www.xfm.co.uk/Article.asp?id=88539

Oasis 'Don't Believe The Truth'


As sure as spring follows winter, the release of a new Oasis album sees the Gallaghers adopting the same tactical approach to selling their wares: Liam comes out punching, kicking and swearing in his own unique, inimitable style as he delivers his State of the Musical Union address while Noel, slightly more pensive though no less acidic, will declare his current platter to be the Best Oasis Album In The World – Ever! before disowning it in the manner of someone who’s dropped a fart in a packed lift. Never mind believing the truth, it’s hard to believe in a band that doesn’t seem to believe in itself.


So it’s with a degree of trepidation that 'Don’t Believe The Truth' is approached. Unlike the stadium-packing behemoth that is U2, you never get the sense that Oasis keep their finger on the pulse, let alone switch on the radio. Whereas Bono and co. agonise over each release, making sure that it sounds in keeping with the times yet striving for timelessness, it’s difficult to shake the feeling that for Noel and Liam, music stopped being interesting in 1973. And yet, despite this, there’s a perceptible shift forward from the execrable 'Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants' and 'Heathen Chemistry' albums that finds Oasis in a rather interesting place.

Part of this is down to the presence of guitarist Gem Archer and bassist Andy Bell and for the first time in what seems an age, Oasis feel like a band again. With song writing duties split amongst the players, 'Don’t Believe The Truth' has the feel of a group effort even if not all of the material is as great as it thinks it is.

Predictably, 'Don’t Believe The Truth' is mired in the 1960s though with the Velvet Underground pastiche 'Mucky Fingers' Noel has at least broadened his musical tastes from the usual Beatles/Stones/Kinks/Who influences. But not by much; as the vaudevillian Kinks-ian romp of 'The Importance Of Being Idle' proves, Satan will be skating to work long before Noel considers an extended feedback-drenched workout chronicling the adventures of junkie transvestites. Elsewhere, the acoustic waltz of 'Part Of The Queue' offers a lightness of touch that seems positively adventurous for him though it’s impossible to take seriously his claim, “I’m having trouble just finding some soul in this town” when it’s the one thing that’s lacking from their music.

The same can be said of Liam’s yomping 'The Meaning Of Soul' though his 'Guess God Thinks I’m Abel' is the best of his song writing contributions thanks in part to his uncharacteristically restrained vocals and the pastoral acoustic backing of the band. Andy Bell’s 'Turn Up The Sun' is a tiresome retread of his Hurricane #1 when what’s called for is the kind of lush wig-outs that he delivered with Ride though he does redeem himself with the lighters-aloft 'Keep The Dream Alive'.

Best of all though, is Gem’s 'A Bell Will Ring'. Despite its reliance on the staple Oasis clichés of the sun shiiiiiiiiining on you and the obvious steal from The Beatles’ 'Tomorrow Never Knows', it’s nonetheless propelled by a sense of urgency and purpose that’s been missing from Oasis for far too long. So, with this in mind, is 'Don’t Believe The Truth' the best Oasis album since '(What’s The Story) Morning Glory?' No, that honour still lies with 'The Masterplan' but there is enough evidence contained in these here grooves to suggest that Oasis will at least move some distance away from being their own tribute act.

Julian Marszalek
Oasis 'Don't Believe The Truth' (Big Brother) Released May 30 2005.

CD Times


The new Oasis album has arrived. Rather than put together a coherent prose I thought I’d write out the notes I made on each track during my first listen, so here goes (see the side panel on the left for the track titles):

1 - A nice slice of psychedelia, with some good strings overlaid providing a nice sound and a good little intro to the album. The outro makes me think vaguely of 60s TV series with harpsichord playing (though we have electric guitar tinkling through this one).

2 - Velvet Underground rip-off and not in a particularly original way. Noel might as well sing "I'm...Waiting for my man" here. Frankly I'd expect better.

3 - 'The single' actually sounding the most original thing so far. Personally I love the intro and it doesn't particularly remind me of Street Fightin' Man, but the main song's a bit dull. There seems to be an extended outro I don't remember from the radio that's pure Beatles rip-off with piano and other overdubs.

4 - Liam's song has a nice rhythm and is short but please: less of the Lennon vocal effects. Nothing special. Ho hum.

5 - Noel seems to have been getting lessons from Supergrass' Gaz on this one. It's a chirpy jangly number that basically sounds like an offcut from 'In It for the Money' with its 'Late in the Day' style.

6 - Liam gives us the best song of the album shocker. No really. 100 seconds of simple driving rhythm that is around just long enough for us to enjoy it but gets the hell out before it outstays its welcome

7 - Liam again with a simple song that spends the last 30 seconds doing something odd. Actually, depsite some fairly duff lyrics its simplicity is its biggest draw and though it's nothing special, it doesn't nag at me and remind me of another, better track.

8 - Unfortunately we fall back again here with a track that appears to be a total rip off of Golden Brown in an echo chamber with a depressing tilt. Some nice effects in the solo, though, and it's good to not hear a standard boring solo.

9 - Strangely, Andy Bell gives us probably the most 'Oasis' tune of the album, and I mean that in the worst, ‘Be Here Now’ senses of the word. It's long, it's a big Beatles rip off (melody, drum beat, Lennon-esque vocals) and drags and drags. Turgid is the word, I think.

10 - Or did I speak to soon. Gem's only solo effort on the album is at least shorter than Bell's 'Keep the Dream Alive' but it still sounds like someone who's been listening to Rubber Soul a lot.

11 - A 'slowy': often a one way trip to boredom, especially when the chord progression was old twenty years ago. The chorus melody is reminiscent of 'Slide Away', unfortunate given this isn't as good. There's a Noel vs. Liam vocal which might have worked if Liam wasn't still opting for delay-ridden Lennon, while Noel goes for breathy deadness, making it sound like they're on two totally different records. It builds slightly in the middle then gives up and goes back to the quiet stuff of the opening then building a second time with strings and all. But unlike (say) Champagne Supernova it just doesn't really ever get going. Too produced to be the 'simple' ender, too dull to be a 'big' closer.

I have to say I like the booklet. It’s simple with the lyrics to each song done in the same style as a photograph of a poster sort of thing, one a page, and pictures of the four members inside front and back. I note that all but one of the tracks feature Zak Starkey on drums – presumably Ringo’s son, for that extra Beatles-tinge.

This is in no way as bad an album as I expected but it’s not great either. Barring ‘Turn Up the Sun’ and ‘The Meaning of Soul’, they feel, much as Radiohead did on ‘Kid A’, like they’re imitating instead of innovating to try to find a new sound. Oasis seems to have no identity at all now, with almost every song being a pastiche of an older greater track. Previously, Liam and Noel’s vocals were key to the Oasis sound, but Liam’s insistence on covering his voice in echo effects in almost every song, and Noel’s changing style to suit the song mean we are left with nothing to distinguish them. Quite telling that Lyla was the single, given it’s the only one that really has that ‘Oasis’ quality to it and ultimately this just feels like A N Other guitar album.

Metacritic have got Don't Believe The Truth up now:

www.metacritic.com/music/artists/oasis/dontbelievethetruth

"Mixed reviews" is about the size of it.

heres the infamous nme review

“Our best album since …Morning Glory!” says Noel. “Miles better than 'Definitely Maybe'!” reckons Liam. “We’re still the best band in the world!” counters Noel.

Yes, rampant and unchecked self-belief is, thankfully, something that Oasis have never lacked. It is, after all, what we pay them for. But recently the gap between how Oasis “mark VII, Phase 1” (according to guitarist Gem Archer) see themselves (basically the greatest group in the world, now or ever) and the rather more prosaic reality evidenced by actually listening to their albums has widened to the extent that it’s almost poignant.

In a recent interview, for example, Liam boasted that “I can sit next to Elvis or Lennon and I won’t feel out of place”. This was somewhat at odds with Gallagher Jr’s appearance last month as a guest judge on a late-night episode of Hell’s Kitchen. No-one expected him to actually be getting stuck in to the petit fours with Presley, exactly, but it was easy to take the sight of the greatest British rock frontman of the last 20 years dining alongside Timmy Mallet, Bobby Davro and Rebecca Loos as another example of just how far Oasis have fallen towards the B-list. ‘…Morning Glory’ and the Oasis of 1995 seem hopelessly distant - sometimes it seems that the best we can ever hope for from this band is a new record every couple of years that sounds the same as the last one, except with a cheesier title – something which anyone who’s a fan of AC/DC, Motorhead or the Ramones will tell you there’s no great shame in, incidentally.

It doesn’t help, either, that Oasis currently look so out of step with the world: yes, everyone from Chris Martin to Pete Doherty has acknowledged the debt that they owe to ‘Definitely Maybe’ and ‘What’s The Story…’, but among the library-card-holding likes of Franz, Bloc Party and The Futureheads the Burnage brothers look rather like an anomaly – Oasis’ musical year zero is 1963, rather than 1978, while one suspects that, given a library card, Liam Gallagher would most likely try and eat it.

Of course we all want ‘Don’t Believe The Truth’ to be the mindblowing return to the glory days of Knebworth, Downing Street and Supernova Heights that their creators claim it is. But this is emphatically a different group to the Oasis of ten years (ten years!) ago. Of the 11 songs here, five are Noel’s, three are Liams , two are by Andy Bell and one is by Gem Archer, which only makes Noel the leader of this band on a first-past-the-post basis.

Still, for all Noel’s cheerleading - and remember how much he talked up ‘Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants’, most of which wasn’t even as good as Definitely Maybe’s B-sides – it’s easy to speculate as to which truth we’re supposed to believe here. Are Oasis really doomed to spend the rest of their careers kicking it with Mallett and Davro? Or is this album going to be the thunderous return to youthful form that the Gallaghers and many others have claimed? Well, German readers will know this already, but the answer is almost. What is true is that, despite those bullish pre-match interviews, their sixth record is the least confident and most fragile Oasis album so far – something that it would be easy to suggest reflects the circumstances surrounding its creation. In fact, if we didn’t know better we might say that losing the Biggest Band In Britain mantle to Coldplay (whose album is released a week after this), that complacent Glastonbury show and the three weeks of aborted sessions with original producers Death In Vegas have left ‘Don’t Believe The Truth’ with a quality that could almost be mistaken for – surely not! – humility.

This, then, is a record for Sunday morning recrimination, rather than Saturday night hellraising. At its most fulfilling it abandons the by-numbers stomp that characterised its two predecessors in favour of a strain of reflective English acoustic music reminiscent of ‘Village Green…’-era Kinks or The La’s. Check the chorus to barnstorming first single, ‘Lyla’: “the world around us makes me feel so small” is about as far from “toniiiiight I’m a rock’n’rollllll star” as you can get. Powered by Zak Starkey’s thrilling caveman thump, it’s also the most Oasis-sounding song here, although that might well have something to do with the fact that Noel has pinched the chord progression to The Sweet’s div-glam anthem ’Blockbuster’ again.

Similarly, album opener ’Turn Up The Sun’ is a bombastic, faintly predictable roar that will only be of benefit to people who are not already aware that they’re listening to an Oasis album. Producer Dave Sardy claims that the song uses 3,000 different tracks - he’s joking, but the sheer force of the thing is somewhat akin to listening to ’Spirit In The Sky’ through broken headphones while standing on the main runway at Heathrow.

What comes next is better. ’Mucky Fingers’ is a witty Velvets pastiche with a great derailing train harmonica solo - the sound of a band that dismisses anything that doesn’t adhere to the Beatles/Kinks/Who/Slade template as y’know, fookin’ weirdo music getting as far-out as they know how. It’s also the first of two songs sung by Noel that signal, if not a mid-life crisis exactly (’Don’t Believe The Truth’ is released the week before his 38th birthday), then at least a kind of re-evaluation of his place in the world. Here he sings about being “fed up with life in the city”, while the ’Golden Brown’-ish ’Part Of The Queue’ is a pretty song about having to wait in line at the newsagent’s that has more in common with Victor Meldrew than with John Lennon.

Noel is, of course, notoriously a graduate of the back-of-a-bus-ticket school of lyric writing (’Mucky Fingers’ contains some guff about finding God in a paper bag that’ll make any sane person wince) but it’s tempting to imagine a line as disillusioned as ’Part Of The Queue’’’s “every beginning has broken its promise” as being directly about his band’s recent history. It’s also equally tempting to imagine that Noel wrote it simply because it scanned.

Even disregarding this, though, Noel’s weird semi-falsetto and curious nod to Ravel’s ‘Bolero’ on the hammond-tinged ’The Importance Of Being Idle’ are overshadowed by the line “my girlfriend told me to get a life/she said boy you lazy” – something confirmed by the presence here of ’Let There Be Love’, a six-minute scarf-waver left over from the sessions for ’Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants’ (ie five years old) that puts paid to Liam’s claim that the new super-prolific Oasis wrote 100 songs for this album. Liam’s own efforts make a fair fist of subverting that tabloid-friendly poetry-eating image: ’Guess God Thinks I’m Abel’ is a sweet but grudging apology to his brother, while ’Love Like A Bomb’ is possibly ’Don’t Believe The Truth’’s most affecting song: a charming acoustic shuffle made all the more charming by the fact that it doesn’t sound anything at all like the third Liam-penned track here, the brutish, inconsequential ’The Meaning Of Soul’.

Allowed off the leash to contribute songs once more, Noel’s lieutenants struggle to compete. Andy Bell’s overblown ’Keep The Dream Alive’ sounds most like the bassist’s last band, Hurricane #1, being basically the musical equivalent of “Dear Jim, please could you fix it for me to have Liam Gallagher sing one of my songs?” over six minutes. Gem’s ’A Bell Will Ring’ is sparkier, building on the drum pattern to ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ but adding a swagger that other portions of this album are markedly deficient in.

So where does all this leave us? Well, there’s certainly nothing here that’ll match ’Wonderwall’ or ’Live Forever’ for pub karaoke ubiquity, but with this record Oasis are at least tentatively stretching themselves in new directions. The end impression is that ’Don’t Believe The Truth’ will be base camp for their long trek upwards back to greatness after a decade of making records vastly more average than they really have any right to be. The best since …Morning Glory? Half believe the truth.

Pat Long
Rating: 6

Thanks for posting the NME review. Atleast it was interesting.

the NME reviewer got the lyric wrong in Mucky Fingers, its "you found your God in a paperback"

a rightly clever line, if you ask me, love the way it works in the song

good review from startribune.com

The buzz on Oasis' sixth album wasn't encouraging. Tracks with electronica duo Death in Vegas, the project's original producers, were scrapped. Then Oasis' second drummer, Alan White, left the band. He was replaced by Zak Starkey, Ringo Starr's son, suggesting that Noel and Liam Gallagher were slipping further into the Beatles obsession that has brought them so much criticism.

All of which makes the arrival of "Don't Believe the Truth" a genuine thrill. While the album doesn't recapture the early catalog's euphoria, it's a return to swaggering form: crackling with energy, drenched in hooks, and bristling with roguish charm.

Liam Gallagher penned three excellent tracks -- psychedelic pop anthem "Love Like a Bomb," the sneering, dogged "The Meaning of Soul," and a strummed-and-shaken meditation called "Guess God Thinks I'm Abel" -- that establish his heretofore elusive songwriting credentials.

Guitarist and chief tunesmith Noel whittled his set of contributions down to five, four of which he insisted on singing, but they aren't the filler he's been stuffing the last three albums with. "Mucky Fingers" defines the album's stomping, insistent tone, which grows rambling and heady on the disc's first single, "Lyla," and turns into a cheeky Kinksian romp on "The Importance of Being Idle."

Guitarists Andy Bell and Gem Archer, who joined Oasis in 2000, are finally certified as full band members. Bell's gargantuan, disc-opening "Turn Up the Sun" and Archer's "A Bell Will Ring" are as brash and tuneful as anything here -- fine material for Liam's beautifully rude vocals. They also get credit for a textural tuneup that gives "Don't Believe the Truth" -- and Oasis -- a jolt of good old psych-rock atmosphere. And the Gallagher brothers close the disc with-- imagine that -- an earnest, stately duet, "Let There Be Love."

Great review by Chicago Maroon !


Liam, Noel quit fighting to record best CD in years

By Greg Brown
June 3, 2005 in Voices
Liam Gallagher, the brash, arrogant, incomprehensible lead singer of Oasis, doesn’t like the current crop of U.K. rock bands. With a quote that will undoubtedly offend the musical tastes of 75 percent of students here at the U of C, Gallagher said of Alex Kapranos, lead singer of Franz Ferdinand, “He reminds me of fucking Right Said Fred. You put on ‘I’m Too Sexy for My Fucking Thing’ next to their records and I bet you any money it’s the same person. He’s just been on the Atkins Diet and grown his hair! I don’t like quirky, weird music. It’s not my cup of tea—all that nonsense, million-miles-an-hour music that’s not going anywhere.”

Despite the classic status of Oasis’s first two albums, it’s tough to take any of their critiques of the current U.K. rock scene seriously. While Franz Ferdinand and Bloc Party have stormed across the Atlantic, winning the hearts of fans and critics alike, Oasis hasn’t made a ripple here since 1997’s Be Here Now. Even that album had listeners divided; it was either viewed as a coked-out masterpiece or simply coked-out.

But after two mediocre, boring albums, Oasis is back with a vengeance. Don’t Believe the Truth is a swaggering collection of exciting, confident, and flat-out wonderfully written songs that might once again legitimize Oasis’s claim to the U.K. rock throne.

Songwriting duties no longer belong solely to dictator Noel Gallagher. Bassist Andy Bell contributed two songs and guitarist Gem added one. And in a very welcome surprise, singer Liam penned three that might very well rank as the top songs on the album. In addition to the varied songwriting, Don’t Believe the Truth sees Oasis doing what it does best: ripping off the greats. Hell, if you’re going to wear your influences on your sleeve, why not make them the very best?

“Mucky Fingers” is the Velvet Underground’s “I’m Waiting for the Man” with Noel Gallagher doing his best Dylan vocal impression. Lead single “Lyla” is the polite little brother of the Rolling Stones’s “Street Fighting Man.”

“Guess God Thinks I’m Abel” is most certainly one of Don’t Believe the Truth’s highlights. Acoustic guitars are layered over shakers, tambourines, and soft drum thumps. Written and sung by Liam, it sounds so sincere and so genuine that you can’t help but to get wrapped up in it. After the second (and last) chorus, he sings, “No one can take us/ No one can break us/ If we try,” with psychedelic backing vocals sounding like they were done by a Sgt. Pepper’s–era John Lennon.

As the song seemingly fades out, the electric guitar reverb crescendos, and suddenly the song is in the midst of a full-blown anthem—but only for six seconds. Liam sings, “Come on home/ We’ll make it tonight” over layers of guitar and drums, and the song simply ends. Perhaps the Oasis of old would have turned the song into an overblown epic, but hearing just that short snippet is incredibly invigorating. It’s abrupt. It’s shocking. It makes your heart skip a beat. And it leaves you glued to your headphones wanting to hear more.

“Part of the Queue” follows, with Noel diverting from the standard Oasis sound. His ode to the anonymity of city life features legendary Cuban percussionist Lenny Castro wailing on his drums as Noel repeats the line, “Keep on trying.” It still sounds like Oasis, but the layered texture and rhythm of the song breathe new life into Noel’s songwriting.

Before recording Don’t Believe the Truth, former drummer Alan White was replaced by Ringo Starr offspring Zak Starkey (as if there haven’t been enough Beatles comparisons over the years). Ringo Jr.’s brash pounding is primitive, but it sounds huge. He’s Keith Moon’s replacement, for crying out loud!

Starkey’s pulsating thumping during “The Meaning of Soul”—Liam’s 90-second raw, acoustic punk—often overpowers the guitars, but it wouldn’t sound right any other way. His huge drumming and Liam’s classic raspy snarl on “Turn Up the Sun” make the boldest statement of any album opener since Morning Glory’s “Hello.”

Don’t Believe the Truth marks a new era for the Oasis lads. Sure, they still sound like Oasis, but they finally sound fresh. There’s no overdone production or overblown anthems on Don’t Believe the Truth—the texture is simple, layered, and effortless. The shift to a democratic songwriting process has resulted in new and familiar sounds all at once.

Album closer “Let There Be Love” features the first-ever album duet between Noel and Liam. It’s a slow ballad, where Lennon-esque piano and handclaps abound—a fitting close to a rock-solid album. Trendy U.K. bands, take note: Oasis is going back to the top where it belongs.

Don't Believe The Truth
By Andrew Murfett
June 3, 2005

Page Tools
Email to a friend Printer format
Oasis (Sony BMG)
4/5

While still heroes in Britain, outside of their fervent fan base Oasis are mostly perceived as belligerent twats with a misplaced sense of ego.

It's faint praise then to pronounce Don't Believe The Truth as their best work since . . . Morning Glory.

What made Oasis so vital at their mid-'90s zenith was how easily it all seemed to come.

Who else could afford to relegate The Masterplan or Talk Tonight to b-side status? There was Liam's raspy Benson and Hedges-laced vocals, Noel's sublime writing and the, err, other blokes (tellingly, the likes of Guigsy and Bonehead are long gone).

Hence the fractious relationship between the Gallagher brothers, so volatile even at the peak of the band's powers, went from amusing caricature to a serious threat to their future.

Oasis rapidly became a complacent, tired, unmanageable aberration.

Languishing under the weight of expectation and, it should be pointed out, a mountain of cocaine, two dud albums followed.

Advertisement
AdvertisementThe turning point proved not to be 2002's middling Heathen Chemistry but the stellar world tour that supported it - including two prodigious Melbourne shows at the Forum.

The most gratifying aspect of this album is the trimming of the fat: 11 songs in 43 minutes.

There's more autonomy with songwriting duties too, although Noel's contributions are still their biggest asset.

Album highlight Part of The Queue is subtly divergent to much of their previous output: a lucid mid-tempo track epitomising a lack of baggage.

Mucky Fingers is a bleary-eyed, inward-looking rocker while The Importance of Being Idle is the closest connection to . . . Morning Glory.

Liam's offerings are almost worthwhile here, particularly the ultra-sharp The Meaning Of Soul, which is over in barely 90 seconds.

Archer and Bell's contributions are also valuable; note Archer's superb A Bell Will Ring.

Supreme album-closing ballad Let There Be Love has Liam and Noel sharing vocal duties and is so good (and disarmingly genuine) it's almost bewildering.

Don't Believe The Truth is not a great record, merely just very good.

Which is more then we dared expect.

the rolling stone from argentina gave dbtt a 3/5 so i sent a long long email to them, hope they answer.
the review is in spanish sorry for not posting it..

www2.cd-wow.com/review.php?product_code=17314

The fact that the pre-release buzz about this album was nearly as great as ‘(What’s The Story) Morning Glory’ a whole ten years ago shows that the public still has interest in the Gallagher Brothers. That and that they can still top the UK singles charts and titillate the media with every utterance is also very relevant. But their day job is still all about making albums. But how well they can do that 11 years into their career and are they still masters of an epic tune?

For better or worse, there’s no “Wonderwall” here, but they do seem more musically liberated. They have tinkered with a pseudo-glam feel before, and that’s the way that “Turn Up The Sun” kicks in. Big and bounding, with Liam telling everyone to love one another. As he would. A fine enough track, and the instrumental break to the end is unusually good.

“Mucky Fingers” makes a big impression first time around. Not only with more lyrically interesting bits, but the driving rhythm is better than anything they’ve done for years. And it is allowed to really run its course too. Next it’s “Lyla” time and you can understand why it fits within the bigger picture. A brighter, confidence that was shrouded in brash in-yer-face-ness before is now better balanced.

The acoustic strumming and Liam growl around “Love Like A Bomb” is remarkably light, and more comfortable than past posturing. The biggest surprise is “The Importance Of Being Idle” which lies between classic old B side and fresh new thumper. The bizarre Russian-esque ending rhythm also shows that old dogs can teach themselves new tricks. At well under two minutes, “The Meaning Of Soul” must be one of their briefest ever, however although exuberant, fun and playful, it fails to get that meaning across.

Musically they have grown up a fair bit since the somewhat average ‘Heathen Chemistry’ three years ago. “Part Of The Queue” is immediate, catchy and you can bet it will be long lasting too. Simple and thoroughly effective, plus losing the 4/4 structure shows intelligent variety. Then visualise the band in full cry with Liam spitting in the mic front of stage, and that is what “A Bell Will Ring” is all about. Rock ‘n’ roll in the most familiar Oasis incarnation.

Yet still they have the ability to shoot themselves in the dictionary. “Lyla” includes the “catch me when I fall” lazy line that any self respecting tunesmith should avoid. “Guess God Thinks I’m Abel” is a clever title, but the rest of the lines on that track aren’t so clever. We should expect more than going “on till the end of time” reappearing, and although an objective “to find rainbows” is terribly cute, it is more lyrical mouth-trap than warm and fuzzy moment.

It’s hardly a shocker that Beatles overtones are never too far beneath the surface, and “Keep The Dream Alive” could be an easy evolution from the ‘White Album’. But once again, the track is allowed full flow and develops well. The final track amply fills the required timeless ballad category, and reaffirms who their idols are. The false ending is particularly McCartney, and any heavier on the Mellotron and this would have been Sergeant Pepper revisited (again). But strong track it is, and the stripped down acoustics are a perfect way to leave you wanting more.

Last time out the Gallagher brothers were still finding their way with Bell and Archer, but now they have settled into a confident working niche. What the initial recordings sounded like (which were dumped a year ago) we’ll never know, but this truth (believe it or not) is a well honed episode from a band who still have enough rough edges to be cool. Plus as their musicianship has grown with maturity, and inheriting new band members has forced reinvention, they have brought upon themselves a new lease of life. To come up with an album that can only be Oasis, yet still doesn’t sound like a copy of anything they have done before shows the real credit that they deserve once again.

Neil Chase
Music Editor

After that comment on the title and cover I wouldn't bother posting that article, hehe. ;D Tell the author to review something else other than music albums.