Another positive review:


'Don't Believe The Truth' by Oasis

Oasis Shows It Can Handle The `Truth'
June 2, 2005

By ERIC R. DANTON, The Hartford Courant
Even Lazarus didn't get this kind of hype. The ad campaign for the new Oasis album, including TV spots, makes it sound as if the personification of '90s Brit-pop has emerged from some sort of deep stasis to rock again.

Come to think of it, maybe that's not so wrong after all. Oasis never went away, but the band definitely wandered for a while through the musical wilderness. Brawling brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher overrode their mutual disdain occasionally, resulting in middling albums in 2000 and 2002. But both efforts were far removed from the Beatles-aping mega-selling records Oasis released in the mid-'90s.

"Don't Believe the Truth," the band's latest, sounds as if the Gallaghers care about the music again. The Beatles influence has largely dissipated, and though that makes these songs less likely to take control of your cerebrum, it also shows the brothers are plenty capable of writing solid tunes without John Lennon's help.

The music is dense without sounding cluttered. There are growling electric guitars on "Turn Up the Sun," a philosophical edge to the lyrics on "Mucky Fingers" and raw vocals from Liam on the taut rocker "Lyla." The lush acoustic guitar and dark melody on "Part of the Queue" evoke Doves, one of Oasis' successors on the Brit-pop scene, and there's a hint of the brothers' turbulent relationship on "Guess God Thinks I'm Abel."

No one gets knifed here, though. The Gallaghers channeled whatever tension exists into the music, and the result makes the title seem sensible. Who would have believed this truth?