The Royal Philharmonic's series of orchestral interpretations of pop music is of dubious merit -- no matter how good the source material is (
Beatles,
Dylan,
Prince), they are albums that were made strictly for their novelty value and Play the Music of Oasis is no exception. Recorded at the peak of the Mancunian quintet's fame, the record features surprisingly simple arrangments of such
Noel Gallagher classics as "Life Forever," "Some Might Say" and "Wonderwall." Instead of understanding
Gallagher's unstated maxim of bigger is better,
the Royal Philharmonic keeps things subdued when they really should have poured on the strings and added some off-hand, irreverant humor to make these songs sound larger than life. That said, the record still has some enjoyable moments, especially for diehard
Oasis fans, but on the whole, it's a missed opportunity.