Album Review: Oasis - Don't Believe The Truth
Oasis - Don't Believe The Truth (2005)
Track Listing:
1. Turn Up the Sun
2. Mucky Fingers
3. Lyla
4. Love Like A Bomb
5. The Importance of Being Idle
6. The Meaning of Soul
7. Guess God Thinks I'm Abel
8. Part of the Queue
9. Keep the Dream Alive
10. A Bell Will Ring
11. Let There Be Love
*12. I Can See It Now* (bonus track)
If this was the studio album that came out after (What's The Story?) Morning Glory, Oasis would officially own this planet Earth right now. Don't get me wrong, it's not as good as the first two Oasis albums, but in a Britpop hungry world of 1997, it would have been good enough to blow the critics out to sea. However, as it stands now, Don't Believe The Truth is instead a salvage operation of an album. An unholy trio of albums (Be Here Now, Standing on the Shoulder of Giants, and Heathen Chemistry), an ungodly amount of drug abuse, and a few band members walking out later, a semi-sober version of the band (with rejuvenated lineup) were somehow able to strike gold once again, and save some face for a band predicted to be bigger than any combination of Beatles and Stones.
Of course, saying that this should have come out in 1997 is a tad unfair, because Oasis could have never made this record then. In fact, the core of Don't Believe The Truth probably came to the band very late in the day (after how many scrapped versions beforehand?). It likely took a shoddy Dust Brothers produced version of the album for brothers Gallagher to realise that Oasis have really been directionless arseholes for the past eight years or so. Backs up against the wall to actually come out with some substance behind their music this time, those crazy Mancs did it, and in the process, managed to find the cocky swagger again.
Not that the early lineup of the band didn't have character, but now you actually take notice of Andy Bell and Gem "don't use his last name" Archer, who along with Liam, take the sole-songwriter burden away from Noel Gallagher. The lightened workload means that Noel's five songs on offer here are more refined (not that the lyrics of an Oasis song are that grandiose to begin with, but you get the drift...). It might have also been a bonus that the band drafted in Zak Starr on drums during the recording of the album, because with the spawn of a Beatle around, the Gallaghers might have been less keen to blatantly lift from the Fabs. The Beatle love is still there, never fear, but Oasis decided to lift from a variety of British invasion acts this time around...
That's really what Oasis have always been anyway: a glorified cover band. Having said that, they're the world's best glorified cover band. Who else in their right mind wants to be the biggest band in history? Everyone seems too busy shoegazing, being introspective, and listening to Radiohead to bother with those silly rock 'n roll fantasies anymore. "Turn Up the Sun" is the perfect "hello, remember us?" moment to begin the salvage operation album then. It's the matured version of a "Rock 'n Roll Star", almost cheekily pinching their own material to let the few stalwarts who stuck around through the last three albums know that the band that disappeared at the end of '96 is back. "Mucky Fingers" continues the theme of a trumped up cover band, here sounding like a replica of the Stones, harmonica solo and Noel throwing his singing voice included.
Then there's "Lyla", clear-cut lift from "Street Fighting Man" and all... but who cares? It's the perfect single because it has an anthemic chorus for the sake of it that will get stuck in your head, whether you like it or not, for days on end. More importantly, it's Liam Gallagher announcing to the world that the phoned in vocal performances are a thing of the past, and that he's ready to have the most distinct voice in rock once again (but glorified cover band, remember? So 'distinct' really means the boozed up, rowdier, football hooligan version of John Lennon). Hell, it took twenty five seconds of "Love Like A Bomb" for me realise it wasn't John Lennon singing.
Still... if the first four tracks haven't convinced you that this is a return to form (and the clone army of copy and paste critics bashing Don't Believe The Truth are keeping you at bay), "The Importance of Being Idle" should convince you otherwise. Hands down, it's the best Oasis song since "The Masterplan". Musically fitting in somewhere between The Kinks and an up-tempo "I'm Only Sleeping", it also features arguably the best vocal performance from Noel Gallagher EVER. After the boozy "The Meaning of Soul", you would think the album can only go downhill, but Oasis manage a decent second-half. Liam's "Guess God Thinks I'm Abel" shows that the man should have been trying to write songs a long time ago, and while he claims otherwise, the lyrics clearly suggest the song is an ode to Noel. Meanwhile, Noel claims the song was always "Guess God Thinks I'm.. A-B-L-E" in the studio. Ahh, the brotherly bickering continues. How could you not love these guys?
There are a few niggling problems. "Keep The Dream Alive" is probably a minute too long, and easily becomes the most forgettable track. "Part of the Queue" is never going to reach Doves level of big-city reflection. It also feels like another couple tracks could have easily been added to the order, because the album ends just when you've gotten into the groove of things. Then again, this is the salvage operation... Oasis didn't want to wear out their welcome, so perhaps it's just as well that the album falls short of fifty minutes.
At least the band has remembered the proper way to open and close an album. "Let There Be Love", a cute mix of acoustics and keyboards, is a Gallagher duet you thought you would NEVER hear. Come on! Look at the subject matter here... and they're singing it together! To quote Liam recently: "He's my brother. I love him. But he's still a fucking cunt." Again, I ask you... how could you not love these guys?
It's Gettin' Better (Man!!)
8/10
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