
Oasis fans are buzzing after three long-lost and previously unheard tracks from the band's Be Here Now era were discovered on a DAT tape from 1998-just as the group continue their massive UK reunion tour. The tape, labelled simply "B-sides", was found by collector Kyle Dale and dates back to the time when Oasis were preparing to release All Around The World as a single. The songs, all performed by Noel Gallagher, include one track now dubbed I'm Alive, which has been described by Dale as "one of the best songs I've ever heard Noel write".
Kyle told the Oasis Podcast: "I just knew this was different. This tape just says B-sides. It said it was seven minutes long, but it's actually 55 minutes long. I know that this one was not in the archive. Noel has not got everything; he's lost more gold than we can even imagine. I can tell you right now this was lost for 20 years. I do believe it was lost for that amount of time."
One of the other tracks features a bridge section that would later appear on 2000's number-one hit Go Let It Out.
The tape also includes a cover of The Beatles' Tomorrow Never Knows and early versions of Street Fighting Man and Flashbax, which were used as B-sides back in the day.
Dale, who is part of the Oasis Collectors Group, played the songs to original guitarist Paul 'Bonehead' Arthurs, who is currently back on tour with the band.
"I played them to Bonehead and the story would be that Noel would record them on a tape and send them round the band and they would listen to them and go back to it," he explained.
"As soon as I played him one song he goes, 'Oh, I remember that one.' Next one, 'Never heard that before in my life.' I could tell Bonehead thought that was quite good.
"Third one - which is the one that we've called I'm Alive - he stopped what he was doing and listened to it. This is from 1997, this is the era."
He added: "To me, that is one of the best songs I've ever heard Noel write. It's amazing. When I heard it, that song there, I was like, 'F*****g hell.' It really hit me; it's like a time capsule. I'm Alive.
"If they put that out now, it would take off. People are harking back to the old days."
Despite being offered £20,000 for the tape, Kyle chose to return copies of the songs to Noel rather than sell them on. But fans hoping for an official release might be disappointed.
Speaking on The Matt Morgan Podcast, Noel revealed: "Yeah, he sent me a USB stick; he may as well have been sending me a f*****g microchip from the future.
"I don't know what he's expecting me to do with a USB stick. I haven't got a laptop. I haven't listened to the USB stick; it's still in the jiffy bag that he sent it in. If he wants me to listen to it, then he can put them on CD."
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