Liam Gallagher and John Squire, despite being two of the best musicians of the modern age, have been victims of their own monumental success. Be Here Now and Standing on the Shoulder of Giants were slagged off for not matching the lofty heights of Definitely Maybe and Morning Glory. Second Coming was dismissed for not being a patch on The Stone Roses. You raise the bar too high, the audience is going to loudly say you’ve missed your mark.
And now it seems that history has repeated itself.
When it was announced that the two were going to be releasing a record together I think it’s safe to say folks of the 90s were preparing for the second coming of Christ in album form. Oasis meets Stone Roses, the Mancunian snarl meeting the spaced-out guitars of Madchester’s finest. We all knew it was going to be number one from the word go with ten bangers on the way for spring.
Or rather we hoped. What we have ended up with was probably going to be a disappointment regardless of how good it truly was. All the hype set the bar too high. Or maybe it’s a case of the two coasting along, knowing that whatever they put out is going to be lapped up. Whatever the case this album has not been well-received. Some have loved it, others have crapped on it.
Me? I dunno, I still need to figure out what this album truly is, if it is a misunderstood masterpiece that will be vindicated by history a la SOTSOG, or if it is, by Gallagher and Squire standards, shit. I haven’t listened to it in full since release day. Let’s try it again.
Track #1 – Raise Your Hands
Off to a good start. Liam sounds good and John is given the last 30 seconds to have some fun on the guitar. Little tease of the solos you need to get used to whenever he’s in town. A bit pop-leaning but one that would get the crowd at a live show pumped up. Can’t complain really. One down, nine to go.
Track #2 – Mars To Liverpool
Love that opening line, I honestly think it’s up there with “Son, I’m thirty, I only went with your mother cos she’s dirty” from Kinky Afro. Arguably should’ve been the lead single, this. It’s one you can’t get enough of.
Track #3 – One Day At A Time
Acoustic is a little refreshing, shame it gets swallowed up and is never heard from again for the rest of the album. Oh and sound the lyric alarm because we have this corker: “You should’ve f*cked me when you had the chance”. Bit try-hard and out of place.
Track #4 – I’m A Wheel
The most recent single. Was it worth bothering to make it so? Mmm. Yeah, definitely. Very bluesy. I approve. Mind you, I had to stop and check I hadn’t imagined Liam singing “There’s blood in my custard”. To me that’s a lyric that you put in something akin to I Am The Walrus, not a stomper like this. But hey, it’s one small misstep. I’m enjoying myself a lot more than when I last listened to the album. Will the good times keep rolling?
EDIT: Sorry, make that two missteps, I missed “these aren’t the droids you’re looking for”.
Track #5 – Just Another Rainbow
In terms of music itself this album has excelled for me so far and this is arguably the apex – The guitarwork and production sends you sky high in a psychedelic haze and I’m all here for it.
Unfortunately, in terms of lyrics so far this is the nadir. Let’s get the obvious out of the way, listing the colours of the rainbow is just daft. Forgive me for referencing a Beatles song two times in a row but that should be for a children’s song like Yellow Submarine. This is not a child’s song.
I still like it though. As with I’m A Wheel, it’s just one questionable part of a song that I’d happily listen to over and over.
Track #6 – Love You Forever
It’s at this point I get worried we might be setting up a formula. Verse-chorus-verse-chorus-fill in the blanks with guitars solos and chorus. I hope we’re not about to get complacent as I feared might happen.
As for the song overall, not a lot to offer frankly. It’s a bit Seahorsey but that’s all I can really say.
Track #7 – Make It Up As You Go Along
This one offered something though…to TikTok, for all of a week. Seriously, “Thank you for your thoughts and prayers, and f*ck you too” was all over the place and then it was gone. That sodding ‘Oh no-no-no’ tune still lives on but this doesn’t? Sacrilege.
Anyway, notice how I have nothing else to talk about with regards to the song. It blows by like a fart in the wind. Doesn’t even stick around long enough for you to process it. I have a strange feeling that this is setting the tone for the rest of the album, and why I wrote it off as ‘OK’ last time I listened to it.
Track #8 – You’re Not The Only One
Rolling Stones meets George Harrison. “Something in the way she smiles”? I mean, come on. This song does rock though, all credit to Squire and the band who are hard at work here. We’re back on winning form.
Track #9 – I’m So Bored
Well that was shit. Next.
Track #10 – Mother Nature’s Song
I challenge you to say the riff doesn’t remind you of Octopus’ Garden without laughing.
The beat’s practically the same as Raise Your Hands.
It’s a bog-standard hippy anthem. Saccharine. Sorry lads, you’ve lost me.
Conclusion:
If we go by the songs I like and subtract the songs I dislike then the album has an average score of 6/10. That’s at least two below what it should be.
The first half of the album is brilliant and exactly what you expect and want from two heavyweights of rock n roll like Liam and John. They sound tremendous on vocals and guitar respectively. But I honestly think that first half is all they had in the tank. Hell, the fact that all four singles make up the bulk of that first half indicates just how big the dip in quality is from Just Another Rainbow onwards.
If this album was an EP made up of Hands to Rainbow, it would’ve been adored universally. But I think they realised they had to make more, as the second half is lyrically bland and relies too heavily on whatever they can find in their record collections. I like 60s sounding stuff, but when it sounds original. I know it gets harder to be original with each passing year but again, this is Liam Gallagher and John Squire. They should know better than to switch to autopilot.
It might very well be misunderstood, after all music is subjective. But my opinion is still the same as it was last time I listened to it. It’s fine, but not the masterpiece it promises to be. Just fine. Is it worth spending £80 just to hear these songs live, plus Jumping Jack Flash? No. You’d have been better off saving your coppers for the Definitely Maybe tour.
Thing is though, regardless of my own personal feelings, this album is always going to be a historic one for me. This is the first album I have ever got on the day of its release. Nothing’s going to change that.
A-Side Glance 