Q Review ****

Google for an oasis discography online and you'll find some website ediotrs can't be bothered displaying their albums after 1997's Be Here Now. Too many fans will know the feeling. In the wake of WTSMG, experiencing new oasis albums has been akin to having a one night stand with an old flame - seductive words, excitement and high hopes swiftly giving way to disillusionment, embarrassment and disappointment. In 2005 with guitar bads ruling the charts, there's a theory that we don't need the Gallaghers anymore (fuck off Q cuntheads). Consequently no oasis album has arrived with less fanfare, hype or expectation than DBTT.

It's no secret that DBTT has had a difficult birth. Three weeks of DIV recordings were scrapped, Noel candidly acknowledging they 'didn't have the songs'. Indeed 50 songs were scrapped and the quartet (with guest drummer Zak and producer Dave Sardy) resumed recording. Listening to the 11 songs that made the grade, the consequences of this are obvious: this is oasis' most focussed, reflective and relaxed album to date.

Though Noel Gallagher has penned less than half the tracks (for the first time all four members have contributed..WRONG FUCKERS) his songs - ringing with contentment with the world and his place in it - dominate the album. Track two, MF, written one imagines with memories of a particularly messy night at Supernova heights in mind, finds noel looking in the mirror and recoiling at the reflection. "Fed up with life in the city becuase all the phoneys have blown my mind" he sighs to a backing track like The velvet undergorudn's waiting for the man.

Noel takes lead vocals twice more - Kink's inspired TIOBI and blissed out paean to big city anominity POTQ, the latter recalling both Liverpudlians Shack and The Stranglers' Golden Brown, one of the finest songs he's penned this decade. he also trades lyrics with Liam on album closer LTBL, which all orchestral swells and images of a world 'come undone at the seems' will doubtless accompany slow motion footage of Wayne Rooney trooping from a German football pitch at the point of England's early exit from the World Cup. The album's finest moment is Lyla which combines melodies borrowed from Street Fighting Man, piano and a humble lyric to a soulful, upbeat tune.

Optimism and humility also pervade Liam's contributions: LLAB and GGTIA call to mind lazy summer evenings spent with family members and an acoustic guitar, with TMOS sounds like a jam with friends in a pub backroom. None of the three threaten to eclipse big brother's contributions, but they're further indications of Liam's burgeoning compositional skills and his increasing unwillingness to play up to 'Wild Man' cliches. with the Gallagher boys mooching around happily then, it's left to Andy and Gem to supply the swagger - Andy chipping in with BRMC-flavoured opener TUTS and the psychedelic KTDA and Gem revisiting the Beatles' songbook for ABWR, debuted at Glasto.

If definitely maybe was the distillation of mid-90s lad culture, then DBTT can be viewed as oasis' new man album, a record where they're finally acting their ages. The gallaghers sound more comfortable then ever in their skins. Too often over the years, you'll have heard that OAsis have recaptured their muse. This time believe it.

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Quelle: Q Magazine