Britpop giants and Beatles devotees Oasis split in 2009 after brothers Noel Gallagher and Liam Gallagher finally could not stand each other. Vocalist Liam Gallagher went on to form Beady Eye with the remnants of Oasis; guitarist Gem Archer, Oasis bassist-now guitarist, Andy Bell and drummer Chris Sharrock, while Noel seems to be content without releasing anything.
Befitting a band derived from the heavily 60s pop influenced Oasis Different Gear, Still Speeding sounded like Liam and co. truly wish it was 1966 all over again. Oasis were always criticized for being a Beatles rip-off but without Noel's songwriting Beady Eye sounds closer to The Rolling Stones, The Who and The Pretty Things in the harder rocking songs, while the ballads sounded akin to Liam's John Lennon-ish "I'm Outta Time" from Oasis' last album Dig Out Your Soul.
Different Gear, Still Speeding was very much a case of what-you-see-is-what-you-get; it is a heavily 60s inspired rock album by former members of Oasis. The main question before the release of the album was not how it would sound, but rather how strong the songs would be since Noel Gallagher was always the main songwriter of Oasis and consistently wrote far stronger songs than the other band members, although Oasis's last album Dig Out Your Soul included Liam’s best songs to date.
Building on that promise, Different Gear, Still Speeding resulted to be better than feared. There was not a single bad song on the album, but there were very few really good ones and nothing that could compete with Oasis's stronger work. In the end this was made for a solid album, without any of the missteps that were expected, but only two songs would hold up against a typical Oasis album or have a chance of earning repeat play after the initial interest wears off; the fierce album opener "Four Letter Word" and the ballad "The Roller." were the most remarkable tracks.
The album's main fault is that the band seemingly only had two gears; it's either 60s-inspired rock or Lennon-styled ballads, and when the songs weren't exceptionally strong a 52 minute album of this is tiring for the listener. What was worse is that this could have been avoided since "World Outside My Room," was a bonus track on some versions, is a great little Village Green-era Kinks-ish track that would have been among the strongest songs if it would have been included on the regular album, and it would have brought a much needed respite from the standard Beady Eye sound.
Ultimately the album remained as a better first post-Oasis release from Liam Gallagher than expected, with much more consistency in the songwriting than feared, but at the same time it is exactly what you would expect – just better, and the expectations were not high. Different Gear, Still Speeding showed that the band is comfortable with themselves and their follow-up had every chance to be a stronger album – especially if they are brave enough to include more styles
Reviews for the album were regular and accused the band attempts to be just ike the Stones but ened with a "Be Here Now" styled guitar sound, althought other reviews were slightly better by saying the album was the strongest record Liam' ever made since (What's The Story) Morning Glory?
No hay comentarios.:
Publicar un comentario