I’m starting off my albums of the year round up with what I suppose is a fairly mainstream album, being the solo debut of a member of Britain’s biggest band of the past 20 years, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds. It’s an album that has managed to oncce again prove himself as one of the best song writers of our generation and also seems to have weeded out the yobby element that Oasis seemed to attract. I welcome this, it’s a wonderful album.
Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds
If Liam Gallagher had called his band something as pretentious as Noel’s debut album, Beady Eye would have been even more unsuccessful. Fact is, Noel Gallagher should be allowed to do whatever he wants as he’s proved himself to be a magnificent songwriter over the years where Liam just thinks he can do whatever he wants because he’s an idiot.
A number one album now seperates the brothers.
The fact that Noel has been a songwriter for over 20 years certainly works in his favour here, not just in terms of quality but people’s perceptions of his work- there was nothing to get used to. He released a few songs prior to the album, all of which were great but of course no one was surprised and were just happy to hear his songs again.
With Liam it was a bit more of “I can see why he didn’t write any songs over the past 20 years” and “You really notice how annoying his voice is when you have to hear it in all the songs“.
Liam’s already talking about an Oasis reunion, I doubt it’s on Noel’s to do list any time soon.
I’ll stop with the comparisons between the two as there really isn’t any.
Onto the album. As expected it does sound like it was made to be performed at the Albert Hall and that he’s showcasing the works at the largest indoor venues the country has to offer suggests his own confidence in the music and his experience as a musician, and of course rightly so.
The question of whether his current and back catalogues will transfer to a one man acoustic set (which they are unlikely to be judging by the strings and brass on the album), has been answered many times at charity events in the past. The difference with those shows and with Oasis, he’s going to be doing this for himself.
If I had a gun
