Oasis are a thing of the past. Or that’s what we were led to believe when they split back in 2009. Don’t get me wrong, I do love the band, and they’ve been a massive influence on many of the bands I love today, but this is just poor. Liam Gallagher’s Beady Eye are just Oasis minus Noel, and that’s what’s missing here.
There are no clever, and often insightful, lyrics, no guitars that make you question your own abilities, there’s nothing here at all really. What there is here is not even really remotely interesting. We have Liam’s increasingly nasal and whiny vocal, aping on about Beatles and Stones, while his band mates plod along playing just like a band do when they begin, 3 chords and a crash of the drums.
For all the bravado that the songs attempt to suggest, and Liam attempts to put into his performance, it’s just pointless. There’s no ferocity, no drive, and lyrics that you’d expect from your local pub band, not a multi-award winning recording artist. ‘Bring The Light’ is the finest example of this, with the song being constructed around a refrain of “Baby come on” in that trademark Gallagher snarl.
That’s not to say it’s all bad though. Different Gear Still Speeding serves as an example of how not to write an album. Yes it’s fine to draw upon influences, but ‘For Anyone’ and ‘Kill For A Dream’ are so heavily soaked in the sound of John Lennon it’s a wonder they’ve not been repackaged as John Lennon’s Lost Recordings, in fact the same could be said for the whole album. Though I’m sure the great man would rather not be associated with the lyrics “Well here’s my glass and one for you, ‘Cause these dark glasses means something to do”.
Just buy something else, please anything but this. Maybe do the sensible thing and just buy a copy of Imagine or even Definitely Maybe, just to remind Gallagher that Oasis have died. Oh and while you’re at it forget those thoughts about Noel’s solo album, it’s not 1995 anymore.
Words by Emily Solan
Different Gear Still Speeding is out on Beady Eye Records ltd. now, buy it if you like records with no depth/thought behind them what so ever.
