The gargantuan success of Oasis’s second album, (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?, might have made its 1997 follow-up one of the most feverishly anticipated records of the ’90s, but chief songwriter, guitarist and sometime-singer Noel Gallagher wasn’t exactly cowed by the challenge. Instead, he set out to make a grandiose rock ’n’ roll record befitting of the Manchester five-piece’s new status. It had been a rapid elevation: Just three years after the release of their game-changing debut Definitely Maybe, Oasis were now one of the world’s biggest bands. No wonder the group felt like they’d earned the right to think big. A few months before sessions began in October 1996 at London’s Abbey Road Studios, a choice of location that hammered home how keen Oasis were to cement their reputation as The Beatles’ rightful heirs, Oasis had played two era-defining, record-breaking gigs at Knebworth House in Hertfordshire. They were on top of the world, and there was zero chance that they were going to follow up such monumental highs with a record that stripped things back. Be Here Now was all about making their sound bigger and more bombastic, aiming for anthems fit for the sort of band who played to 250,000 people in one weekend. The songs had come together a few months before that epochal summer. During some time off in Mustique, holed up in Mick Jagger’s pad, Noel was determined to work his way out of a period of writer’s block. He hit his stride to the point that …Morning Glory? producer Owen Morris joined him after two weeks, and the two laid down a series of demos with Noel playing all the instruments. The band would use those versions as a template while getting down to work in Abbey Road and then Surrey’s Ridge Farm Studio, where they decamped in order to escape the media attention they’d attracted at Abbey Road. The tabloids weren’t their only issue though: Recording sessions were clouded by rampant drug use, with a cocaine-addled Noel reaching a conclusion that everything needed to be as epic and colossal as possible. These were productions impossible to see to the bottom of, with a seemingly infinite layer of guitar overdubs coated over everything. Luckily, Noel’s sense of melodicism had not abandoned him. There are some songs on Be Here Now that might not have stood up on Definitely Maybe or (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? or even on their spotless B-sides collection The Masterplan—tracks never revisited by Oasis, or by Noel and his singer brother Liam in their respective solo careers. But there are also frequent moments of prime Oasis. The ballads here are some of their most sumptuous, from the orchestral sway of “Stand By Me” to the minor-chord splendour of “Don’t Go Away”, while lead single “D’You Know What I Mean?” was a moody, widescreen rocker that perfectly paired huge hooks with dynamic, deft sonics. On the rollicking title track—a glorious union of jagged guitars and surly vocals—they showed there was still no one to touch them when they clicked into gear. The song that best summed up where Oasis were at as they made Be Here Now, though, was a nine-minute monster near the album’s end. “All Around the World” had been written by Noel years before, pre-dating the band signing a record deal. Here it was retooled as their most ambitious cut yet, its tuneful, Beatles-y hook growing ever more potent with each key change, a surging string section lifting it skyward. Were Oasis put on this earth to deliver nine-minute ’60s pop psychedelia? Possibly not, but as a snapshot of a band working out where to go when you’ve reached the top, Be Here Now remains an enthralling, sometimes brilliant listen. Its success confirmed what everyone knew, especially the band themselves: This juggernaut was unstoppable. It became the fastest-selling album in British history and the biggest of 1997, while its entry at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart underlined the inroads they’d made on the other side of the Atlantic. But its success couldn’t mask the unease Noel Gallagher soon felt about his band’s third album. Next would come a rethink and a change in line-up. The first era of Oasis—the one where they took over the world—was coming to a close.