cheers

thanks "man"
wld give you karma but I can't at the moment .. Peace

Indeed, with Sardy challenging them about whether they wanted to be good or great, he insisted they record in LA. "I was like, I'm not f**king recording in America. To me that's like the Death Star. Things always tend to blow up for us in America. But finally we said 'f**k it, let's give it a go, and anyway, if it falls apart again, it's another f**king chapter to the legend, isn't it?' Noel's awareness of his own legend - more amused that awed - is one of his most engaging characteristics.
As it was, the sessions were "an absolute breeze". "Dave was in charge," notes Noel. "Every single album we've done I've been co-producer, I've sat at the mixing desk with leads coming out my earholes while everyone would just turn up, do their thing and lounge around all day. It was really nice just to be back in the band, sit and take the piss out of the producer. It's something that, on paper, I wouldn't have done, but I kind of trusted Dave."
So are you becoming less of a control freak as you get older?
"Absolutely not." No hesitation.
But suddenly you're letting other people write songs (Gem Archer and Andy Bell write two songs apiece on the album; Liam contributes three).
"I take issue with that. I'm not magnanimously letting other people write songs. The songwriting door has always been open, but nobody gave a f**k until Andy and Gem joined and then Liam thought 'Well I'm not being left out'. Gem and Andy have now been in the band long enough, and they go to me, 'You're not playing it right - give it here'. On the last album they were kind of polite, but now it's back to the old days where you just grabbed the bass off Guigsy (former bassist Paul McGuigan) and said - psst - put the kettle on."
Did you used to play Guigsy's parts?
"All of them. But he wasn't fussed. Guigs will quite happily tell you that he was the f**king luckiest man in the world, but he was a mate and he supported Man City and he was in the band. He could play live 'cause that's all about the moment. But on record, if he couldn't do it, I played most of the stuff. Similarly, if you took Bonehead out of the mix you wouldn't notice. He was into having it, just partying hard. Whereas I was the brains almost, Bonehead and Guigs had the spirit of the band, which was 'If we can do it then anybody can'. And it's quite telling that when Bonehead left, Guigs soon followed, 'cause he knew that we'd get someone in who was the f**king b*****ks."
Do you think you lost that spirit when they left?
Rather than taking offence, Noel considers this carefully. "What was one supposed to do? Say right, well that's it then? It's not like Bonehead was writing all the songs, was it? Though I have no doubt in my mind if he ever had written a song it would have been f**king appalling." But then he's suddenly wistful. "I kind of miss them in a way, 'cause they were quite innocent of... they just listened to the music for what it was. Their opinions were quite pure. We can get a bit picky these days."
You're a more professional, well-oiled machine now.
"Professional?" he raises that monobrow. "Cancelling 12 gigs last year 'cause the singer's got his f**king teeth rolling round the bar in Germany, is that professional? Would you class Liam as professional? It's not a word that springs to mind - if we were playing word association and you go 'Liam Gallagher'..?
"It's kind of a paradox, 'cause although he's the guy who kicks the wheels off every six months, he's also the one who drives Oasis along. He's always the one on the phone, saying 'C'mon, let's get back to work. What do you mean you're going on holiday?' If it was down to me there'd be five years between records. I spent five years working on the songs for Definitely Maybe - that's why they're so good. And we followed up Morning Glory too quickly. That was when the real partying was at its peak and it was a token gesture making a record. Again, that's all part of the legend, isn't it?"
It's a rare quality to be able to be both self-critical and contentedly philosophical.
"Don't get me wrong, it's not like I don't enjoy it. I actually like being in a band with Liam. It's very amusing. And this summer I'm going to walk out on stage to 60,000 people regularly. Until you've experienced that you can forget f**king drugs. It's kind of what it must feel like before you get shot in a firing squad, but you don't get shot and then you fire back."
Of course, it's the Liam/Noel saga that's the motor of Oasis, and, on the new album, the flipside of Let There Be Love's apparent sibling harmony is Liam's Guess God Thinks I'm Abel. Until Liam put him right, Noel had thought it was Able. "Then I go, 'Hang on a minute. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Abel the righteous brother and Cain the evil, selfish wrongdoer? And doesn't Cain kill Abel?' and I was thinking that's quite weird. Until I realised that the first line of the song is, 'You could be my lover' and I thought, 'Oh man, I might have to go for a shower now'. That's certainly not f**king legal is it?" He shudders comically. "I've never listened to the song the same since."
Have you asked him about it?
"No! You can't speak to Liam about things like that."
They met a similar communication standstill over Noel's insistence on singing most of his own songs on the album.
"Well, I'm supposed to be the singer," Noel sneers, his impression of his brother so uncanny it's like Liam entering the room.
"Well, I'm supposed to be the songwriter."
"Well, I should be singing more."
"Well, I should be writing more songs."
[Noel apes Liam's aggressively confused pause] "So are you saying that if we stop writing songs I can start singing more songs?"
"Well, that's what it pretty much f**king boils down to, yeah."
Noel shrugs, "He does get the arse about it, but then he gets the arse about most things."
It's ironic, but then again fundamental to the Oasis legend that the one person Noel Gallagher cannot talk to is his own brother. As it is, Don't Believe The Truth - and especially Let There Be Love - is likely to find him talking to everyone else more directly than he has in almost a decade. Suddenly Oasis matter again.

cheers man!

thanks..one of the better pieces i've read in a while.

yeah good stuff