I've always been baffled by the positive feelings around Don't Believe the Truth.

Okay, it sold well, albeit not the frantic 6-9 million-copies reports which emerged over the years. Okay, the tour was the most rollicking of the 2000's era, albeit not with a great deal of competition. Okay, it has "The Importance of Being Idle" on it, but does that make up for the filler still clogging up the arteries of the album like so much Beady-Eye cholesterol? I saw the album had a consistency to it which other post-2000 LPs, but it always stood squarely at the base of my rankings, duking it out with Heathen Chemistry as the band's least inspiring effort. 

Until now!

Going back to this album in my post-reunion Oasis binge, the whole thing has finally clicked. Right from those twinkling guitars which open the first track, there's a crisp sense of freedom to this record; a light-hearted motion to it which sounds (for the firsy time post-'98) like the band are having fun being in Oasis. The cheekily retro flourishes which round out "Lyla" and "Let there be Love", the gorgeous piano break which bursts out of "Love Like a Bomb", the winter-wind harmonicas which make "Mucky Fingers" feel so fresh - even the fleet-footed rhythm which now seems so familiar from the High Flying Birds is a delight to hear from Oasis on "Part of the Queue". There's little that sounds laboured; the sense of a band struggling under the boulder of their own expectations, which characterises Standing on the Shoulders of Giants and Heathen Chemistry, is not here. Thank God!

What stands out to me now is that Don't Believe the Truth is something of a pre-debut. It's the birth-before-the-birth of the more romantic, freewheeling melodic style which Noel would use for his solo career; he's finally found a new way of writing here, a second wind of his own talent which can carries him to perhaps his highest point since the glory years ("I sold my soul for the second time...").  Something else quite magical happens, though, more than Noel just finding his flow; somehow, after a decade as a millionaire, he manages to re-connect with the working-class spirit of his best work. The magic of Oasis, as matt said, was their ability to capture the core, tainted emotions of everyday life and combine them into something euphoric. Noel lost that after Morning Glory (even Be Here Now is noticeably the plainer work of a millionaire in celebration), but somehow, he finds it again here. His tracks for this album have all the heart-aching, sunlight-in-the-rain spirit which made his songs so special in the first place. Combine that with Liam hitting his stride in his own right, and even the other members bringing memorable tunes to the party, and you get the strongest case for Oasis ever being a democracy. 

Of course, there are issues. "Mucky Fingers" is a touch too slow and a touch too long. "Lyla" needs trimming in the first two choruses, to stop it clubbing you over the head with that hook. "Let there be Love" is in desperate need of a kick in energy. And both "The Meaning of Soul" and "A Bell Will Ring" are, to be kind, natural-born b-sides which should have been booted for stronger material like "Pass Me Down the Wine" or "Who Put the Weight of the World on my Shoulders?". So, this is the version of the album I put together for my own enjoyment:



I must say, one of my favourite tracklist nonsenses I've ever done is adding two interludes of "Can You See it Now??". It fits beautifully, and creates such a cohesive feel when the liberating guitar riff returns for the second interlude, but this time with Noel's vocals calling out over it. "Pass Me Down the Wine" is a perfectly sun-splashed tune, again showing Liam at the peak of his powers, while "Weight of the World" gives the album an emotional weight towards the end. Some people will look out for "Eyeball Tickler", but while I do enjoy that tune, it feels too harsh for such a feel-good record as this - plus, I've had a sudden and inexplicable change of heart on "Mucky Fingers", so that's going nowhere! With these changes, Don't Believe the Truth is consistent, fun, and varied.

Overall then, yeah, this album has resurrected from the dead in my estimation.

Far from battling for being the worst of Oasis, it's now possibly the post-nineties work to give me the most enjoyment. Despite the flaws, it has the core DNA of what you want from a Gallagher album by 2005; a freshly-inspired guitar-pop record which comes with some attitude, some fun, some hits, and some variety. It's undoubtedly a minor work in their catalogue, but as a slice of later-Oasis, this album will now become my go-to for something outside the masterpieces they made in their prime. Can y'see it now?? I can see it now!!