Oasis
have always been at their best when they didn't give a
f***¡K
When
Noel scrawled tunes about nothing that meant the world
and Liam buzzed off his head with a passion never rivalled
by any rock ¡¥n' roll singer in history.
Put simply, this is a glorious rebirth...
Noel is writing songs about queuing too long for a pint
of milk and Liam is a whirlwind of inspiration and wondrous
bullshit. Fans have been waiting for this moment for ten
years¡K
Why? Because it's been ten years since Oasis made an album
that truly changed the musical landscape. It's been ten
years since they wrote an album of such spirit that you
felt compelled to adopt a swagger as you walked through
the streets of your council estate.
Don't Believe The Truth is that album. It's the Oasis
that blew you away and an Oasis you've never met.
It's not about one particular song. It never has been.
It's about an old attitude that somehow got lost amidst
the tabloid hoo-ha and the mountains of cash, coupled
with a complete reinvention of how and why Oasis exist.
For the first time in their history, they are functioning
as a band. No longer does Noel feel the weight of the
world on his shoulders, and Liam's writing tunes with
the enthusiasm of a toddler who's just mastered walking.
Gem is the rock on which the new Oasis is built while
Andy Bell is an enigmatic influence, who makes Liam watch
films starring David Essex. They call him Wing Commander
Bell.
They are four individuals, who have pushed, pulled, laughed
and fought inside the four walls of a studio, for what
seemed like forever, to reach the light. And now they've
arrived, it's positively blinding.
When they listen back to this record, a newborn confusion
reigns. They're not sure who played what and when. All
they know is that Zak Starkey played drums, although there
is a rumour flying around concerning Liam, two spoons
and a box of Cheerios.
Don't Believe The Truth runs to eleven tracks, and Noel
has written five. That includes Let There Be Love; a defining
moment in Oasis history. A song pulled back from over-production;
one that sighs rather than shouts. ¡¥Who kicked a hole
in the sky so the heavens could cry over me?' It'll break
your heart.
Mucky Fingers - which sounds like nothing Noel has ever
written before - is his trip on the Velvet Underground,
fuelled by Jack Daniels and an old, beat up organ bought
on e-bay.
Then there's Lyla, who is apparently ¡¥¡¥Sally's sister'',
and The Importance Of Being Idle - a song so stark, so
simple and so fundamentally Oasis, that it could have
been a b-side in 1994. It's THAT good.
When you hear Part of the Queue, you realise that ¡¥Noel
Gallagher the songwriter' has regained some truth. He's
once again tackling the little things, and leaving the
meaning of life to somebody who has the time to work it
out.
Three tunes are Liam's, although he claims to have written
over a hundred.
What we do hear is the deafening ninety second Meaning
of Soul which spits fifties rock ¡¥n' roll blades at passers
by, while Love Like A Bomb is a wistful daydream that
he wrote with ¡¥¡¥Julie f***ing Christie'' in mind.
As for Guess God Thinks I'm Abel, Liam reckons he has
a conversation with God one night in a boozer. God told
him He was Abel. Simple as that.
Gem is his sounding board, who he drags into their studio
at all hours to work on sparks of ideas that are currently
flowing from him at a phenomenal rate. Andy describes
Liam as ¡¥¡¥¡Koutrageously talented. He just invents chords.
For every song on the album he probably has ten just as
good''.
The opening track on Don't Believe The Truth is Andy Bell's
Turn Up The Sun, with it's Midnight Cowboy intro that
explodes into threatening, explosive rock ¡¥n' roll. He
also pops up with Keep the Dream Alive, a song inspired
by a film called Stardust, starring David Essex. Noel
won't watch it. The others won't shut up about it.
That leaves Gem's A Bell Will Ring and another layer on
an album full of different sounds.
Noel sums up the all-new, harmonious Oasis¡K
"If somebody said to me, in twelve years you'll be
in a band with your brother and two carrot munching geezers
who don't like football I would have said f*** off, I'm
not joining the Bee Gees."
Don't Believe The Truth is truly the long awaited new
album from Oasis, a band who now operate with the type
of unity and passion usually reserved for the A-Team,
on the trail of a group of Mexican cattle rustlers. Thankfully,
though, some things will never change¡K |
