Never ones for subtlety, Oasis have ramped up the classic rock thefts to almost parodic proportions on their new album, Don't Believe the Truth, due out at the end of the month. Song titles such as "Lyla" and "Mucky Fingers" suggest that Noel Gallagher's sticky fingerprints can be found all over his Kinks' and Rolling Stones' LPs - bands in whose company Oasis would dearly love to belong.


Those songs they debuted oscillated between disappointment and brilliance. "Turn Up the Sun" droned along in a dull psychedelic fashion, terminating in a gormless guitar solo. "Mucky Fingers", sung by Noel, was a Velvet Underground pastiche that stubbornly failed to ignite. In contrast, "Lyla" and "The Meaning of Soul", the latter penned by Liam Gallagher, were lithe and electric, a throwback to hungrier days. As they've got older Noel's resemblance to a weathered Thunderbirds puppet has grown acute, while Liam's singing has coarsened into a sneering rasp. But the younger Gallagher remains a superb frontman, and delivered the songs with such arrogance that watching him it was possible, fleetingly, to forget that Oasis's self-belief outstrips their imagination. Tel 020 7434 9592


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