More power (Liam Gallagher) (LP 2609 - 2611)

Liam Gallagher  C'mon You Know (CD, Warner Records, 2022) ***  

Rory Gallagher Transmission Impossible (3CD, Eat To The Beat Records, 2022) **** 

Crowded House Gravity Stairs (Vinyl, BMG Records, 2024) **** 

Genre: Rock

Places I remember: JB Hi Fi

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Everything's Electric (C'mon You Know)

Gear costume: Black Water, White Circle (Gravity Stairs)

Active compensatory factors: A recent trip to Palmerston North resulted in these purchases (these and more but we'll get to them in due course).

C'mon You Know is Liam's fourth solo outing and probably the weakest, if truth be told. However, given I gave all of the others four stars, this is a three-star (pretty fine) album.

Opening track (More Power) has a kids' choral group introducing the song's opening lyrics. It's cheesy and doesn't bear repeat listens. But then Liam's vocals kick in and all is (mostly) forgiven. He is unique and he sings with real authority.

The rest of the album is good but not great and certainly not a patch on his first solo album which is untouchable.

Rory's triple CD pack collects up songs not on his BBC Sessions double set. The first CD features Taste in BBC sessions from 1968-1969. The power trio is a great setting for Rory. This is raw and in your face. So - good, in other words.

CD 2 and 3 feature sessions from 1971 to 1974 and Rory delivers every time. Some great slide guitar on Could Have Had Religion from a John Peel 1971 session. There are tons of other highlights.

Crowded House's latest iteration have just released their new album - Gravity Stairs. Its sound harks back to the dream-pop of Liam and Neil's Lightsleeper project from four years ago. That's good news, I love that album.

Neil's voice lends itself to this kind of music and he's ably supported by his sons, Mitchell Froom and Nick Seymour. Even Tim and Sharon make appearances, so at times it has a Woodface feel to it. I'll be playing this one often I suspect.

Great Revolver style cover too!

Where do they all belong? Other purchases to come along the way.

Bold (Liam Gallagher) (LP 2569 - 2571)

Liam Gallagher  As You Were (CD, Warner Bros Records, 2017) *****  

Liam Gallagher  Why Me? Why Not (CD, Warner Bros Records, 2019) ****  

Liam Gallagher  MTV Unplugged (Live at Hull City Hall) (CD, Warner Bros Records, 2020) ****  

Genre: Pop rock

Places I remember: JB Hi Fi

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Once (Why Me? Why Not)

Gear costume: Wall Of Glass (As You Were)

Active compensatory factors: After the ropey Beady Eye years (I only bought their first of their two albums), I didn't hold a lot of hope for Liam's first solo album.

Wow! Where did this one come from?? Not only a return to form, but the best post Oasis album from either Gallagher brother, and by some distance!

Each song has a hook, melodies, excellent execution (the sixties/ Beatles obsessions work completely via Greg Kurstin's input), and Liam sings better than ever. An absolute triumph.

Second solo album, Why Me? Why Not is good, but not as consistently great as As You Were. It still houses a couple of his greatest songs though - Shockwave, One Of Us and the brilliant Once (surely a song of appeasement to Noel).

The live album is good too - he was on a roll (all four of his solo albums have jumped straight to number 1 in the charts).

The atmosphere is terrific - Liam Liam Liam football chant included. The song selection is good - a smattering of Oasis songs among cuts from the first two solo albums. And Bonehead appears on a few songs.

Where do they all belong? C'mon You Know is his fourth solo album and I'll need to pick up a copy sometime.

The beat goes on (Beady Eye) (LP 480)

Beady Eye Different Gear, Still Speeding (CD, Beady Eye Records, 2011) ***

Genre: British pop/rock 

Places I remember: Dubai Mall's Virgin Mega Store

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Millionaire (nice mid paced offering without the bombast) 

Gear costume: The Roller (Instant Karma homage - let's be charitable); Beatles and Stones (another homage)

Active compensatory factors: Three thoughts: Liam is a great singer; Beady Eye is not a great band, but it's good enough; that's one crap cover!

We'll get to Liam's far superior solo albums in due course, meanwhile this is rollicking fun for the most part, with some spirited moments (as noted above).

Unfortunately, there are also moments like Bring The Light that shouldn't have been and some uninspired filler.

Where do they all belong? I didn't bother with the second Beady Eye album, so it's onto Noel's High Flying Birds next in this on-going soap opera between the brothers.

Mindless conversation (Beady Eye)

Beady Eye The Beat Goes On/ In The Bubble With A Bullet   (Beady Eye Records, Beady6 2011)

I'm not a Beady Eye fan as such and my allegiance to Oasis (Beady Eye with Noel Gallagher) was sorely tested as they petered out with a series of CDs typified by ever dwindling returns. They had me up to and including Heathen Chemistry but I had to cling to hope from there on in.

I bought this single from Fopp in Covent Garden anyway cos it was a single on vinyl and it was 2011 and it could have been good - that 'hope' thing again.

It's not. The beat goes on huh? Sounds leaden and dull as dishwater. I always have to check I've got it on 45 rpm rather than 33 1/3. Yikes Liam! What on earth possessed you to release this as a single????

Hidden gem (no pun intended): Oh Jiminy Cricket YES! The B side is far superior. It's bright and shiny and bops along on a lovely bed of acoustic guitars and, yes, enthusiasm. Liam doesn't over sing it and it's pretty all around fine. Amazingly it doesn't appear on the album (yes I bought it and may have played it twice before bunging it on the shelf next to Dig Out Your Soul).


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You'll never change what's been and gone (Oasis)

I love reading Liam and Noel Gallagher interviews. They speak honestly and without their guard up as a whole. That is very refreshing in the world of modern entertainment.

I recently bought a book of their collected quotes called Mad For It (The wit and wisdom of the brothers Gallagher).

You'll recall I wrote about Liam's Beady Eye band a while back. Beady Eye being basically the Oasis band without the Chief.

Here's a Liam quote I love from 1994:

I tell you , when I read that
Oasis is Noel's band that
f****** sent me...it's no one's band.
Take one away and there's nowt left.

Oh dear!

Here's one of my favourite Oasis songs to remind us about what the Gallaghers United football team is capable of.

Hear yer head a-banging on the door (Oasis)

Liam and Noel Gallagher's band, Oasis, broke up their soap opera existence a while ago (2009) and the brothers now find themselves in opposing camps.

Liam is an iconoclastic front man (even though he sings with his hands behind his back and his head tilted up so that he's singing to the pigeons on the enormo-stadium roof) and Noel is the iconoclastic guitarist and songwriter (Liam's songs are pretty naff).

Now Liam fronts Oasis without Noel - same members but now called Beady Eye (a really naff band name) while Noel is going solo with an album coming out in October (why so long?). I bought the Beady Eye album like I've bought all the Oasis albums on release. I've only listened to it once right through so far. It's okay but the Mojo review was full of unjustified praise. It's an okay Oasis lite album (I'd slot it in about 9th equal place in my favourite Oasis album list with their last two studio albums).

• (What's the Story) Morning Glory? (1995)
• Heathen Chemistry (2002)
• Be Here Now (1997)
• Definitely Maybe (1994)
• Masterplan (1998)
• MTV Unplugged (Noel solo) (1996)
• ...There and Then (1996)
• Standing on the Shoulder of Giants (2000)
• Beady Eye (2011)
• Dig Out Your Soul (2008)
• Don't Believe the Truth (2005)

As you can tell I am inclined towards the Noel camp, although both of them can be pretty obnoxious. However, anyone who writes songs like Wonderwall and Don't Look Back In Anger gets my vote. They both make good copy though and their interviews are always worth reading.

The sibling rivalry aspect is pretty interesting. At the end of the day blood is thicker than water but you wouldn't know it from the way brothers have tiffs in bands.

Dire Straits, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Kinks are three that immediately spring to mind. In each one a dominant song writing brother, who was the main singer (Mark Knopfler, John Fogerty, Ray Davies) outshone and clashed with the other guitarist brother (David Knopfler, Tom Fogerty, Dave Davies). Egos went into overdrive and being stuck together in a pressure cooker environment and having a baseline of sibling rivalry clearly added up to a potent brew.

In the Gallagher's case it turned ugly early on and ended in violence. Not a good recipe for sustained success.

I'm looking forward to Noel's solo album. In the meantime I'll have another listen to Beady Eye.