the new oasis album comes out today. pretty sure there aren't too many fans on this board but i'll post this in hopes that some of you who liked their old stuff atleast give this a listen. most reviews applaud it as their best since morning glory which was ten years and three albums ago. their basically a new band, 3 new members since that time including ringo's son on drums, borrowed from the who. anyways here's allmusic.com's review, 4.5 out of 5 : http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:vgj97i25g77r Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine Since Oasis has an instantly identifiable, seemingly simple signature sound -- gigantic, lumbering, melodic, and inevitable, as if their songs have always existed and always will -- it can be hard to pinpoint what separates a great Oasis song from a merely mediocre tune. It could be anything from overblown production to a diminished swagger, or it could be a self-satisfied laziness in the songwriting, or a panicky attempt to update their defiantly classicist pop with an electronic shine. All of these problems plagued the group's records since their blockbuster 1995 blockbuster second album, (What's the Story) Morning Glory?, and while none of the three albums that followed were outright bad, by 2002's Heathen Chemistry it seemed that even Noel and Liam Gallagher had lost sight of what made Oasis great. While that record had its moments, it often seemed generic, suggesting that the group had painted itself into a corner, not knowing where to go next. Surely, all the reports from the recording of their long-gestating sixth album suggested a faint air of desperation. First, the electronica duo Death in Vegas was brought in as producers, bringing to mind the band's awkward attempts at electronica fusion on Be Here Now and Standing on the Shoulder of Giants, but those recordings were scrapped, and then their second drummer, Alan White, left only to be replaced by Zak Starkey, the son of Ringo Starr, suggesting that the Gallaghers were coming perilously close to being swallowed by their perennial Beatles fixation. All of which makes the resulting album, Don't Believe the Truth, a real shock. It's confident, muscular, uncluttered, tight, and tuneful in a way Oasis haven't been since Morning Glory. It doesn't feel labored nor does it sound as if they're deliberately trying to recreate past glories. Instead, it sounds like they've remembered what they love about rock & roll and why they make music. They sound reinvigorated, which is perhaps appropriate, because Don't Believe the Truth finds Oasis to be quite a different band than it was a decade ago. Surely, Noel is still the first among equals, writing the majority of the songs here and providing the musical direction that the rest follow, but his brother Liam, bassist Andy Bell, and guitarist Gem Archer are now full and equal partners, and the band is the better for it. Where Noel struggled to fill the post-Morning Glory albums with passable album tracks (having squandered his backlog of great songs on B-sides), he's now happy to have Bell and Archer write Noel soundalikes that are sturdier than the filler he's created over the last five years. These likeable tunes are given soul and fire by Liam, who not only reclaims his crown as the best singer in rock on this album, but comes into his own as a songwriter. He had written good songs before, but here he holds his own with his brother, writing lively, hooky, memorable songs with "Love Like a Bomb," "The Meaning of Soul," and "Guess God Thinks I'm Abel," which are as good as anything Noel has written for the album. Which is not an aspersion on Noel, who has a set of five songs that cut for cut are his strongest and liveliest in years. Whether it's the insistent stomp of "Mucky Fingers" or the Kinks-styled romp of "The Importance of Being Idle," these songs are so good it makes sense that Noel has kept them for himself, singing four of the five tunes himself (including the soaring closing duet "Let There Be Love," the brothers' best joint vocal since "Acquiesce"). But the key to this new incarnation of Oasis is that this move by Noel doesn't seem like he's hoarding his best numbers, or a way to instigate sibling rivalry with Liam. Instead, it emphasizes that Oasis is now a genuine band, a group of personalities that form together to form one gang of charming rogues. Apart from the tremendous, rambling "Lyla" that channels the spirit of the Faces and the occasional ramshackle echo of Beggars Banquet, there's not much musically different here than other Oasis albums -- it's still a blend of British Invasion, the Jam, and the Smiths, all turned to 11 -- but their stubborn fondness of classic British guitar pop is one of the things that makes Oasis great and lovable. And, of course, it's also what makes it hard to discern exactly what separates good from great Oasis, but all the little details here, from the consistent songwriting to the loose, comfortable arrangements and the return of their trademark bravado makes Don't Believe the Truth the closest Oasis has been to great since the summer of Britpop, when they were the biggest and best band in the world.
Morning Glory would definently be on my 'TOP 100 ablums of all-time." I have already given this new record a few spins. Wouldn't quite compare it to Glory yet, but it is definently their best since 'Be Here Now.' Please don't start the Beatles/Oasis comparisons.......
an OASIS is only good when you've been walking for a while in the desert. I love that Far Side one where the group gets to the water fountain and the dude says: "Wait until it gets a little colder, everyone!" or maybe it was: [from the guy NOT drinking from it] "Awwww, man... don't put your mouth on it...!"
This release is pretty good, but then again being a huge Oasis fan, I'm biased. Let me say that I think it's better than their last studio album. I'm really looking forward to seeing them at the ACL Festival!
from pitchfork. only 4.7 out of 10... Oasis Don't Believe the Truth [Epic; 2005] Rating: 4.7 Oasis were once the biggest rock group on the planet, shattering sales records and selling out stadium, their every embarrassing interpersonal dust-up chronicled in scathing detail by British tabloids. But while they may have been the biggest, they were far from the best. Hell, Oasis weren't even the best band in Britpop. It's as though they succeeded solely by their own notorious conviction that they were the Beatles' rightful successors. But all things end, and as the bloated Be Here Now hit stores in 1997 at the height of their popularity, they settled in for the backlash, which, eight years later, is still in full force. Or close to it, anyway-- I've read several write-ups of their latest album, Don't Believe the Truth, that struggle to explain why it's a return to form from their last two miscarriages, Standing on the Shoulder of Giants and Heathen Chemistry. Unfortunately, these reviews are either based on wishful thinking or plain bad taste. If anything, Don't Believe the Truth is the chilling conclusion to their discography's trilogy of shame. It's difficult to definite exactly what a return to form would be for Oasis. In hindsight, Definitely Maybe and (What's the Story) Morning Glory aren't much more than competent albums that managed to score a handful of genuinely triumphant, anthemic singles-- and Don't Believe the Truth certainly falls well short of the high-water mark those records set for the band. A decidedly scattershot affair, the new record only exceeds the sum of its parts for a few fleeting moments. There are a lot of reasons this album doesn't gel, not least that Liam Gallagher now sounds like a singing anti-smoking campaign, and the brash, snotty arrogance that once sold "Cigarettes and Alcohol" and "Champagne Supernova" is crushed out by his gruffness. When brother Noel sings (which he often does), he's so obviously dispassionate about the project that he seems to disappear completely. Worse still, the band's non-Gallaghers are content to act as tired session musicians, even when they're writing the songs-- Gem Archer wrote one and Andy Bell contributed two-- not that you'd know without the liners, as they're totally indistinguishable from Noel's uninspired castoffs. Weirdly, the track that seems least like a Noel tune is actually one he wrote: "Standing in the Queue" sounds like something off the Doves' Lost Souls, if not quite up to that band's standards. "Mucky Fingers" is also a relative departure for the band, sounding roughly like the Velvet Underground's "I'm Waiting for the Man" stripped of all personality and topicality. Not that topicality has ever been an Oasis strength. They've always leaned on ambiguity and the easy rhyme in their lyrics (I suppose in the reach for universality), and there's no indication that's going to change. Check Liam's "Love Like a Bomb", where he does his best John Lennon while sneering the decidedly un-Lennonesque lines, "You turn me on/ Your love's like a bomb/ Blowin' my mind." Thankfully, they've tossed in a couple of worthwhile tracks to salvage the record from the junkheap, chief among them "The Importance of Being Idle", which, though never quite as promising as its title suggests, has a pleasant music hall bounce to it and one of Noel's better vocals. Liam's "Guess God Thinks I'm Abel", meanwhile, offers a rare instance of Oasis handing us a melody rather than slamming us over the head with it-- and it even shockingly refrains from capitalizing on the title's obvious pun, a huge plus. Sadly, strong melodies are in short supply elsewhere on Don't Believe the Truth, and what little they've drudged up are largely sunk by utilitarian arrangements. Incidentally, you may have heard that Ringo Starr's kid, Zak Starkey, has become a member of Oasis for this record. It's a great publicity stunt for the band, and it's even partly true-- Starkey contributed his drumwork to a couple of these tracks (the rest are hammered out by session dudes). The presence of Beatle offspring at the kid, however, only heightens the surrealism of Oasis' idol worship, and does nothing for them musically. So I suppose, in the end, the best that can be said of Don't Believe the Truth is that it is a slight improvement over their previous two studio efforts, and that they at least had the sense to scrap the recordings they made with Death in Vegas and return to a simpler, more traditional sound. But regrettably, their adherence to what they do best only helps so much: When I found out that Oasis had a new album on the way, my reaction was "they're still together?" I still can hardly believe it, and given their disinterested performances here, it would seem neither can they. -Joe Tangari, May 31, 2005 http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/o/oasis/dont-believe-the-truth.shtml
Has pitchfork ever put out a decent review? Seriously, they usually trash every decent band out there. Their reviews are crap.
If you compare it to Morning Glory then it's total crap. But if you just take it for what it is and try to push it away from Morning Glory then it's average at best.
this album isn't as good as morning glory but i don't think that's anyones expectations. compared to their last two and arguably be here now, i think this is a great album. the songs from the new guys and liam's are as good as anything noel has written the last decade. personally definitely maybe is by far their strongest album, i'd take it over morning glory every day of the week. as for the last review, the guy doesn't even like their first two albums, two of the nineties best, so this new one isn't going to change the opinion he already has on oasis. that's one of the only negative reviews i've read.
12 dollars just flew out of my wallet. I heard lyla, I thought it is pretty good, I have been looking forward to the release of this album. the last album from them that I really like was the masterplan...
