Don’t
Believe the Truth gets off to a killer start.
The first eight or so songs, arguably, the best
bunch that the band have come up with since (What’s
the Story) Morning Glory. Way back when Oasis mattered.
My oh my, wasn’t that a long time ago now? What happened;
where did they go wrong? Nowhere. They never ‘grew’ as
a band, but instead just ploughed along based on arrogance,
insouciance, and the occasional ripper hook. That’s
fine. Hell, that’s what U2 have regressed back to,
and it appears Coldplay intend to continue. But, anyhoo,
back to the songs.
The opening pretty
psychedelia comes courtesy of Andy Bell. Geez, who’da thunk that Noel Gallagher woulda
let a subordinate open up one of ‘me and the kid’s
rekurds’. He makes up for the humility by singing the
following Velvets homage, “Mucky Fingers”. There the
harmonica is used with sheer brilliance, and it’s readily
apparent that when he wants to be, Gallagher Snr. is
most certainly in control of his songwriting sense;
he just chooses to exercise them less frequently. Single “Layla” is
a nuclear bomb in freefall of a song – all these ripper
riffs, dodgy lyrics, and tastily good melodies. “Love
Like a Bomb” makes “Lyla” sound lyrically inspired,
but it’s got a nice lil’ groove going on, and is the
first of Gallagher Jnr.’s numbers.
His last is the knock-out – not only has Noel mellowed,
Liam ‘s done gone ‘n dun it too! “Guess God Thinks
I’m Abel” is sensitive, sincere, and gorgeous rendered.
In between his first and his last are the meandering
Paul McCartney-isms of “The Importance of Being Idle” and
his own rough-edged “The Meaning of Soul”. Sadly the
last four tracks are much weaker in the first seven,
ending in the insipid Noel ballad “Let There Be Love”,
where Noel sings the coda. Gem Archer’s slow-burn groove “A
Bell Will Ring” is a good song, but all the goodness
of it is sucked out by being followed by such a turkey.
Is Don’t Believe
the Truth cleverly
titled? Did Noel guess that the album would earn
the critical
kudos that has been bestowed on it, and left us open
to know his opinion of this in the title? It’s doubtful.
The man just like a statement. But it’s true; Don’t
Believe the Truth is a very good Oasis album. It
sounds like Oasis. It must be Oasis. It’s a very good
album, and extremely easy to listen to, with plenty
of quality songs coming in thick slabs.
