After living with Oasis‘ new album Dig Out Your Soul for seven days, the time has come for my review. It is positive, because this is Definitely the band’s best album since 1997′s Be Here Now, and Maybe the best since 1995′s (What’s The Story?) Morning Glory. I would actually stretch myself as far as to say that the five opening songs of the record are almost good enough to appear on any Oasis album.
However, the quality of the album is decreasing towards the end, and this fact prevents it from becoming an definitive classic. Questionmarks must be raised for Noel’s judgement when putting Andy Bell’s quite mediocre The Nature of Reality on the record, as well as when placing Soldier On as the final track, leaving out the nice tune Boy With The Blues. That said, both of those songs fit in well with the general vibe of the album.
The sound is groovier than before, and this proves to be a success for Oasis, being more experimental than they ever been; On To Be Where There’s Life, there are no guitars to be heard. With Waiting For The Rapture, (Get Off Your) High Horse Lady and Falling Down, all sung by Noel, the Chief breaks new territory. For the most part, the result is positive.
Overall, the album is full of surprises. Not only does the band sound better than I ever thought they would do again, but this is also the record where Liam Gallagher’s tunes for the first time can compete with his big brother’s efforts; I’m Outta Time is perhaps one of Oasis’ best songs ever, and the rough Ain’t Got Nothin’ is packed above limits with attitude.
Verdict: 9/10
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Track by track review:
Bag It Up 10/10
written by Noel, sung by Liam
An AWESOME opener, perhaps Oasis best song in eleven years. I would actually say that it is one of the band’s top efforts ever. It’s a groovy piece, including the characteristic Oasis guitar grinding that we haven’t heard since Be Here Now. Like several other songs on this album, it is not cooked from the usual verse-chorus-verse-chorus recipe. Oh, and Liam’s new, more mature, voice is absolutely ace!
The Turning 9/10
written by Noel, sung by Liam
The album continues in the same high class manner as it began. The Turning is a more mellow version of the classic Oasis hit mixture, with the album’s strongest chorus and a great guitar solo from Noel. Fabulous bullshit lyrics in the verse as well.
Waiting For The Rapture 10/10
written and sung by Noel
Bag It Up’s Noel-sung cousin is the major surprise of Dig Out Your Soul. An inspired Noel sings in falsetto on this groovy song, and the result is his best vocal effort since Don’t Look Back In Anger.
The Shock of The Lightning 10/10
written by Noel, sung by Liam
The party continues. It’s Definitely Maybe all over again. The first single of the album is Lyla’s less considerate sister song. When Zak Starkey’s drum solo leaves place for exploding guitars, it is one of Oasis’ greatest moments in what feels like millenia. A top tune!
I’m Outta Time 10/10
written and sung by Liam
Wow! Oasis’ most touching moment since 1997′s Don’t Go Away. And by a landslide the top Liam-penned tune ever. It is a tribute to John Lennon. “I’d like to sing with him, but he’s busy doing something else now”, Liam said in MTV2 last week. Mr Lennon would be very proud of this one. But Liam should have written a second verse, and he should have left out the “lalala”s in the beginning. If he had, this would have been a timeless classic.
(Get Off Your) High Horse Lady 6/10
written and sung by Noel
To be honest, I don’t really get the greatness of this one. Noel sounds quite tired, and it pales in comparison with Waiting For The Rapture. It is a good song for being Oasis in the 2000s, but it’s not up there with the prime tunes of the band, and not the prime tunes of this album either.
Falling Down 8/10
written and sung by Noel
Like many other tracks on this album, it doesn’t really sound like anything Oasis’ did before. It’s a beautiful song, and Noel’s voice suits it perfectly. The “catch the wheel that breaks the butterfly” part is terrific!
To Be Where There’s Life 8/10
written by Gem, sung by Liam
Not really Oasis by numbers… This tune lacks guitars, but includes a great bass line and a sitar. Not the best melody, but the groove is good, and the somewhat silly “To Be Where There’s Life”-line is highly addictive. When Liam screams “Dig Out Your Soul!!! Cos’ here we go!”, you know that you are listening to one of the best albums of the century. Arguably Gem’s best Oasis song.
Ain’t Got Nothin’ 9/10
written and sung by Liam
Well, this cousin of Meaning of Soul is a surprise. When we heard the demo of this song a couple of months ago, most Oasis fans hoped that this would not make it to the album, least to say. But it did, and it is saved by an extreme load of attitude and the fact that it is held quite short (clocking in at 2:14, it is the shorteskortt song of the album). Oasis noise at its best.
The Nature Of Reality 5/10
written by Andy Bell, sung by Liam
No, this doesn’t work very well, unfortunately. When Andy sent demoes of five new tunes to Noel before recording the album, he considered this the worst of the pack. Apparently, Noel thought that it wasn’t. Probably, Noel was wrong. The lyrics are weak and Liam’s voice isn’t very good either. But it still has the great groove that characterizes this album, and that makes it work OK as a tune on the album.
Soldier On 7/10
written and sung by Liam
An interesting piece ends the album. The melody is quite weak, but for some reason this tune grows on me all the time. This is not the swagger that usually ends off Oasis albums, but neither is it a crap song like Heathen Chemistry’s Better Man. Liam surprises again with great (albeit succinct) lyrics, and the melodica towards the end is ace.
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BONUS TRACKS
The Boy With The Blues 9/10
written and sung by Liam
Finally, this song appeared after years of rumours. A lovely little tune, The Boy With The Blues is Soldier On’s more majestic and less groovy big brother. The gospel-sounding ending is interesting, and would’ve closed off Dig Out Your Soul well.
I Believe An All 7/10
written and sung by Liam
The typical Liam-penned song, much in line with acoustic numbers like Pass Me Down The Wine and Won’t Let You Down. Not the greatest of tunes, but it’s OK and does its job on the bonus CD of Dig Out Your Soul.
