If there had been another album (with a STRONG producer) they would have pointed to the fact that DBTT and DOYS was let down by LAG songs (emphasis on the AG). Had Noel written a full album in that period, with his purple patch he was on, then it would have been a critical and commercial smash hit.

Oh I don't know about that as the album does contain Turn Up The Sun.And, let's not forget Noel wrote Mucky Fingers which is on that album. It's ok but not a great song. And, dare I say it neither is Lyla it's ok but it's never been one of  my favourite songs on that album.

GGTIA is fine on DBTT. It's a nice break after the rush of the first five songs and the rhythm section providing some intensity to Part of the Queue. 

If there's anything that should be questioned about DBTT, it's the way the album ends. Adding that "Na na na" chorus to the end of Keep the Dream Alive was a mistake and so was putting A Bell Will Ring after it, instead of something like Lord Don't Slow Me Down which would've lyrically made sense after the themes of KTDA and was a great Oasis song left on the sidelines in terms of being on an album.

Gimme a Liam-sung Lord Don't Slow Me Down after KTDA and Let There Be Love cross-faded into I Can See it Now!!, and that's a good way to close off a solid album (Eyeball Tickler in for The Meaning of Soul too while we're at it). 

When did I say it wasn’t a commercial success? All I said was it didn’t sell 6 million copies. It basically sold the same as Heathen Chemistry which was a really nice seller.

I think that both Don't Believe The Truth and Dig Out Your Soul did ok commercial success. Maybe Dig Out Your Soul didn't do quite as well as none of the singles made number one in the charts but the album as a whole did ok.
And, I do like Solder On on Dig Out Your Soul out of Liam's songs on that album.

Well if they didn't want to release The Shock Of The Lightning in August (or whenever the first radio airplay was) they should've put it back a little longer closer to the release date.
Mind you, new singles get radio airplay well before they're actually released or they used to. So it probably wouldn't have made much difference.

DBTT is half my lifetime ago.

Mad.

The only way to express a real improvement to Heathen Chemistry or Don't Believe the Truth is just going "Wow, I wish they wrote better songs for those albums". Be Here Now, SOTSOG, Dig Out Your Soul, all had class albums lurking in them somewhere - better production, better tracklist choices, more Liam vocals, whatever was needed. But the best you can get out of those middle two is just complete mediocrity with a couple of nice singles.

Still, The Importance of Being Idle. What a tune.

Heathen Chemistry, maybe, but I think Don't Believe the Truth is a solid album that can be turned into a pretty good one with a couple changes: Put in Eyeball Tickler for The Meaning of Soul, Lord Don't Slow Me Down for A Bell Will Ring, have Keep the Dream Alive go straight to the outro from the solo, put Pass Me Down the Wine in there somewhere.

Heathen Chemistry, though, yea. I appreciate the good vibes but the production is bland and some of the songs aren't even bad, they're just flat out lazy (Better Man, All in the Mind).

Honestly, I think I might prefer Heathen Chemistry on the whole. I just have zero real feeling to any DBTT song outside of The Importance of Being Idle. Some of them are alright, I enjoy them when I hear them, but in any real terms it's just complete apathy to the whole thing. I could make a better tracklist if I wanted to, but I would still never listen to it. 

Eyeball tickler for me would be brilliant in a Liam set..maybe slightly more punky electric guitar but...oh yes this tune one of my fabs off the album. I always found the album more of a plodder than there others, more retro vibe. OK there were Lyla and TUTS but more an album I could have in the background.