So, I finally got around to listening to the first of Noel Gallaghers solo albums. I have to say that whilst I was excited to see what he’d do outside of the Oasis framework, I was also a little bit scared. Scared because the man has been an idol of mine for over a decade, scared because it was his music that drew me into the world of music that I love so much today and influenced me in a lot of ways. And scared because it’d be terribly easy for him to slip into the rut of just pumping out Oasis songs without Oasis.
As it turns out, I need not have worried. I really like the album! OK, I’ll admit that it’s not exactly ground-breaking – it’s still heavily influenced by the later years of the Beatles, and let’s face it, Noel Gallagher was never going to release a grind-core album, but it’s different enough that you don’t think you’re listening to a new Oasis album.
In fact it’s interesting, listening to the last Oasis album, High Flying Birds, and the Beady Eye album (Beady Eye is the band formed by Liam Gallagher and the rest of Oasis after the split). You can tell exactly who was responsible for what songs on the last album after listening to the two independent ones. You can spot the Noel tracks because of similarities between them, and you can spot the Liam/rest of the band tracks because the Beady Eye album could have been lifted straight from a later Oasis record!
In short, if you’re a fan of Noel’s Oasis B-sides and the Noel-sung tracks on the later albums, you won’t be dissapointed here. It’s a good first effort by the Master of Britpop, and I hope he continues to diversify on the following records.
