Fans of Oasis, Beady Eye and Liam Gallagher’s solo work will be thrilled to hear of his latest album release, As You Were. It has already made a big impact, becoming the fastest selling vinyl record of the last 20 years. With 16,000 copies sold in just one week, will his latest offering live up to the hype?
Gallagher has been all over social media news recently, for his outspoken remarks towards fellow musicians, celebrities and pretty much anyone and anything that he feels like criticising. It is unlikely that this has been purely a coincidence, but controversy alone does not guarantee decent sales. He has struggled to shift units since leaving his former band with his brother Noel, and even with the support of die-hard Oasis mega fans, his band Beady Eye failed to claim a place at the table.
Even with the help of one of the industry’s most successful pop songwriters, Greg Kurstin (Adele, Sia, Ellie Goulding), the album’s lyrical content is generally poor. Even from the first line ‘You were keepin’ secrets in ya/you were keepin’ paraphernalia’, it is immediately apparent that As You Were will hardly change the rulebook. Not only from a songwriting perspective, but also production-wise, “Wall Of Sounds” comes across as very paint-by-numbers. Musically, the vocal melody sounds very close to many mid 90’s Oasis hits, and the general arrangement follows suit. Granted there are a few extra bells and whistles that elevate it from a generic 4-piece rock group, but it is proof that Gallagher’s musical style has remained fairly stagnant.
“Greedy Soul” features influences from The Kinks, and a fair few f-bombs for added attitude, but the result is tame. So far the backing vocals have been one of the best elements of the album, but Liam still sounds surprisingly youthful, considering how long his gravelly tones have been shouted through a microphone. He certainly has not quite lost his Midas touch, as he boasts, but it is all too familiar; with ballads that reference “Wonderwall” and other big hits, actually being very sweet in comparison. On “Paper Crown” he imitates the Beatles, and shows off much more vocal range and versatility. “For What It’s Worth” follows; ‘Devils on my doorstep since the day I was born/it’s hard to find a sunset in the eye of a storm’ is the closest we get to a poignant line, and it is once again, a little too close to vintage Oasis classics like “Don’t Look Back In Anger”. The similarities are hard to forgive, and as hard as he tries, they do not come close to beating the originals. Gallagher is somewhat cursed by his previous success though, and if he had followed a totally new path, such as The Red Hot Chilli Peppers’ John Frusciante perusing a minimal techno career, the backlash from fans would have been immense.
As You Were maintains a thoroughly high level of production value, which is commendable, the the songwriting however is consistently poor. On “Chinatown”, one of the more laid-back, acoustic moments, we hear some of the worst lyrics yet: ‘While the cops are taking over/while everyones in yoga/’cos happiness is still a warm gun/what’s it to be free man? What’s a European? 
Me, I just believe in the sun’. As much as Theresa May must be grateful for his musings on Brexit, it showcases some shoddy work, and from here on in the songs do not get any less embarrassing. “Universal Gleam” once again references 90’s Oasis way too much, and by this point many listeners will have run out of patience.
Gallagher has achieved exactly what he appears to have set out to on this release, and for that he does not deserve criticism. However the fans who have rushed out to buy it may need to reconsider why they did, as they are purely fuelling an already inflated ego of an artist who has not had an original idea in two decades.
Why not come in and decide for yourself? Pop into your local Richer Sounds today and hear it in our demo room.
