinand

39. Tubular Bells, Mike Oldfield

40. Achtung Baby, U2

41. Wish You Were Here, Pink Floyd

42. Exile On Main Street, The Rolling Stones

43. Bridge Over Troubled Water, Simon and Garfunkel

44. Led Zeppelin II, Led Zeppelin

45. Parallel Lines, Blondie

46. Brothers In Arms, Dire Straits

47. Blood On The Tracks, Bob Dylan

48. Hunky Dory, David Bowie

49. X&Y, Coldplay

50. Whos Next, The Who

51. Hopes And Fears, Keane

52. Parachutes, Coldplay

53. Arrival, Abba

54. Different Class, Pulp

55. The Velvet Underground & Nico, The Velvet Underground

56. Forever Changes, Love

57. Whats Going On, Marvin Gaye

58. Let It Bleed, The Rolling Stones

59. Elephant, The White Stripes

60. Doolittle, Pixies

61. Absolution, Muse

62. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Elton John

63. Sheer Heart Attack, Queen

64. Come On Over, Shania Twain

65. Sign o The Times, Prince

66. Ten, Pearl Jam

67. Kasabian, Kasabian

68. Dookie, Green Day

69. Origin Of Symmetry, Muse

70. Hounds Of Love, Kate Bush

71. Blonde On Blonde, Bob Dylan

72. All Mod Cons, The Jam

73. Blue, Joni Mitchell

74. White Blood Cells, The White Stripes

75. Dog Man Star, Suede

76. Metallica (the Black Album), Metallica

77. Dare!, Human League

78. Closer, Joy Division

79. In Utero, Nirvana

80. Back In Black, AC/DC

81. Funeral, Arcade Fire

82. Up All Night, Razorlight

83. Ray Of Light, Madonna

84. Born To Run, Bruce Springsteen

85. Physical Graffiti, Led Zeppelin

86. Whatever People Say I Am, Thats What Im Not, Arctic Monkeys

87. A Day At The Races, Queen

88. The Lexicon Of Love, ABC

89. Spice, Spice Girls

90. Violator, Depeche Mode

91. Final Straw, Snow Patrol

92. Electric Warrior, T. Rex

93. Jagged Little Pill, Alanis Morissette

94. Unknown Pleasures, Joy Division

95. Kid A, Radiohead

96. Out Of The Blue, Electric Light Orchestra

97. The Smiths, The Smiths

98. Electric Ladyland, Jimi Hendrix

99. Rage Against The Machine, Rage Against The Machine

100. Hotel California, Eagles

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