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Post by bt95 on Nov 29, 2017 3:48:47 GMT -5
20 years I’ve spent trying to love BHN as much as you do. Never fucking clicks. BHN has to be listened to in the right conditions, and in the right frame of mind. Firstly, it has to be stuck on loud. Very loud. Preferably when you are driving with the roof down on a sunny day, or when you are with a group of mates getting pissed. Secondly, its not music to be analysed in depth. Forget the lyrics, forget the fact that the instruments are often indistinguishable, and the acoustics are not nice and clear. Let go of any music snobbery. Its an album to feel good to. Go with the flow. Get the goosebumps during the solo part of Magic Pie, sing happily along to Stand By Me, followed by the adrenaline fuelled IHITIK, feel the euphoria when the naa-naaas finally kick in during All Around the World, get on board the crazy final ride of Its Getting Better Man, particularly the ridiculously long outro that I wish would go on and on forever. It was a special moment captured in time, and to get the essence of BHN is to try and recreate that moment again, wherever you are. If you are lucky enough to manage to do so, it hits the soul on a primitive level far more than any other record I have listened to. As Noel has said, it's a record to be listened to all the way through, on coke, fucked out of his tree. But yesterday, I listened to Getting Better Man, and then straight away I needed to listen to Holy Mountain. The euphoria and joy is just infectious!
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Post by AdidasNG72 on Nov 29, 2017 3:51:17 GMT -5
BHN has to be listened to in the right conditions, and in the right frame of mind. Firstly, it has to be stuck on loud. Very loud. Preferably when you are driving with the roof down on a sunny day, or when you are with a group of mates getting pissed. Secondly, its not music to be analysed in depth. Forget the lyrics, forget the fact that the instruments are often indistinguishable, and the acoustics are not nice and clear. Let go of any music snobbery. Its an album to feel good to. Go with the flow. Get the goosebumps during the solo part of Magic Pie, sing happily along to Stand By Me, followed by the adrenaline fuelled IHITIK, feel the euphoria when the naa-naaas finally kick in during All Around the World, get on board the crazy final ride of Its Getting Better Man, particularly the ridiculously long outro that I wish would go on and on forever. It was a special moment captured in time, and to get the essence of BHN is to try and recreate that moment again, wherever you are. If you are lucky enough to manage to do so, it hits the soul on a primitive level far more than any other record I have listened to. As Noel has said, it's a record to be listened to all the way through, on coke, fucked out of his tree. But yesterday, I listened to Getting Better Man, and then straight away I needed to listen to Holy Mountain. The euphoria and joy is just infectious! WBTM is definitely a long lost cousin to BHN. I found that on the first listen to HM, and this new album confirms it. Noel is probably in the happiest place he has been since those care-free crazy days of 1997, and it shows on this record.
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Post by GlastoEls on Nov 29, 2017 6:40:15 GMT -5
20 years I’ve spent trying to love BHN as much as you do. Never fucking clicks. BHN has to be listened to in the right conditions, and in the right frame of mind. Firstly, it has to be stuck on loud. Very loud. Preferably when you are driving with the roof down on a sunny day, or when you are with a group of mates getting pissed. Secondly, its not music to be analysed in depth. Forget the lyrics, forget the fact that the instruments are often indistinguishable, and the acoustics are not nice and clear. Let go of any music snobbery. Its an album to feel good to. Go with the flow. Get the goosebumps during the solo part of Magic Pie, sing happily along to Stand By Me, followed by the adrenaline fuelled IHITIK, feel the euphoria when the naa-naaas finally kick in during All Around the World, get on board the crazy final ride of Its Getting Better Man, particularly the ridiculously long outro that I wish would go on and on forever. It was a special moment captured in time, and to get the essence of BHN is to try and recreate that moment again, wherever you are. If you are lucky enough to manage to do so, it hits the soul on a primitive level far more than any other record I have listened to. Great post, even if I totally disagree on the effectivness of that record!
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Post by noliamno on Nov 29, 2017 7:50:24 GMT -5
Oasis never did b-sides so Ok, not to be dumb, but help me out with this. What do they mean by "Oasis didn't do B sides"? The Masterplan was an album of B sides, wasn't it?
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Post by The Escapist on Nov 29, 2017 9:32:02 GMT -5
20 years I’ve spent trying to love BHN as much as you do. Never fucking clicks. BHN has to be listened to in the right conditions, and in the right frame of mind. Firstly, it has to be stuck on loud. Very loud. Preferably when you are driving with the roof down on a sunny day, or when you are with a group of mates getting pissed. Secondly, its not music to be analysed in depth. Forget the lyrics, forget the fact that the instruments are often indistinguishable, and the acoustics are not nice and clear. Let go of any music snobbery. Its an album to feel good to. Go with the flow. Get the goosebumps during the solo part of Magic Pie, sing happily along to Stand By Me, followed by the adrenaline fuelled IHITIK, feel the euphoria when the naa-naaas finally kick in during All Around the World, get on board the crazy final ride of Its Getting Better Man, particularly the ridiculously long outro that I wish would go on and on forever. It was a special moment captured in time, and to get the essence of BHN is to try and recreate that moment again, wherever you are. If you are lucky enough to manage to do so, it hits the soul on a primitive level far more than any other record I have listened to. This post inspired me to listen to Be Here Now all the way through - twice in a row! What an album.
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Post by Headmaster on Nov 29, 2017 10:26:49 GMT -5
BHN has to be listened to in the right conditions, and in the right frame of mind. Firstly, it has to be stuck on loud. Very loud. Preferably when you are driving with the roof down on a sunny day, or when you are with a group of mates getting pissed. Secondly, its not music to be analysed in depth. Forget the lyrics, forget the fact that the instruments are often indistinguishable, and the acoustics are not nice and clear. Let go of any music snobbery. Its an album to feel good to. Go with the flow. Get the goosebumps during the solo part of Magic Pie, sing happily along to Stand By Me, followed by the adrenaline fuelled IHITIK, feel the euphoria when the naa-naaas finally kick in during All Around the World, get on board the crazy final ride of Its Getting Better Man, particularly the ridiculously long outro that I wish would go on and on forever. It was a special moment captured in time, and to get the essence of BHN is to try and recreate that moment again, wherever you are. If you are lucky enough to manage to do so, it hits the soul on a primitive level far more than any other record I have listened to. This post inspired me to listen to Be Here Now all the way through - twice in a row! What an album. Take a day off and wake up early, cos it will take the whole day.
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Post by ricardogce on Nov 29, 2017 11:33:35 GMT -5
20 years I’ve spent trying to love BHN as much as you do. Never fucking clicks. BHN has to be listened to in the right conditions, and in the right frame of mind.
Firstly, it has to be stuck on loud. Very loud. Preferably when you are driving with the roof down on a sunny day, or when you are with a group of mates getting pissed. Secondly, its not music to be analysed in depth. Forget the lyrics, forget the fact that the instruments are often indistinguishable, and the acoustics are not nice and clear. Let go of any music snobbery. Its an album to feel good to. Go with the flow. Get the goosebumps during the solo part of Magic Pie, sing happily along to Stand By Me, followed by the adrenaline fuelled IHITIK, feel the euphoria when the naa-naaas finally kick in during All Around the World, get on board the crazy final ride of Its Getting Better Man, particularly the ridiculously long outro that I wish would go on and on forever. It was a special moment captured in time, and to get the essence of BHN is to try and recreate that moment again, wherever you are. If you are lucky enough to manage to do so, it hits the soul on a primitive level far more than any other record I have listened to. YES! On the right day, I love BHN more than any other Oasis album. But sometimes the obnoxious production gets on my nerves and I need to give it a rest. But when it clicks, it's such a happy, uplifting album.
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Post by AubreyOasis on Nov 29, 2017 11:41:10 GMT -5
The Line of Best Fit Review. 7.5/10. This one is usually taken into account for the Metacritic score
Noel Gallagher finally shoots for the moon on a daring third solo record
Noel Gallagher’s sternest critics usually present his appropriation of The Beatles as Exhibit A when accusing him of lacking originality. Ironically, perhaps the two most direct rip-offs of John Lennon’s songwriting in Gallagher’s catalogue to date came not with Oasis, but in what should ostensibly have been considerably more experimental territory. The brace of tracks on which he collaborated with The Chemical Brothers in the nineties, “Setting Sun” and “Let Forever Be”, both owed colossal debts to “Tomorrow Never Knows”, particularly in terms of percussion. Gallagher would return to that same cresting wave of rolling drums for “Falling Down” in 2009, which proved to be Oasis’ final single as well as one of their strongest late-period efforts. Those Chemicals songs, meanwhile, rank favourably in Gallagher’s oeuvre at twenty years’ distance.
All of which is to say that his brief forays into more experimental territory had been successful, and yet it seemed he had little desire to dig further down that rabbit hole, which was more down to his belief in sticking to what he knew than because his knowledge and appreciation of spacier fare than his own was lacking. Still, in the wake of Oasis’ dissolution, signs that the split was beginning to open him up to new ideas began to emerge, not least at the press conference at which he announced his self-titled debut under the High Flying Birds moniker; at the same time, he confirmed plans to release a second record, made in collaboration with psychedelic duo Amorphous Androgynous, that would range “from vaudeville to space jazz to krautrock, and [be] as out-there as The Dark Side of the Moon”.
The producers of that album had seen the same potential in “Falling Down” as many others - their 22-minute remix of it had kicked off the collaboration - but the mooted full-length never materialised, with Gallagher’s destruction of the masters as clear a sign as he could have sent about his dissatisfaction with them. For their part, Amorphous accused Gallagher of bottling it, perhaps liking the idea of sonic weirdness more than the reality; as the pair’s Gaz Cobain told The Guardian in 2015: “I believe ours is the album people wanted him to make – a liberated, exploratory Noel Gallagher, cutting loose from Oasis, enjoying his freedom; the Noel who name-drops our Monstrous Bubble albums and krautrock, and who had hits with The Chemical Brothers. He obviously loves that kind of music, but has no idea how to make it.”
The second High Flying Birds record, though, suggested otherwise, particularly on “Riverman” and “The Right Stuff”. The latter track, woozy and sax-flecked, was born out of the Amorphous sessions, but the former had him doing all his own stunts, piecing together obvious touchstones from his past - The Beatles and “Wonderwall” - and infusing them with Nick Drake to produce something that, actually, did bear comparison to Pink Floyd. The sense of disappointment at how crushingly milquetoast the rest of Chasing Yesterday turned out was only compounded by these never-more-frustrating flashes of potential.
The news that David Holmes was behind the desk for the sessions for this third solo LP, then, offered fresh hope that Gallagher was finally ready to jump in somewhere close to the deep end. Holmes’ work, which spans solo records, remixes and, most prominently, a slew of movie soundtracks, is primarily concerned with electronic textures and he’s seldom shied away from psychedelic territory. His fingerprints are all over Who Built the Moon?, and he’s clearly hit it off both personally and musically with Gallagher: perhaps it was a case, all along, of him simply needing the right person to be the one giving him the push.
Noel Gallagher’s sternest critics usually present his appropriation of The Beatles as Exhibit A when accusing him of lacking originality.
Ironically, perhaps the two most direct rip-offs of John Lennon’s songwriting in Gallagher’s catalogue to date came not with Oasis, but in what should ostensibly have been considerably more experimental territory. The brace of tracks on which he collaborated with The Chemical Brothers in the nineties, “Setting Sun” and “Let Forever Be”, both owed colossal debts to “Tomorrow Never Knows”, particularly in terms of percussion. Gallagher would return to that same cresting wave of rolling drums for “Falling Down” in 2009, which proved to be Oasis’ final single as well as one of their strongest late-period efforts. Those Chemicals songs, meanwhile, rank favourably in Gallagher’s oeuvre at twenty years’ distance.
All of which is to say that his brief forays into more experimental territory had been successful, and yet it seemed he had little desire to dig further down that rabbit hole, which was more down to his belief in sticking to what he knew than because his knowledge and appreciation of spacier fare than his own was lacking. Still, in the wake of Oasis’ dissolution, signs that the split was beginning to open him up to new ideas began to emerge, not least at the press conference at which he announced his self-titled debut under the High Flying Birds moniker; at the same time, he confirmed plans to release a second record, made in collaboration with psychedelic duo Amorphous Androgynous, that would range “from vaudeville to space jazz to krautrock, and [be] as out-there as The Dark Side of the Moon”.
The producers of that album had seen the same potential in “Falling Down” as many others - their 22-minute remix of it had kicked off the collaboration - but the mooted full-length never materialised, with Gallagher’s destruction of the masters as clear a sign as he could have sent about his dissatisfaction with them. For their part, Amorphous accused Gallagher of bottling it, perhaps liking the idea of sonic weirdness more than the reality; as the pair’s Gaz Cobain told The Guardian in 2015: “I believe ours is the album people wanted him to make – a liberated, exploratory Noel Gallagher, cutting loose from Oasis, enjoying his freedom; the Noel who name-drops our Monstrous Bubble albums and krautrock, and who had hits with The Chemical Brothers. He obviously loves that kind of music, but has no idea how to make it.”
The second High Flying Birds record, though, suggested otherwise, particularly on “Riverman” and “The Right Stuff”. The latter track, woozy and sax-flecked, was born out of the Amorphous sessions, but the former had him doing all his own stunts, piecing together obvious touchstones from his past - The Beatles and “Wonderwall” - and infusing them with Nick Drake to produce something that, actually, did bear comparison to Pink Floyd. The sense of disappointment at how crushingly milquetoast the rest of Chasing Yesterday turned out was only compounded by these never-more-frustrating flashes of potential.
The news that David Holmes was behind the desk for the sessions for this third solo LP, then, offered fresh hope that Gallagher was finally ready to jump in somewhere close to the deep end. Holmes’ work, which spans solo records, remixes and, most prominently, a slew of movie soundtracks, is primarily concerned with electronic textures and he’s seldom shied away from psychedelic territory. His fingerprints are all over Who Built the Moon?, and he’s clearly hit it off both personally and musically with Gallagher: perhaps it was a case, all along, of him simply needing the right person to be the one giving him the push.
“Fort Knox”, in opening the record, sets the tone, marrying Holmes’ dramatic cinematic sensibilities to the kaleidoscopic take on dance-rock that defined Gallagher’s favourite Creation Records album, Primal Scream’s Screamadelica; it’s a stage-setting pump-up, the same way “Fuckin’ in the Bushes” was on Standing on the Shoulder of Giants. The concrete proof of genuine progression comes later; “Holy Mountain” is a brass-fuelled stomper that Gallagher veritably snarls his way through, whilst “Be Careful What You Wish For” is at the other end of the atmospheric spectrum, pitching up somewhere between blissed-out soul and the ominous slink of trip hop, like a nuanced blend of Spiritualized and Portishead.
Any concerns that Who Built the Moon? might flatter to deceive the same way that Chasing Yesterday did are put to bed by track four; “Keep on Reaching”’s infectious groove is immediately followed by “It’s a Beautiful World”, which caused a stir on Later...with Jools Holland when Charlotte Marionneau of Le Volume Courbe joined Gallagher on stage to play the scissors; her considerably more telling contribution, of course, is her impassioned spoken word part towards the track’s conclusion - a turn that could so easily have seemed gimmicky or tacked-on, but that instead helps to underline both the record’s sense of experimental urgency and the filmic qualities that Holmes lends to it.
Who Built the Moon? does falter a little on the back half, and you wonder whether Gallagher chose to bookend “If Love Is the Law” and “The Man Who Built the Moon” with a couple of two-minute instrumentals because he knew that, as the most straightforward tracks on the record, they might need a little bit of eccentric accentuation. The former, in fairness, creeps up on you, with a harmonica solo that’s far more effective than it has any right to be, but the latter - along with “Black and White Sunshine” - provides one of only a couple of glimpses of the High Flying Birds of old.
It speaks volumes that the two most formulaic tracks on a Noel Gallagher album are the ones that stick out like proverbial sore thumbs; previously, they would be the rule and not the exception, and that’s a conclusion that would cover any given Oasis record, too. It’d be wrong to lavish him with too many medals for bravery for Who Built the Moon?, not least because he can absolutely afford to fail; a catastrophic critical and commercial reception would hardly have landed him down the soup kitchen next week, or indeed in empty arenas come next April. It’ll doubtless polarise his core fanbase, but amongst those who recognised his capacity for following an exploratory bent as far back as “Setting Sun” in 1996, the response will be a pithy one - “about time”.
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Post by aloneontherope on Nov 29, 2017 12:12:07 GMT -5
The Line of Best Fit Review. 7.5/10. This one is usually taken into account for the Metacritic score Noel Gallagher finally shoots for the moon on a daring third solo record Noel Gallagher’s sternest critics usually present his appropriation of The Beatles as Exhibit A when accusing him of lacking originality. Ironically, perhaps the two most direct rip-offs of John Lennon’s songwriting in Gallagher’s catalogue to date came not with Oasis, but in what should ostensibly have been considerably more experimental territory. The brace of tracks on which he collaborated with The Chemical Brothers in the nineties, “Setting Sun” and “Let Forever Be”, both owed colossal debts to “Tomorrow Never Knows”, particularly in terms of percussion. Gallagher would return to that same cresting wave of rolling drums for “Falling Down” in 2009, which proved to be Oasis’ final single as well as one of their strongest late-period efforts. Those Chemicals songs, meanwhile, rank favourably in Gallagher’s oeuvre at twenty years’ distance. All of which is to say that his brief forays into more experimental territory had been successful, and yet it seemed he had little desire to dig further down that rabbit hole, which was more down to his belief in sticking to what he knew than because his knowledge and appreciation of spacier fare than his own was lacking. Still, in the wake of Oasis’ dissolution, signs that the split was beginning to open him up to new ideas began to emerge, not least at the press conference at which he announced his self-titled debut under the High Flying Birds moniker; at the same time, he confirmed plans to release a second record, made in collaboration with psychedelic duo Amorphous Androgynous, that would range “from vaudeville to space jazz to krautrock, and [be] as out-there as The Dark Side of the Moon”. The producers of that album had seen the same potential in “Falling Down” as many others - their 22-minute remix of it had kicked off the collaboration - but the mooted full-length never materialised, with Gallagher’s destruction of the masters as clear a sign as he could have sent about his dissatisfaction with them. For their part, Amorphous accused Gallagher of bottling it, perhaps liking the idea of sonic weirdness more than the reality; as the pair’s Gaz Cobain told The Guardian in 2015: “I believe ours is the album people wanted him to make – a liberated, exploratory Noel Gallagher, cutting loose from Oasis, enjoying his freedom; the Noel who name-drops our Monstrous Bubble albums and krautrock, and who had hits with The Chemical Brothers. He obviously loves that kind of music, but has no idea how to make it.” The second High Flying Birds record, though, suggested otherwise, particularly on “Riverman” and “The Right Stuff”. The latter track, woozy and sax-flecked, was born out of the Amorphous sessions, but the former had him doing all his own stunts, piecing together obvious touchstones from his past - The Beatles and “Wonderwall” - and infusing them with Nick Drake to produce something that, actually, did bear comparison to Pink Floyd. The sense of disappointment at how crushingly milquetoast the rest of Chasing Yesterday turned out was only compounded by these never-more-frustrating flashes of potential. The news that David Holmes was behind the desk for the sessions for this third solo LP, then, offered fresh hope that Gallagher was finally ready to jump in somewhere close to the deep end. Holmes’ work, which spans solo records, remixes and, most prominently, a slew of movie soundtracks, is primarily concerned with electronic textures and he’s seldom shied away from psychedelic territory. His fingerprints are all over Who Built the Moon?, and he’s clearly hit it off both personally and musically with Gallagher: perhaps it was a case, all along, of him simply needing the right person to be the one giving him the push. Noel Gallagher’s sternest critics usually present his appropriation of The Beatles as Exhibit A when accusing him of lacking originality. Ironically, perhaps the two most direct rip-offs of John Lennon’s songwriting in Gallagher’s catalogue to date came not with Oasis, but in what should ostensibly have been considerably more experimental territory. The brace of tracks on which he collaborated with The Chemical Brothers in the nineties, “Setting Sun” and “Let Forever Be”, both owed colossal debts to “Tomorrow Never Knows”, particularly in terms of percussion. Gallagher would return to that same cresting wave of rolling drums for “Falling Down” in 2009, which proved to be Oasis’ final single as well as one of their strongest late-period efforts. Those Chemicals songs, meanwhile, rank favourably in Gallagher’s oeuvre at twenty years’ distance. All of which is to say that his brief forays into more experimental territory had been successful, and yet it seemed he had little desire to dig further down that rabbit hole, which was more down to his belief in sticking to what he knew than because his knowledge and appreciation of spacier fare than his own was lacking. Still, in the wake of Oasis’ dissolution, signs that the split was beginning to open him up to new ideas began to emerge, not least at the press conference at which he announced his self-titled debut under the High Flying Birds moniker; at the same time, he confirmed plans to release a second record, made in collaboration with psychedelic duo Amorphous Androgynous, that would range “from vaudeville to space jazz to krautrock, and [be] as out-there as The Dark Side of the Moon”. The producers of that album had seen the same potential in “Falling Down” as many others - their 22-minute remix of it had kicked off the collaboration - but the mooted full-length never materialised, with Gallagher’s destruction of the masters as clear a sign as he could have sent about his dissatisfaction with them. For their part, Amorphous accused Gallagher of bottling it, perhaps liking the idea of sonic weirdness more than the reality; as the pair’s Gaz Cobain told The Guardian in 2015: “I believe ours is the album people wanted him to make – a liberated, exploratory Noel Gallagher, cutting loose from Oasis, enjoying his freedom; the Noel who name-drops our Monstrous Bubble albums and krautrock, and who had hits with The Chemical Brothers. He obviously loves that kind of music, but has no idea how to make it.” The second High Flying Birds record, though, suggested otherwise, particularly on “Riverman” and “The Right Stuff”. The latter track, woozy and sax-flecked, was born out of the Amorphous sessions, but the former had him doing all his own stunts, piecing together obvious touchstones from his past - The Beatles and “Wonderwall” - and infusing them with Nick Drake to produce something that, actually, did bear comparison to Pink Floyd. The sense of disappointment at how crushingly milquetoast the rest of Chasing Yesterday turned out was only compounded by these never-more-frustrating flashes of potential. The news that David Holmes was behind the desk for the sessions for this third solo LP, then, offered fresh hope that Gallagher was finally ready to jump in somewhere close to the deep end. Holmes’ work, which spans solo records, remixes and, most prominently, a slew of movie soundtracks, is primarily concerned with electronic textures and he’s seldom shied away from psychedelic territory. His fingerprints are all over Who Built the Moon?, and he’s clearly hit it off both personally and musically with Gallagher: perhaps it was a case, all along, of him simply needing the right person to be the one giving him the push. “Fort Knox”, in opening the record, sets the tone, marrying Holmes’ dramatic cinematic sensibilities to the kaleidoscopic take on dance-rock that defined Gallagher’s favourite Creation Records album, Primal Scream’s Screamadelica; it’s a stage-setting pump-up, the same way “Fuckin’ in the Bushes” was on Standing on the Shoulder of Giants. The concrete proof of genuine progression comes later; “Holy Mountain” is a brass-fuelled stomper that Gallagher veritably snarls his way through, whilst “Be Careful What You Wish For” is at the other end of the atmospheric spectrum, pitching up somewhere between blissed-out soul and the ominous slink of trip hop, like a nuanced blend of Spiritualized and Portishead. Any concerns that Who Built the Moon? might flatter to deceive the same way that Chasing Yesterday did are put to bed by track four; “Keep on Reaching”’s infectious groove is immediately followed by “It’s a Beautiful World”, which caused a stir on Later...with Jools Holland when Charlotte Marionneau of Le Volume Courbe joined Gallagher on stage to play the scissors; her considerably more telling contribution, of course, is her impassioned spoken word part towards the track’s conclusion - a turn that could so easily have seemed gimmicky or tacked-on, but that instead helps to underline both the record’s sense of experimental urgency and the filmic qualities that Holmes lends to it. Who Built the Moon? does falter a little on the back half, and you wonder whether Gallagher chose to bookend “If Love Is the Law” and “The Man Who Built the Moon” with a couple of two-minute instrumentals because he knew that, as the most straightforward tracks on the record, they might need a little bit of eccentric accentuation. The former, in fairness, creeps up on you, with a harmonica solo that’s far more effective than it has any right to be, but the latter - along with “Black and White Sunshine” - provides one of only a couple of glimpses of the High Flying Birds of old. It speaks volumes that the two most formulaic tracks on a Noel Gallagher album are the ones that stick out like proverbial sore thumbs; previously, they would be the rule and not the exception, and that’s a conclusion that would cover any given Oasis record, too. It’d be wrong to lavish him with too many medals for bravery for Who Built the Moon?, not least because he can absolutely afford to fail; a catastrophic critical and commercial reception would hardly have landed him down the soup kitchen next week, or indeed in empty arenas come next April. It’ll doubtless polarise his core fanbase, but amongst those who recognised his capacity for following an exploratory bent as far back as “Setting Sun” in 1996, the response will be a pithy one - “about time”. Wow, that was a good one.
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Post by elephantstone93 on Nov 29, 2017 12:27:05 GMT -5
BHN has to be listened to in the right conditions, and in the right frame of mind.
Firstly, it has to be stuck on loud. Very loud. Preferably when you are driving with the roof down on a sunny day, or when you are with a group of mates getting pissed. Secondly, its not music to be analysed in depth. Forget the lyrics, forget the fact that the instruments are often indistinguishable, and the acoustics are not nice and clear. Let go of any music snobbery. Its an album to feel good to. Go with the flow. Get the goosebumps during the solo part of Magic Pie, sing happily along to Stand By Me, followed by the adrenaline fuelled IHITIK, feel the euphoria when the naa-naaas finally kick in during All Around the World, get on board the crazy final ride of Its Getting Better Man, particularly the ridiculously long outro that I wish would go on and on forever. It was a special moment captured in time, and to get the essence of BHN is to try and recreate that moment again, wherever you are. If you are lucky enough to manage to do so, it hits the soul on a primitive level far more than any other record I have listened to. YES! On the right day, I love BHN more than any other Oasis album. But sometimes the obnoxious production gets on my nerves and I need to give it a rest. But when it clicks, it's such a happy, uplifting album. Exactly how I feel about it. Although it hasn’t clicked in a while, hope it does soon like.
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Post by matt on Nov 29, 2017 14:41:21 GMT -5
Oasis never did b-sides so Ok, not to be dumb, but help me out with this. What do they mean by "Oasis didn't do B sides"? The Masterplan was an album of B sides, wasn't it? Sorry I meant remixes as b-sides. DOYS was the first album to do that.
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Post by matt on Nov 29, 2017 14:49:38 GMT -5
The Line of Best Fit Review. 7.5/10. This one is usually taken into account for the Metacritic score Noel Gallagher finally shoots for the moon on a daring third solo record Noel Gallagher’s sternest critics usually present his appropriation of The Beatles as Exhibit A when accusing him of lacking originality. Ironically, perhaps the two most direct rip-offs of John Lennon’s songwriting in Gallagher’s catalogue to date came not with Oasis, but in what should ostensibly have been considerably more experimental territory. The brace of tracks on which he collaborated with The Chemical Brothers in the nineties, “Setting Sun” and “Let Forever Be”, both owed colossal debts to “Tomorrow Never Knows”, particularly in terms of percussion. Gallagher would return to that same cresting wave of rolling drums for “Falling Down” in 2009, which proved to be Oasis’ final single as well as one of their strongest late-period efforts. Those Chemicals songs, meanwhile, rank favourably in Gallagher’s oeuvre at twenty years’ distance. All of which is to say that his brief forays into more experimental territory had been successful, and yet it seemed he had little desire to dig further down that rabbit hole, which was more down to his belief in sticking to what he knew than because his knowledge and appreciation of spacier fare than his own was lacking. Still, in the wake of Oasis’ dissolution, signs that the split was beginning to open him up to new ideas began to emerge, not least at the press conference at which he announced his self-titled debut under the High Flying Birds moniker; at the same time, he confirmed plans to release a second record, made in collaboration with psychedelic duo Amorphous Androgynous, that would range “from vaudeville to space jazz to krautrock, and [be] as out-there as The Dark Side of the Moon”. The producers of that album had seen the same potential in “Falling Down” as many others - their 22-minute remix of it had kicked off the collaboration - but the mooted full-length never materialised, with Gallagher’s destruction of the masters as clear a sign as he could have sent about his dissatisfaction with them. For their part, Amorphous accused Gallagher of bottling it, perhaps liking the idea of sonic weirdness more than the reality; as the pair’s Gaz Cobain told The Guardian in 2015: “I believe ours is the album people wanted him to make – a liberated, exploratory Noel Gallagher, cutting loose from Oasis, enjoying his freedom; the Noel who name-drops our Monstrous Bubble albums and krautrock, and who had hits with The Chemical Brothers. He obviously loves that kind of music, but has no idea how to make it.” The second High Flying Birds record, though, suggested otherwise, particularly on “Riverman” and “The Right Stuff”. The latter track, woozy and sax-flecked, was born out of the Amorphous sessions, but the former had him doing all his own stunts, piecing together obvious touchstones from his past - The Beatles and “Wonderwall” - and infusing them with Nick Drake to produce something that, actually, did bear comparison to Pink Floyd. The sense of disappointment at how crushingly milquetoast the rest of Chasing Yesterday turned out was only compounded by these never-more-frustrating flashes of potential. The news that David Holmes was behind the desk for the sessions for this third solo LP, then, offered fresh hope that Gallagher was finally ready to jump in somewhere close to the deep end. Holmes’ work, which spans solo records, remixes and, most prominently, a slew of movie soundtracks, is primarily concerned with electronic textures and he’s seldom shied away from psychedelic territory. His fingerprints are all over Who Built the Moon?, and he’s clearly hit it off both personally and musically with Gallagher: perhaps it was a case, all along, of him simply needing the right person to be the one giving him the push. Noel Gallagher’s sternest critics usually present his appropriation of The Beatles as Exhibit A when accusing him of lacking originality. Ironically, perhaps the two most direct rip-offs of John Lennon’s songwriting in Gallagher’s catalogue to date came not with Oasis, but in what should ostensibly have been considerably more experimental territory. The brace of tracks on which he collaborated with The Chemical Brothers in the nineties, “Setting Sun” and “Let Forever Be”, both owed colossal debts to “Tomorrow Never Knows”, particularly in terms of percussion. Gallagher would return to that same cresting wave of rolling drums for “Falling Down” in 2009, which proved to be Oasis’ final single as well as one of their strongest late-period efforts. Those Chemicals songs, meanwhile, rank favourably in Gallagher’s oeuvre at twenty years’ distance. All of which is to say that his brief forays into more experimental territory had been successful, and yet it seemed he had little desire to dig further down that rabbit hole, which was more down to his belief in sticking to what he knew than because his knowledge and appreciation of spacier fare than his own was lacking. Still, in the wake of Oasis’ dissolution, signs that the split was beginning to open him up to new ideas began to emerge, not least at the press conference at which he announced his self-titled debut under the High Flying Birds moniker; at the same time, he confirmed plans to release a second record, made in collaboration with psychedelic duo Amorphous Androgynous, that would range “from vaudeville to space jazz to krautrock, and [be] as out-there as The Dark Side of the Moon”. The producers of that album had seen the same potential in “Falling Down” as many others - their 22-minute remix of it had kicked off the collaboration - but the mooted full-length never materialised, with Gallagher’s destruction of the masters as clear a sign as he could have sent about his dissatisfaction with them. For their part, Amorphous accused Gallagher of bottling it, perhaps liking the idea of sonic weirdness more than the reality; as the pair’s Gaz Cobain told The Guardian in 2015: “I believe ours is the album people wanted him to make – a liberated, exploratory Noel Gallagher, cutting loose from Oasis, enjoying his freedom; the Noel who name-drops our Monstrous Bubble albums and krautrock, and who had hits with The Chemical Brothers. He obviously loves that kind of music, but has no idea how to make it.” The second High Flying Birds record, though, suggested otherwise, particularly on “Riverman” and “The Right Stuff”. The latter track, woozy and sax-flecked, was born out of the Amorphous sessions, but the former had him doing all his own stunts, piecing together obvious touchstones from his past - The Beatles and “Wonderwall” - and infusing them with Nick Drake to produce something that, actually, did bear comparison to Pink Floyd. The sense of disappointment at how crushingly milquetoast the rest of Chasing Yesterday turned out was only compounded by these never-more-frustrating flashes of potential. The news that David Holmes was behind the desk for the sessions for this third solo LP, then, offered fresh hope that Gallagher was finally ready to jump in somewhere close to the deep end. Holmes’ work, which spans solo records, remixes and, most prominently, a slew of movie soundtracks, is primarily concerned with electronic textures and he’s seldom shied away from psychedelic territory. His fingerprints are all over Who Built the Moon?, and he’s clearly hit it off both personally and musically with Gallagher: perhaps it was a case, all along, of him simply needing the right person to be the one giving him the push. “Fort Knox”, in opening the record, sets the tone, marrying Holmes’ dramatic cinematic sensibilities to the kaleidoscopic take on dance-rock that defined Gallagher’s favourite Creation Records album, Primal Scream’s Screamadelica; it’s a stage-setting pump-up, the same way “Fuckin’ in the Bushes” was on Standing on the Shoulder of Giants. The concrete proof of genuine progression comes later; “Holy Mountain” is a brass-fuelled stomper that Gallagher veritably snarls his way through, whilst “Be Careful What You Wish For” is at the other end of the atmospheric spectrum, pitching up somewhere between blissed-out soul and the ominous slink of trip hop, like a nuanced blend of Spiritualized and Portishead. Any concerns that Who Built the Moon? might flatter to deceive the same way that Chasing Yesterday did are put to bed by track four; “Keep on Reaching”’s infectious groove is immediately followed by “It’s a Beautiful World”, which caused a stir on Later...with Jools Holland when Charlotte Marionneau of Le Volume Courbe joined Gallagher on stage to play the scissors; her considerably more telling contribution, of course, is her impassioned spoken word part towards the track’s conclusion - a turn that could so easily have seemed gimmicky or tacked-on, but that instead helps to underline both the record’s sense of experimental urgency and the filmic qualities that Holmes lends to it. Who Built the Moon? does falter a little on the back half, and you wonder whether Gallagher chose to bookend “If Love Is the Law” and “The Man Who Built the Moon” with a couple of two-minute instrumentals because he knew that, as the most straightforward tracks on the record, they might need a little bit of eccentric accentuation. The former, in fairness, creeps up on you, with a harmonica solo that’s far more effective than it has any right to be, but the latter - along with “Black and White Sunshine” - provides one of only a couple of glimpses of the High Flying Birds of old. It speaks volumes that the two most formulaic tracks on a Noel Gallagher album are the ones that stick out like proverbial sore thumbs; previously, they would be the rule and not the exception, and that’s a conclusion that would cover any given Oasis record, too. It’d be wrong to lavish him with too many medals for bravery for Who Built the Moon?, not least because he can absolutely afford to fail; a catastrophic critical and commercial reception would hardly have landed him down the soup kitchen next week, or indeed in empty arenas come next April. It’ll doubtless polarise his core fanbase, but amongst those who recognised his capacity for following an exploratory bent as far back as “Setting Sun” in 1996, the response will be a pithy one - “about time”. Line Of Best Fit is another journal that can be crippingly self-indulgent although that is a very good review. Though I disagree that Man Who Built sticks out like a sore thumb. While it is recognisably Noel it’s definitely not something I can imagine on the previous two records. A lot of the same tricks are there, but the scope is widened and the ambitious and cinematic sound sets it apart from anything else he’s done in a long long while. Not to mention, the lyrics are some of the most vivid and dark in his career.
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Post by Manualex on Nov 29, 2017 14:49:43 GMT -5
Ok, not to be dumb, but help me out with this. What do they mean by "Oasis didn't do B sides"? The Masterplan was an album of B sides, wasn't it? Sorry I meant remixes as b-sides. DOYS was the first album to do that. And that was the outlier for oasis/NG so far.
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lau
Madferrit Fan
Posts: 99
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Post by lau on Nov 29, 2017 21:58:49 GMT -5
www.musicomh.com/reviews/albums/noel-gallaghers-high-flying-birds-who-built-the-moon4/5 Eight years after Oasis split up, the Gallagher brothers finally seem to have moved on as musicians. Having turned 50 this year, Noel Gallagher has released his third and most adventurous solo album Who Built The Moon? the month after younger brother Liam Gallagher’s surprisingly successful solo debut As You Were. But whereas Liam is still looking to the past for musical inspiration, albeit with new verve after teaming up with other pop songwriters, Noel is now looking to go in a different direction. After the aborted experimental collaboration with Amorphous Androgynous in 2012, he has at last broken away from the solidly made but safely middle of the road retro rock of his first two solo albums and created something much more interesting. Although all songs on the album are credited to Gallagher, there’s no doubt that working with producer David Holmes has acted as catalyst for the change. The Northern Ireland electronic musician and film composer has freed Gallagher up. In a new spirit of open-mindedness, for the first time Gallagher has developed all the songs for an album in the studio. The result is an eclectic mix of psychedelia, electronica, dance beats and space jazz as well as rock which moves along the scale from The Beatles towards erstwhile collaborators The Chemical Brothers. The tempo is upped, while Gallagher’s vocals are in a higher register than usual and the guitars are much further back in a musical mix that is highly textured. Off-kilter opener Fort Knox – according to Gallagher himself inspired by Kanye West’s Power (yes, really!) – sets the new tone with its moody atmosphere, big beats and chanted words from female vocalist Y-See, “Keep on holding out”. Is the dissonant ringing of an alarm clock a wake-up call for a Gallagher we haven’t heard before? Lead single Holy Mountain (with Paul Weller on organ) is also a departure with its brassy glam stomp and Beach Boys-style “woo woo woo” vocal harmonies ending with a tin whistle sample. Gallagher’s voice is almost unrecognizable in this somewhat egotistical love song: “She fell, she fell, right under my spell.” Keep on Reaching is an up-tempo soulful rocker that sees Gallagher reaching for his inner Marvin Gaye, framed by punchy horns and female backing vocalists urging us on to the “higher ground”. Second single It’s A Beautiful World is an electronic dance number about our beautiful but fragile planet, with French singer Charlotte Marionneau calling out the environmental message, “C’est juste la fin du monde”. She Taught Me How To Fly is a Blondie-like poppy love song with a driving beat as Gallagher sings dreamily “She’s out to blow my mind”. The fuzzy Be Careful What You Wish For has a recurring riff similar to that in Come Together, with Gallagher cautioning his children not to be taken in by the lure of material success: “They let you see their riches / They never tell you what you’re worth.” Black & White Sunshine is the most traditional song with its late sixties vibe and Rolling Stones sort of muscularity as Gallagher warns: “You better get up / Before the sun goes down.” The strong influence of Holmes comes through in the ambient instrumental Interlude (Wednesday Pt. 1), which sounds like a theme for a soundtrack. If Love Is The Law (featuring Johnny Marr on guitar and harmonica) is probably the weakest track, galloping along like a cowboy song orchestrated by Phil Spector without getting anywhere, as Gallagher sings of heartbreak: “There’s no more tears left to cry myself blind.” The Man Who Built the Moon is a richly orchestrated track with a seductively dangerous ambience that sounds like Gallagher auditioning for the next Bond movie, as he darkly predicts, “You and I / The spider and the fly / Will meet where the shadows fall”. As its name suggests, closing instrumental End Credits (Wednesday Pt. 2) follows on as another mini-film composition – who knows, perhaps pointing towards Gallagher’s next phase.
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Post by aloneontherope on Nov 29, 2017 23:29:01 GMT -5
www.musicomh.com/reviews/albums/noel-gallaghers-high-flying-birds-who-built-the-moon4/5 Eight years after Oasis split up, the Gallagher brothers finally seem to have moved on as musicians. Having turned 50 this year, Noel Gallagher has released his third and most adventurous solo album Who Built The Moon? the month after younger brother Liam Gallagher’s surprisingly successful solo debut As You Were. But whereas Liam is still looking to the past for musical inspiration, albeit with new verve after teaming up with other pop songwriters, Noel is now looking to go in a different direction. After the aborted experimental collaboration with Amorphous Androgynous in 2012, he has at last broken away from the solidly made but safely middle of the road retro rock of his first two solo albums and created something much more interesting. Although all songs on the album are credited to Gallagher, there’s no doubt that working with producer David Holmes has acted as catalyst for the change. The Northern Ireland electronic musician and film composer has freed Gallagher up. In a new spirit of open-mindedness, for the first time Gallagher has developed all the songs for an album in the studio. The result is an eclectic mix of psychedelia, electronica, dance beats and space jazz as well as rock which moves along the scale from The Beatles towards erstwhile collaborators The Chemical Brothers. The tempo is upped, while Gallagher’s vocals are in a higher register than usual and the guitars are much further back in a musical mix that is highly textured. Off-kilter opener Fort Knox – according to Gallagher himself inspired by Kanye West’s Power (yes, really!) – sets the new tone with its moody atmosphere, big beats and chanted words from female vocalist Y-See, “Keep on holding out”. Is the dissonant ringing of an alarm clock a wake-up call for a Gallagher we haven’t heard before? Lead single Holy Mountain (with Paul Weller on organ) is also a departure with its brassy glam stomp and Beach Boys-style “woo woo woo” vocal harmonies ending with a tin whistle sample. Gallagher’s voice is almost unrecognizable in this somewhat egotistical love song: “She fell, she fell, right under my spell.” Keep on Reaching is an up-tempo soulful rocker that sees Gallagher reaching for his inner Marvin Gaye, framed by punchy horns and female backing vocalists urging us on to the “higher ground”. Second single It’s A Beautiful World is an electronic dance number about our beautiful but fragile planet, with French singer Charlotte Marionneau calling out the environmental message, “C’est juste la fin du monde”. She Taught Me How To Fly is a Blondie-like poppy love song with a driving beat as Gallagher sings dreamily “She’s out to blow my mind”. The fuzzy Be Careful What You Wish For has a recurring riff similar to that in Come Together, with Gallagher cautioning his children not to be taken in by the lure of material success: “They let you see their riches / They never tell you what you’re worth.” Black & White Sunshine is the most traditional song with its late sixties vibe and Rolling Stones sort of muscularity as Gallagher warns: “You better get up / Before the sun goes down.” The strong influence of Holmes comes through in the ambient instrumental Interlude (Wednesday Pt. 1), which sounds like a theme for a soundtrack. If Love Is The Law (featuring Johnny Marr on guitar and harmonica) is probably the weakest track, galloping along like a cowboy song orchestrated by Phil Spector without getting anywhere, as Gallagher sings of heartbreak: “There’s no more tears left to cry myself blind.” The Man Who Built the Moon is a richly orchestrated track with a seductively dangerous ambience that sounds like Gallagher auditioning for the next Bond movie, as he darkly predicts, “You and I / The spider and the fly / Will meet where the shadows fall”. As its name suggests, closing instrumental End Credits (Wednesday Pt. 2) follows on as another mini-film composition – who knows, perhaps pointing towards Gallagher’s next phase. This one reads like a summary of other reviews. Nice though.
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Post by AubreyOasis on Dec 5, 2017 2:52:04 GMT -5
Ultimate Guitar Review: 8/10 www.ultimate-guitar.com/reviews/compact_discs/noel_gallaghers_high_flying_birds/who_built_the_moon/46901/Sound — 8 It's been nearly a decade since we got the last Oasis album ("Dig Out Your Soul", 2008). Things have changed since that time. After a continuous quarrel between brothers they have parted their ways. Liam has released two albums with his new band, Beady Eye. Noel in his turn formed the band called Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds back in 2009. Nearly two months ago at the age of 45 his younger brother has released his first solo effort — "As You Were". Noel's answer was: "You’d think he’d write songs about his divvy ex-wife, having just been divorced from her, know what I mean?" Then he came out with the third album of Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, "Who Built The Moon?" But was it worth the wait? This time Noel & his band have joined forces with the famous producer David Holmes who is famous for his soundtracks to a great amount of movies. And that cinematic approach can be definitely heard on "Who Built The Moon?" "Interlude (Wednesday Pt. 1)" & "End Credits (Wednesday Pt. 2" (both instrumental) sound exactly as a beautiful soundtrack to your late-neon-filled night stroll. The opening track "Fort Knox" is a pompous offering to Noel's psychedelic world. Closer to the end of it Noel repeats "You gotta get yourself together" and it sounds fantastic. To say more — Noel's third work is more psychedelic and less straight forward as his previous works. The hazy atmosphere can be clearly heard on most of the tracks here. "She Taught Me How to Fly", "Keep On Reaching" etc. It's almost everywhere! A real standout — live track (the last one) that was included into the album. That moody acoustic ballad suits the album perfectly. And don't forget Noel's songwriting talent! He is responsible for "Wonderwall". And on "Who Built The Moon" we can find one of his best songs since Oasis. And it is definitely "The Man Who Built The Moon" — a beautiful, rocking and energy driven song with the sounds of ringing bells. Lyrics — 8 It seems like Noel spent more time on creating psychedelic musical landscape then on lyrics this time. His verses on "Who Built The Moon?" are floating in the sea of guitars and effects. All hazy yet poetic words on "The Man Who Built The Moon": "Wipe away the tear That only comes with peace Wipe it with a rose of love you saw Was falling on the leaves" An eccentric take on life ("Black & White Sunshine"): "Here in the jungle I can’t get a break for love nor money The weight of the world Is dragging me down down down The heat in the bubble She’s coming down on everybody You better get up Before the sun goes down" While listening to that record at first you got fascinated with the music and only then — by the lyrics. But anyway they are here in the right place. Overall Impression — 8 After two albums Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds came out with an ambitious and highly joyous record full of noises, beautiful melodies and amazing arrangements. "Who Built The Moon?" is more mature and colorful then it's predecessors. Noel's ability to write good melodies and beautiful lyrics is in full bloom here. "Who Built The Moon" is a serious statement. All dreamy, melancholic and psychedelic — that record is definitely worth trying.
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Post by mrsifters80 on Dec 5, 2017 3:09:00 GMT -5
really liking this album I must say,
she taught me how to fly, black & white Sunshine, the man who built the moon my favourites
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lau
Madferrit Fan
Posts: 99
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Post by lau on Dec 5, 2017 9:23:23 GMT -5
www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2017/12/noel-gallaghers-high-flying-birds-who-built-the-mo.html8.4 There’s a theory floating around—an unlikely but gripping conspiracy—that the famous feud between Oasis founders Noel and Liam Gallagher is nothing more than a publicity stunt, an ingeniously manufactured tiff to keep both their names in the press. If that’s the case, the surely-intended marketing coup of having the battling brothers release solo LPs within weeks of each other is brilliant. If it isn’t the case, it’s still brilliant. Another scrappy, petty jab in an endlessly entertaining saga. In big brother Noel’s corner we have his High Flying Birds—or as Liam calls them, “The High Flying Turds”—charging through their third LP with a knowing swagger. “You gotta get yourself together” he sings on the largely instrumental opener, “Fort Knox”—its massive beat and ring-the-alarm strings signaling that Gallagher intends to do just that, as he paints with a broader sonic palette than he has in years. Right out the gate, he hits us with the honking sax and glam-rock rave-up of the irresistible “Holy Mountain” that has him chasing a bird who “smelled like 1969” (does that mean she smells like patchouli? Richard Nixon?) backing it right up against the heady swirl of Primal Scream/Rolling Stones horn punches and gospel-tinged backup vocals of “Keep On Reaching.” It’s a bracing one-two punch that, with every vicious stomp of Jeremy Stacey’s kick drum, batters away the accepted notion that this Gallagher only does mid-tempo acoustic numbers. Gallagher chose wisely with producer David Holmes, the slightly left-of-center choices and film score-sweep he brings to the tracks making sure they sound nothing but modern, even if Gallagher seems to be mining the same influences as always. Holmes adds a metallic, disco shimmer to “She Taught Me How To Fly,” steering it away from pop cheese even as Gallagher gushes over his “divine” object of affection. He does the same for “If Love Is The Law,” a harmonica-accented jaunt that takes the kind of economical pop song that Gallagher can write in his sleep, and elevates it the bright spot of the album’s back half. The overall standout besides “Holy Mountain” is the cautionary “Be Careful What You Wish For,” which has Gallagher dishing out biting heeds over a killer, loop-like blues riff. “They’ll let you play the game, son/But they’ll never let you win,” he sings, cooly, passing off cynical advice with the tone of first-hand experience. There’s a duo of moody, cinematic instrumentals toward the end that are of interest but little consequence, as well as the bonus track “Dead In The Water (Live at RTE 2FM Studios, Dublin),” which proves he’s still the king of encore-ready, acoustic bruisers. What these anomalies don’t do is throw off the unity of the album, a real feat considering the amount of moods and modes Who Built The Moon? covers. Regardless of which brother is your favorite—aren’t we just rooting for the bickering itself at this point?—most would agree that this is Noel’s strongest work post-Oasis…maybe even Liam.
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Post by aloneontherope on Dec 5, 2017 11:32:23 GMT -5
www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2017/12/noel-gallaghers-high-flying-birds-who-built-the-mo.html8.4 There’s a theory floating around—an unlikely but gripping conspiracy—that the famous feud between Oasis founders Noel and Liam Gallagher is nothing more than a publicity stunt, an ingeniously manufactured tiff to keep both their names in the press. If that’s the case, the surely-intended marketing coup of having the battling brothers release solo LPs within weeks of each other is brilliant. If it isn’t the case, it’s still brilliant. Another scrappy, petty jab in an endlessly entertaining saga. In big brother Noel’s corner we have his High Flying Birds—or as Liam calls them, “The High Flying Turds”—charging through their third LP with a knowing swagger. “You gotta get yourself together” he sings on the largely instrumental opener, “Fort Knox”—its massive beat and ring-the-alarm strings signaling that Gallagher intends to do just that, as he paints with a broader sonic palette than he has in years. Right out the gate, he hits us with the honking sax and glam-rock rave-up of the irresistible “Holy Mountain” that has him chasing a bird who “smelled like 1969” (does that mean she smells like patchouli? Richard Nixon?) backing it right up against the heady swirl of Primal Scream/Rolling Stones horn punches and gospel-tinged backup vocals of “Keep On Reaching.” It’s a bracing one-two punch that, with every vicious stomp of Jeremy Stacey’s kick drum, batters away the accepted notion that this Gallagher only does mid-tempo acoustic numbers. Gallagher chose wisely with producer David Holmes, the slightly left-of-center choices and film score-sweep he brings to the tracks making sure they sound nothing but modern, even if Gallagher seems to be mining the same influences as always. Holmes adds a metallic, disco shimmer to “She Taught Me How To Fly,” steering it away from pop cheese even as Gallagher gushes over his “divine” object of affection. He does the same for “If Love Is The Law,” a harmonica-accented jaunt that takes the kind of economical pop song that Gallagher can write in his sleep, and elevates it the bright spot of the album’s back half. The overall standout besides “Holy Mountain” is the cautionary “Be Careful What You Wish For,” which has Gallagher dishing out biting heeds over a killer, loop-like blues riff. “They’ll let you play the game, son/But they’ll never let you win,” he sings, cooly, passing off cynical advice with the tone of first-hand experience. There’s a duo of moody, cinematic instrumentals toward the end that are of interest but little consequence, as well as the bonus track “Dead In The Water (Live at RTE 2FM Studios, Dublin),” which proves he’s still the king of encore-ready, acoustic bruisers. What these anomalies don’t do is throw off the unity of the album, a real feat considering the amount of moods and modes Who Built The Moon? covers. Regardless of which brother is your favorite—aren’t we just rooting for the bickering itself at this point?—most would agree that this is Noel’s strongest work post-Oasis…maybe even Liam. Nice, nice...good reviews keep on coming.
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Post by CFC2013 on Dec 5, 2017 23:14:48 GMT -5
Nice to see this album getting the praise it deserves.
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Post by The Escapist on Dec 7, 2017 17:46:05 GMT -5
Light to decent six from Builthony Moonthano.
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lau
Madferrit Fan
Posts: 99
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Post by lau on Dec 8, 2017 9:52:30 GMT -5
www.popmatters.com/noel-gallagher-who-built-the-moon-2515688557.html8/10 Noel Gallagher's productivity under the moniker of solo outfit the High Flying Birds demonstrates his musicianship and progressing showmanship since Oasis split up in 2009. The third album released under this name pushes his success and the consistency of his post-Oasis output into new territory with a set of songs recorded outside his typical writing and recording playbook. Who Built the Moon? was written and recorded with Irish electronic musician and producer David Holmes and results in an album as deep as both Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds and Chasing Yesterday but faster-paced and experimental, incorporating tape loops and exciting arrangements. Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds Who Built the Moon? (Sour Mash) Release Date: 24 Nov 2017 With a release date within two months of brother Liam Gallagher's first proper solo album As You Were, comparisons have been rife, and prospects of an Oasis reunion frequently asked in interviews. Altogether the notion of a reunion has grown louder since the 20th anniversary of Oasis's largest album (What's the Story) Morning Glory? in 2015. Liam has furthered that prospect more so than Noel, including the buildup to his solo album's release in October, but Noel has denied any interest and rejected listening to his brother's new output. Comparing their albums together is unwise, beyond the similar release dates, they are far apart in style, sensibility, and relevance. Who Built the Moon? finds Noel capturing an energetic swagger, optimistically recalling his influences and celebrating fun activities. Even while the songs were written in the studio with Holmes, a dynamic shift from Gallagher's typical methods of writing-demoing-recording, and seem to eschew the style he has cultivated over a two-decade-long career, the album casually references Oasis songs and elements. Opener "Fort Knox" calls back to 2000's Standing on the Shoulder of Giants' opener "Fuckin' in the Bushes", structured around a core psychedelic instrumental and a looped hook. Additional psychedelic and tape loop elements permeate the album, building a dense and heavily layered production. Lead single "Holy Mountain" features a great chorus and a dance-worthy beat, too, and generates as much fun as Gallagher himself has praised in the song, even if the lyrics leave you scratching your head about their meaning ("she smelt like 1969"?). Of course, that's a hallmark of Gallagher's lyrics constant with or without his playbook: they can be deep, fun, poetic, and throwaways. The most fun is the sampled tin-whistle though, splicing through the dense mix that purposefully buries Gallagher's vocal performance. "Keep on Reaching," the album's third track highlights Gallagher's influences specifically, sounding at once like an all-out rocker while simultaneously bringing in a magnificent set of chorus singers and soul. Along with "It's a Beautiful World", these tracks provide the best connections to the album's predecessors, while throwing away a solitude implied by those albums and the stylistic connection. With "It's a Beautiful World", Gallagher additionally comes closest to challenging his concepts that Who Built the Moon? is about fun, a night out, and your love. The French verse added to the second half of the song speaks to the end of the world, otherwise out of place, but still a part of that place, on the record. It's like a sharp pullback to reality within a dream. On both "She Taught Me How to Fly" and "Be Careful What You Wish For", Gallagher emphasizes the direct approach on the album, that of strength through love and perseverance. Though some self-referential lines dating back to Oasis albums appear prominently in both songs and stand out among Gallagher's lyrical odes to determination and resistance. "So put your money where your mouth is" and "waiting for the rapture" appear respectively in those songs, name-checking Oasis songs released on Standing on the Shoulder of Giants and Dig Out Your Soul (coincidentally both influenced heavily by psychedelia). Across an interlude and a pair of songs that focus on traditional rock-pop arrangement and lost love ("Black & White Sunshine", "If Love Is the Law"), the album ends on a cataclysmic sounding opus in "The Man Who Built the Moon". At once the track responsible for the album's name, the song is full of biblical references and other consequences spelling out doom and portent, backed by an eerie ringing musical arrangement that punctuates the album on a fatalistic note. It shouldn't fit with the optimistic energy of much of the album's tracks, but it caps off the frivolity presented by tracks like "Holy Mountain" perfectly. Both of Gallagher's previous solo albums were enjoyable, but both were additionally more direct and immediately pulled you into the listening experience. The captivating aspect of Who Built the Moon? is its capability to grow in depth across multiple listens. Furthermore, the album intensifies and gains strength with multiple listens. If you expect the experience of Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds building from latter-day Oasis to continue, then this is a jarring shift, albeit not too radically. Gallagher is a solid musician, never straying too far from his comfort zone, but in this foray into more experimental writing and production qualities, he changes the direction so subtly to leave you wanting more just when you were arriving at some aspect of comfortability.
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Post by aloneontherope on Dec 8, 2017 10:05:13 GMT -5
Wow! Just how many more staunch critics will he turn with this record? Popmatters rated both NGHFB and CY a 5/10.
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Post by CFC2013 on Dec 8, 2017 13:27:31 GMT -5
Where's the COS review?
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Post by The Invisible Sun on Dec 9, 2017 9:00:42 GMT -5
Light to decent six from Builthony Moonthano. He trashed STMHTF. I think the song has decent lyrics. Repetitive in the versus, yes, but the chorus is really good from a lyrical standpoint.
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