Shared Darkness

In their 14-year recording career, Oasis sold more than 70 million albums worldwide and helped spawn the “BritPop” movement of the 1990s. They also became almost as famous for the frequent intense squabbling and literal fisticuffs between brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher, the primary songwriter and lead singer of the band, respectively. As part of a series of re-mastered reissues of the group’s first three albums, and specifically to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their debut, Definitely Maybe, an hour-long documentary on its creation is now seeing wider release.

Oasis Definitely Maybe: The Documentary charts the crafting of the group’s smash hit freshman effort, in exhaustive if not quite comprehensive detail, if that makes sense. More to the point, director Dick Carruthers struggles with crafting a strong throughline; he seems to avoid the tough questions, and has trouble blending in extant material smoothly. Even though there was considerable tumult before, during and after the recording of the album (drummer Tony McCarroll would get the axe prior to the recording of the group’s follow-up), the film addresses these issues in scattered fashion. Credit is due for raising them at all, but the fact that the Gallaghers — who, notably, are interviewed separately — are largely unwilling to address them directly leaves one feeling that this is still a somewhat incomplete creative portrait, no matter the new slang for drugged-out intoxication (“cabbaged beyond all fucking belief”) it imparts. For the full, original review, from ShockYa, click here. (INGrooves Music Group, unrated, 58 minutes)