I think people are taking it more seriously than it is.

I also think both would be wary of doing a proper collaboration. They know it would get huge attention. I mean people are talking about him doing a bit of backing vocal on a song already, and that happens all the time in music. Imagine the weight of expectation of a collaboration and it was underwhelming? - i think they're both a bit too business savvy for that.

That's why he's not really featured as an artist on it either. He's not listed as "featuring Noel Gallagher anywhere". He simply just added some backing vocal in the studio, it happens all the time in music, just as Liam provides backing vocals on Echo And The Bunnymen - Nothing Lasts Forever.

It was obviously just a bit of fun and nothing to be taking seriously.

If often seems like Noel isn't willing to do much outside of his comfort zone, especially since the 90s anyway.

The AA thing never happened after all his talk of how amazing it is. Getting Death In Vegas in to produce an album was scrapped and they ended up working with Sardy. Fair enough, maybe it never worked out with Death In Vegas or they weren't ready at the time as Noel said, but that's just Noel's side of the story. Just like his side of the AA story seems extremely different to their side. 

It's a shame really. He could offer a lot if he worked with some creative producers and other artists from time to time. I think he's just a bit set in his ways and bottles it when it get's too far away from generic guitar music, especially when it's going to be under his name. I mean that's fair enough i suppose, it's his songs at the end of the day so he can do what he wants.

Yeah, from what i gathered from the AA stuff, on Gaz's side of the story it was basically like Noel wasn't willing to let loose too much.

Hopefully he will let Holmes do his thing and have a good input. There's no point in working with guys like AA or Holmes if you're not going to let them have a big influence over it. That said, i don't think Holmes would still be involved if he wasn't allowed to do his thing either, so it must be going well and both are happy with it. So i'm definitely looking forward to that.

I think me and you have very very similar opinions when it comes to Noel's lack of adventure and, yes, the David Holmes project does equally intrigue me primarily because he is writing the material in the studio with Holmes as the guiding hand. Holmes didn't want to work on Chasing Yesterday because the songs already arrived at the studio fully formed so he felt his influence would be restricted as it was basically finished. This is why I'm not so intrigued by the Death In Vegas sessions with Oasis, as they were purported to be working on songs that were already fully formed - one of which was A Bell Will Ring. With songs like that, no amount of studio trickery would take away from what is a really insipid song so I don't think anything good would have come of it anyway.

So this is what is fascinating about the Holmes sessions - the song writing process is completely different this time around. As Holmes is primarily an artist of instrumental compositions, it makes me hope that the melodies, mood and general ethos of the songs are built around the actual musical aesthetics. It will hopefully result in a much more holistic approach with interesting instrumental music complementing the mood of the melody. This is in direct opposition to songs being built around a melody which Noel traditionally does but are far too often restricted by the same rhythmic patterns which can become tedious and is generally why he is often criticised for writing songs that sound similar to each other. As a result, far too often the instrumental music is neglected with Noel, whether that's hiring poor producers like Sardy or Noel himself who have ruined many good melodies with lumpen, heavy handed and uninspired instrumentals.

This is the last chance saloon for Noel and I wouldn't put it past him to get cowardly and strip all the sonic wizardry away on some songs like he did with The Mexican. If he can't make it work with Holmes, then he is beyond help. Three albums into a solo career which many critics and fans thought might 'spread his creative wings' (especially as he moaned that it was Liam's fault why Oasis didn't develop their sound) is good enough to judge whether or not he has the balls. It's now or never Noel.

I like the Miles Kane song and the Coldplay one is easily one of the strongest tracks on that album. Unfortunately that doesn't say much.

This forum is headed towards a two state solution.

I think this collaboration is more like a kind gesture from Damon and a hang out thing. Surely some musicians just click when hanging out and go on to produce amazing stuff, but Damon and Noel probably just don't have that kind of chemistry. 

Nice "victory lap". You reduced Noel's portion on this song to a cameo at the end you can barely hear. Nice job Damon. The original version sounds interesting. Should have been like the Lou Reed collaboration.

Amazing to read about how much effort went into such a throwaway track.

Noel's role on this track was like how he used Beccy Byrne on High Flying Birds. Buried in the mix at low low levels!

I'd still like to hear the first version. In my head for the last several years that is the type of collaboration I wanted. Noel. Damon. Graham. Shame it morphed into other things. Maybe one day.