It’s all musical wallpaper - not bad, but not terribly exciting. Particularly sums up a lot of his first and second album.

Just to repeat this - I also love a good chorus and I do understand that Noel himself praises songwriters who can write a big catchy chorus. But I can't personally evaluate how good a song is on the basis of whether or not it has a great chorus. When I think of some of my favourite songs, the chorus is barely detectable if existent at all - A Day in the Life, God Only Knows, Try a Little Tenderness, Tomorrow Never Knows, After the Goldrush, Subterranean Homesick Blues. None of these songs have a big chorus and, in my opinion, they are some of the greatest pop songs ever made. So at the end of the day, a good song is not dependent on a big chorus.

Sounds promising, can’t wait to hear the real thing.

At first I thought the lack of choruses was laziness too, or rushing because of writing in the studio. But I don’t think so anymore. I think Noel is doing it on purpose. Like he’s sort of deconstructing his songs and song writing process. We know he can write an epic chorus in his sleep but they often sound like Oasis and he obviously wants to develop a different sound. Hence writing on a bass, using a strat, adding the ladies to the band etc. We’re in Noel’s art school phase..
I don’t mind it though. I prefer the Oasis sound but people have to grow and change

You must be new here. This place is the cantina on Tatoonie.

Shocking disrespect going on right now for The Dying of the Light. That track is beautiful and the CY production was pearlescent.

I totally understand what you mean. He has to get this out of his system, fine, i hope it will be over after those EPs. It's really a step back from WBTM.

I never understood the plagiarism criticism in Oasis because they had their own sound. But that song and BSD sound like outtakes from any MOR act from the 80s.

Sure, the final result could be different, we'll have to wait. But this and Black Star Dancing and pretty weak tbh. It's not because it's different and not Rock n roll that it has to be good.

I saw Ashcroft last weekend at the Olympia and it was fantastic - he was fantastic. All the Verve songs he played were on point, and I sang my heart out. It was worth the price of the ticket alone, but the entire set - including his solo work - was much better than I was expecting.

BUT, it doesn't change the fact that his music is just not as experimental an exciting as it was when he was part of The Verve. The best Verve songs - in my opinion - come from A Storm In Heaven & A Northern Soul, when they were less formulaic as songwriters and were a bit looser in song structure and sound. It's ironic really because at this present stage Noel is becoming more experimental, and Ashcroft is becoming more formulaic despite them both starting at the opposite ends of the spectrum.

I'm glad Noel is breaking away from his usual formula and trying new and different things were he can. Don't get me wrong, I love his best tunes were he stuck to what he does best. But as a solo artist, that can only stretch so far until it wears thin, and clearly, he's felt it has and is trying a new approach.

So just let him get on with it and if you don't like it then that's fine, but you can't dictate what he does and kick off if he tries something new. He doesn't give a fuck, and neither should you, just let him make music.

Lennon2217 shot first.

Get out of here with your "special editions".

Fight me.

I agree that he manages to make every era he tries to copy his own. WBTM was a bit 80s on some songs, but he did manage to make it very Noel Gallaghery. On BSD and probably this new song, it is less true. It sounds more like copy / paste to me. A bit like on Chasing Yesterday on a few songs i gotta say. The record is missing the "something else" WBTM has.

Also agree that he must not go back to the Oasis sound. But he could try something else that would be still very rock n roll and sound different, like a record with one guitar, no layers, just drum and bass, or a very symphonic record with no guitars, just piano and strings. Maybe that will happen next.

I'm glad he's trying something, but he's done better at trying something new before. That's probably why those songs are just on EPs.

Noel is 52. I never thought I’d be clamoring for music by someone who is on the wrong side of 40.

I think we're basically on the same page though my feelings about BSD are not so much that it is a copy and paste song but just a song that is not quite as good as the WBTM songs. And in much the same way I would say the same about WBTM and Chasing Yesterday, that the CY songs just overall are less fulfilling than the WBTM songs. So, I guess for me at the end of the day, BSD isn't as huge a draw for me, only because I'm not as big on what it is doing as a song. I think I'd still rather listen to it than, say, Be Careful What You Wish For, which in my opinion in a gigantic boring centerpiece in an otherwise exciting album. 

I also think it would be cool to hear him do a symphonic record. Overall, I can't fully explain it, but he's still doing something right as a songwriter because I'm still compelled to hear whatever the next thing might be and that just isn't true anymorer for some of even my most favourite artists.