This may be the year 2015, but it's sort of like 1995 with new music from Noel Gallagher, Paul Weller and Blur arriving in the first half of the year. Noel announced his album "Chasing Yesterday" in October 2014 and it dropped on March 3rd, making for a rather painful 4 month wait. We had the first single, In The Heat Of Moment (great chorus) and the excellent b-side Do The Damage to tide us over. But still a 4 month wait to hear the full album seemed kind of long and somewhat mean. At least The Ballad Of The Mighty I also became available in early January. Tremendous song, with a guitar assist from Johnny Marr at the end.
Was the album worth the wait? Yes. We know that Oasis is my favourite band and Noel Gallagher is way up there in terms of my favourite artists. But the music still has to deliver. "Chasing Yesterday" opens with Riverman. The strummed guitar intro sounds a bit like Wonderwall, but the comparisons end for me there. The song has a mellow vibe but after the first verse / chorus, there is a very tasty guitar solo. As much as I like the first High Flying Birds album, I felt it did lack guitar solos, which Noel does excel at. This record makes up for that pretty much in the first song! Then a sax kicks in and it actually fits. The sax is not my fave instrument but it has it's place when done well. It's understated and adds to the breeziness of the song.
In The Heat Of The Moment is the second song and it's okay. Not my favourite song but not the worst either. Good chorus as I said earlier but, I, like most people apparently, could do without the "na na nas" that lead it off. In a live setting, he rectifies this, using horns and guitars to fill the space. It makes the song better, so I'm really hoping for a live DVD of this tour. The Girl With X Ray Eyes is third and this song is good, mellow, sort of like a David Bowie Space Oddity jam. Lock All The Doors is next and it's like a lost Oasis cut. Liam could probably destroy this back in the day but Noel does it more than justice. Just a straight up rocker, something else that was definitely missing on the first High Flying Birds record.
Dying Of The Light ends the first half of the record and it's a solid power ballad. Despite the presence of a credibility-defying lyric about Noel or the character he's singing about "not being able to afford the bus fare", this song really works for me. It's understated and live it just soars. The Right Stuff is next and this is a mind-blowing song if you are an Oasis fan. Saxes, guitars, bass lines, this proves to me that Noel just has solid song writing chops and can make most genres work for him, because he knows the right way around a tune.
The Song Remains The Same is next and this one is mellow but off-kilter enough to be interesting, the guitar solo is nice and it flows nicely into The Mexican, which, again judging from internet rumble, no one really likes. The lyrics are not great but the song is. It's funky, has cowbells and nice guitar flourishes. I just tune out the lyrics and let the music take me away on this one. You Know We Can't Go Back is another lost Oasis-type jam and it rocks nicely. The Ballad Of The Mighty I is tremendous as I said before and it gets better with every listen. Noel brings it vocally on this track. The deluxe edition boasts Do The Damage, Revolution Song (okay) and my fave, Freaky Teeth. This one was performed live on the first High Flying Birds tour and it is a keeper. Really solid rocker that I'm glad got the studio version it deserved.
I'm really hoping we don't have to wait another 4 years for the next follow-up...but given Noel's history and pedigree, I'm sure it will be worth whatever wait we're in for.
I was fortunate enough to see Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds at the Sony Center in Toronto on May 4th. I was also fortunate enough to score 2nd row seats. He played a great set which consisted mostly of High Flying Birds tunes but also some Oasis cuts...including a somewhat acoustic Champagne Supernova and an encore starting The Masterplan. I'm sorry but are you kidding me? A B-Side aired as the first song in the encore in North America. Yes, please. My preference is to hear his solo songs as they are great live but the 5 Oasis songs aired (with the exception of Digsy's Dinner) are choice cuts that aren't Wonderwall. If and when Oasis ever get back together I will be primed to hear all the hits but Noel's solo songs stand on their own and if you are going to attend one of his shows, please do yourself a favour and pick up the 2 High Flying Birds records. To me, Noel Gallagher is the Pete Townsend or equivalent of my generation. Can I even say Paul McCartney? If you don't agree, fine, but seriously, who has been more consistent in the past 20 years at writing great tunes?
Oh wait, I can answer that by talking about Paul Weller. I am a late arriving Weller fan. When I went to V Fest in Toronto in 2008, I went to see Oasis, but also was lucky to see Stereophonics and then Weller in support. All I knew about Paul Weller prior to September 2008 was A Town Called Malice by The Jam and the fact that he played guitar on Champagne Supernova and that he was friends with Noel Gallagher. But, I was pretty engaged in his set overall, enough for me to go out and get his Jam/Style Council/Solo greatest hits album "Hit Parade" and then picking up his at the time latest "22 Dreams". The highlights of his live set were From The Floorboards Up, Eton Rifles, The Changingman, Town Called Malice and when he said he was going to play a B-Side (I don't remember which one, but I just liked the sentiment). That is gold in this day and age.
"22 Dreams" is a concept record I think, but the common theme is that the songs are just great. "Wake Up The Nation" (holy shit, I almost wrote "Waking Up The Neighbours", which of course is the Bryan Adams record from the early '90's with the Robin Hood song on it plus many other amazing guilty pleasures) followed and then "Sonik Kicks". The common thread between all these albums is that Paul Weller was not afraid to experiment, yet keep his strong sense of melody and song craft intact. When I picked up "More Modern Classics" (his 2nd solo greatest hits, after "Modern Classics"), I was surprised about how coherently it all flowed together. But maybe I shouldn't have been. The dude is the modfather and Noel Gallagher is his friend. I was late to this party but I'm glad I caught up.
He released another solo effort in May 2015 called "Saturns Pattern". It is solid. Internet chatter suggests that it isn't as experimental as other efforts but it still works for me. The first 3 songs are classic and the tunefulness is there. Long live the modfather. All in all, the 9 tracks hang together and I'm still spinning this one a few months later.
Which brings me to Blur. When Blur announced in late February that they had recorded a new album, "The Magic Whip" and that it would be out in late April, I was pretty excited, mostly because they were only making me wait 2 months. Blur were/are one of my favourite bands and this would be their first record as Blur since "Think Tank" in 2003 (there were a few songs released in 2010, which were good, a bit of a tease, but never a full record). It would also be their first record with guitarist Grahan Coxon since "13" in 1999. The lead single/song Go Out is a feedback-squalled gem and then they kept releasing other songs from the record, like Lonesome Street and There Are Too Many Of Us, until half of it was available prior to the album actually coming out. I'm fine with this practice. All of them sounded great, but none as sublime as Ong Ong. This song is one of my favourites, if not my favourite of the year so far. Also, great video.
But then there is My Terracotta Heart, which is on par with their greatest I won't say ballads but slower tunes. For an album that was basically discarded and that Graham Coxon had to salvage and piece together for Damon Albarn to write words to, the songs are top notch.
Like Noel Gallagher, Damon Albarn is one of my all time favourite artists. Most of what he touches is gold - Blur, Gorillaz, The Good The Bad & The Queen, weird opera stuff. I have a lot of time for him but Blur will always be the band of his I constantly go back to. The song Beetlebum is likely in my top 5 ever, I never get tired of that song. Come to think of it, 1997 was a pretty great year for music - The Verve's "Urban Hymns", Blur's self-titled record, Oasis' "Be Here Now", Radiohead's "OK Computer", Third Eye Blind's self-titled record, even U2's somewhat misguided "Pop" (really not as bad as you thought). I was going to write a blog piece on U2's "Pop" and it was going to be my first official post but the AV Club beat me to it (here). Nice one AV Club and nice one 1997, thanks for the music.
You often see bands / artists falter and struggle in their later years (see my last Bon Jovi post, who actually have a new album coming out in 1 month, and I'm trying to be nonchalant about it but I'll definitely check it out and am kind of excited even though it will probably not be good), so it's refreshing to see these old school artists still churning out not only respectable music but arguably some of the best music they've ever released.
I promise not to be as long between posts next time! I've got the next few written in my head, just need to get them on the screen so to speak.
Until next time...
