First things first...I am the sort of person who feels that it should be totally in the hands of the person purchasing music whether or not they wish to hear the songs beforehand. I could easily wait till the album actually comes out and hear the songs before I buy the record. So I don't have this mortal guilt about downloading songs before their release...I don't know if most of you folks realize it or not, but pretty much every single album that is released "leaks" before the official date. I feel bad that I spent so much time looking for a place to download the tracks, but whatever...

These tunes are overall quite catchy. I almost feel like these could be demos of the official versions (especially "Let There Be Love" - that keyboard sound is one they always reserved for demos and b-sides)...there are some definite weird aspects in the mixing that I'm not sure about.

I'm pretty damn stoked on "The Meaning of Soul" - its the most thorough performance of all the songs in terms of recording/production/mixing. Liam sounds really natural on there and the backing vocals/harmonica really put the song in a place that I haven't expected from this band since Be Here Now.

My biggest disappointment is Liam's voice...I haven't the slightest guess as to why, but he just isn't the vocalist he used to be. Well, I want to say that after I listen to "Let There Be Love" or the verse from "Keep the Dream Alive", but then he sings on "The Meaning of Soul" and the chorus of "Keep the Dream Alive" and it blows me away...so what is up with that? Theres just this really nasal, whiny intonation instead of the old sneer. The vocals are also mixed really high (which was one of my problems with the last album)...

I was also really put off by the drums at first - I listened to "Mucky Fingers" and "Meaning of Soul" first, and i thought noel decided to do shitty drums on everything (Which is what I thought about the drums on Lyla), but then the drums in "Keep the Dream Alive" kicked in and I felt a lot better.

I dunno - I can just hear how much better "Let There Be Love" could be with actual orchestration (it sounds like a synth) and a nice piano or better organ and Liam singing a bit better on the verse...Overall though, colour me impressed. Way better than Heathen Chemistry.