crash
Oasis Roadie
Posts: 238
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Post by crash on Oct 13, 2011 8:13:41 GMT -5
Review from The Guardian (Alexis Petridis) 3 Stars Among the more interesting stories to emerge from Oasis' split was Noel Gallagher's claim that he felt musically constrained by the band. He told Mojo magazine that any suggestion of altering Oasis' sound would apparently cause Liam Gallagher to "start slinging shit around the room", which certainly isn't the least plausible of scenarios. Liam is, after all, a man who celebrated the fresh artistic start Oasis' split afforded him by releasing a song called Beatles and Stones. His brother, meanwhile, has been talking up his love of Ennio Morricone and techno auteur Derrick May, and employing a bloke to play a musical saw on his solo album. Expectations therefore run high, especially now he need not nurture the egalitarian urge to cede control of the songwriting and Let Ringo Have a Go, which accounted for at least some of the makeweight stuff on Oasis' later albums. What might Noel come up with? It's true the opener, Everybody's on the Run, sounds a bit more interesting than Oasis: it is beautifully orchestrated and features the massed voices of the Crouch End Festival Chorus. Alas, the arrangement is there to serve precisely the kind of song you would expect to turn up on a Noel Gallagher solo album: a wistful acoustic mid-tempo plod on which Gallagher repeatedly pleads with us to hold on, advice presumably aimed at anyone among his audience not already holding on following the repeated instruction to do so issued by Gallagher in Stop Crying Your Heart Out. Or perhaps they've simply forgotten to hold on, in which case the fact that the exhortation to hold on is set to exactly the same four-note tune as it was in Stop Crying Your Heart Out should refresh their memories. Not for the last time, the feeling that some of the advance publicity about Gallagher's change of direction might be a little overheated comes creeping. There have been claims that Dream On represents a diversion into "Dixieland jazz": it's got a trombone on it – which in fairness is one trombone more than Oasis ever featured – but then so did The Floral Dance by the Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band. Actually, it sounds a bit like the Kinks' Dead End Street, as does Soldier Boys and Jesus Freaks, trumpeted in some quarters as Gallagher's move into protest song. It's nothing of the sort: it sets its cap at a Kinksy social vignette, but as a lyricist Gallagher doesn't have the acute focus to pull that kind of thing off. Still, better a muddled attempt at emulating Ray Davies than the fearful sound of Noel in philosophical mode. That duly turns up on the closer, Stop the Clocks. "What if I'm already dead? How will I know?" he ponders. Well, you might finally stop writing lyrics like that, although I wouldn't bank on it. Maybe such complaints don't really matter. All three songs have such indelible melodies that they carry you blithely along, indifferent to the shortcomings of the rest of the song, which may have been Gallagher's big trick as a songwriter from the off: it's not like anyone loved Definitely Maybe for its devastating originality or lyrical insight. And that turns out to be High Flying Birds' big selling-point: it's got less filler and more undeniable tunes than any recent Oasis album. It's also got a tantalising hint of musical progression: AKA … What a Life!, a house music-inspired thump, is built around a piano riff Gallagher has claimed is inspired by Rhythim Is Rhythim's Haçienda classic Strings of Life, though it sounds just as much like the Rolling Stones' We Love You. Either way, the important things are that, first, it's a genuinely different kind of song to anything he has attempted before and, second, Gallagher's melodic facility remains intact even when detached from his guitars and his well-thumbed collection of classic rock. It's hard not to wish there was more here like it: High Flying Birds pushes gently at some boundaries Gallagher might have considered kicking over altogether. Perhaps his trepidation has something to do with the relative commercial failure of his brother's album with Beady Eye. Certainly, these days Liam sounds like he's threatening, rather than promising, to release more material. Maybe the fear that he'd end up in a similar situation if he presented anything too radical reined Noel in: you can never underestimate the power of sibling rivalry. Maybe he's saving the big push into unknown territories for his forthcoming collaboration with psychedelic collective Amorphous Androgynous. Or maybe this is as good as it gets. For now, it'll do that it's a more enjoyable album than Oasis' latter-day catalogue. At the risk of handing out some well-worn advice, anyone hoping to hear a radical departure might be recommended to hold on. www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/oct/13/noel-gallagher-high-flying-birds-review
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Post by ctmazin on Oct 13, 2011 8:27:45 GMT -5
That is one of the most patronizing reviews I have ever read.
Considering the source, its pretty high praise. This guy has been slaying Oasis and Noel for years. He admits that it is a well written album with lots of good melodies.
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dion
Oasis Roadie
Posts: 362
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Post by dion on Oct 13, 2011 8:32:26 GMT -5
The Guardian music section... like page 3 in the Sun, all tits, no substance.
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Post by AubreyOasis on Oct 13, 2011 8:34:35 GMT -5
Yes, it seems music snobs ("the ones who vote for the mercury prize", as the chief put it :-) ) are having a hard time admitting they may actually like something created by a Gallagher. It happened something similar with the Drowned in Sound review. It almost seemed the guy was afraid he could loose his job if he gave the album more than 3 stars :-)
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Post by gdforever on Oct 13, 2011 9:59:15 GMT -5
My favorite comment on that page is
"As a music journalist you cant really express how the music sounds anymore than music without words can tell you what i had for dinner."
I'm gonna have to remember that
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Oct 13, 2011 10:19:55 GMT -5
The Guardian music section... like page 3 in the Sun, all tits, no substance. That is genuinely the best post I've ever seen on this forum ;D K+
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Post by leak4ever on Oct 13, 2011 11:25:58 GMT -5
3 out of? Out 4 would make it a good score. Out of 5 would make is mediocre
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Post by GIMH on Oct 13, 2011 12:07:09 GMT -5
Appalling review, not based on my opinion of the album as I've not heard it, just shocking writing.
I'd actually say Definitely Maybe DID strike at people because of its originality and lyrics. Not originality in the truest, never been done before sense but in that it sounded like nothing else. He didn't reinvent the wheel but reminded everyone that to make great music you didn't need to. If it was unoriginal they'd have floundered with the Elastica's of the world. And it appears the writer seems to miss the point of what a lot of people look for in a song's lyrics - that is to hear someone who understands and feels like they do. There is no greater insight into nothern English life in the mid-90s than that album.
Is there an address to mail this prick? I know he wouldn't read it but I feel like ranting at him a bit more coherently when I'm sat at a computer rather than on my phone.
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Post by matt on Oct 13, 2011 12:24:11 GMT -5
It's another tired cliched review from a music snob who can't accept the gift of songwriting that Noel has. I've read multiple reviews from the 'hip' Alexis Petri Dish and it all amounts to pretentious gobbledy gook.
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Post by J.B on Oct 13, 2011 13:08:59 GMT -5
The Guardian really have it in for Noely don't they?
Oh well; shite paper, shite review.
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Banksy
Oasis Roadie
Posts: 359
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Post by Banksy on Oct 13, 2011 14:49:17 GMT -5
Noel does continue to berate the Guadian to anyone who will listen.
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Post by thuperthonic on Oct 13, 2011 15:30:27 GMT -5
I'm kinda glad he doesn't like it.
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Post by DCUnited on Oct 13, 2011 16:11:45 GMT -5
I like The Guardian. For me its the best UK newspaper
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Post by robert on Oct 13, 2011 16:16:48 GMT -5
Fuck, that guy is a mong.
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Post by XTRMNTRSCREAM on Oct 13, 2011 16:21:31 GMT -5
the comments have been positive for noel.
also the guardian is one of the best papers in the world.
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Post by Headmaster on Oct 13, 2011 16:21:32 GMT -5
I'm kinda glad he doesn't like it. He looks like Thom Yorke cousin or something.
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dion
Oasis Roadie
Posts: 362
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Post by dion on Oct 13, 2011 16:30:59 GMT -5
The Guardian is excellent apart from the music section.
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Post by J.B on Oct 13, 2011 16:36:51 GMT -5
The people who write in The Guardian just seem like the sort of people who go to peaceful protests about carbon emissions and global warming and wear Che Guevara t-shirts in shopping centres.
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Post by thuperthonic on Oct 13, 2011 17:07:15 GMT -5
The Guardian is excellent apart from the music section. This is correct. The people who write in The Guardian just seem like the sort of people who go to peaceful protests about carbon emissions and global warming. What's wrong with that?
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Post by BlueJay on Oct 13, 2011 23:51:07 GMT -5
The Guardian is excellent apart from the music section. This is correct. The people who write in The Guardian just seem like the sort of people who go to peaceful protests about carbon emissions and global warming. What's wrong with YOU? I Concur.
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