Review by Alex Totton
The Gallaghers are back and it would seem all is well in camp Oasis, for their long-awaited return has brought has a new sound to the party.
Don't Believe The Truth saunters into action with the jangling guitars of album opener Turn Up The Sun, which soon evolves into a thundering, archetypal Oasis song. Written by bassist Andy Bell, the opening line 'I carry madness, everywhere I go' seems to fit Liam perfectly.
As the first song on the album it's a statement of intent, a bridge from the recuperation of major personal and career blows that involved marriage break ups, band members coming and going, that performance at Glastonbury last year and two albums that were slated by most of the press, to a new future for Oasis that, hopefully, involves somewhat less turmoil than the previous set-up had incurred.
The democratic system they now work under, with each member of the band writing songs, reflects the refreshing sound that has been recaptured, the kind of thing that Noel made Liam make the whole world hear. By some way the most adventurous song on the album is older-Gallagher sung 'Mucky Fingers', audaciously stealing the same chugging melody from Velvet Underground's Waiting for the man, reworked into a plundering folky song that'll stay stuck in your head whether you like it or not.
Recent number 1 single 'Lyla' recalls the Rolling Stones 'Street fighting man' with great assurance of it ringing in your ears at least until the next time a new Oasis album comes out, whilst surprisingly accomplished 'Love like a bomb' shows that Liam truly does have a softer side to him.
Rumoured to be the next single The Importance Of Being Idle is possibly the highlight of the album; think Revolver/Dylan with moments of falsetto, not that Noel knew of his capabilities to reach notes that high. Fleeting, uncompromising, in-your-face are all words that can describe Liam Gallagher, all of which has been captured the one minute and forty-two seconds of The Meaning Of Soul'.
'Get out of my way/ yo man I dig what ya but that ain't enough alright,' he tells us and, with that said Elvis on red bull, as Noel likes to call it has rushed passed like a whirlwind. The third and final Liam-penned track Guess God Thinks I'm Abel charms us before hitting us with a wall of sound just as we think he's gone soft on us. Noel used to write songs about cigarettes & alcohol and starting a revolution from his bed, but maybe having kids and growing up has changed him more than we thought because he's now writing about buying a pint of milk on Part Of The Queue.
The Golden Brown melody is hard to resist as it drifts through telling us of the injustice of waiting in line for groceries, but despite that the song is definitely one you will be listening to again and again. A Bell Will Ring was first heard last year at the doomed Glastonbury set, initially not too well received but is now said to be Ringo Starr's favourite song off the album while Noel thinks that it's the closest anyone has ever got to Revolver.
Closing the album with the now standard flag-waver, Let There Be Love is a revamped version of a demo from 'SOTSOG' sessions originally called It's A Crime. With both brothers sharing the vocals it sounds like an unrecorded Lennon ballad, truly classis Oasis.
This is a very welcome album, Oasis without turmoil getting back to writing great songs and, with shared writing responsibilities, the benefits are likely to be seen for some years to come. Art-school rockers beware! The sleeping giants of rock & roll are back and wants their place back as the band that are under the fabric of British society.