fri 29/03/2024

CD: Beady Eye - Different Gear, Still Speeding | reviews, news & interviews

CD: Beady Eye - Different Gear, Still Speeding

CD: Beady Eye - Different Gear, Still Speeding

Can Oasis's prodigal son come good?

This isn't an awful album. It even starts really well. The opener, “Four Letter Word”, comes pounding in with the sort of jackbooted psychedelic rock attitude that Oasis always promised and so rarely delivered. Add a swooshy noise and it could almost be early Hawkwind, so fried-synapse rock'n'roll is it. Then comes “Millionaire”, which if you heard it blind you might accept as a lost track by The La's, so timelessly, northernly tuneful is it. But sadly, inevitably, comes “The Roller”, with all its excruciating Lennonisms leaking all over the place: a track that slams the face of creativity into the kerbstone again and again and again.

And there's the problem. For every decent tune (of which there are four on the album), there are three more tracks that are like watching something good from the past being beaten up and then waterboarded in front of its relatives. You can hear “Norwegian Wood” weeping uncontrollably, you can hear “Instant Karma” spitting blood and teeth, you can hear “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”... ah, you get the idea. Liam Gallagher isn't an awful rock star – he makes a noise with his larynx that in the right context can just about send a tingle down the spine, he can write a lyric that gets you going like a motivational seminar, and he strikes a mean pose on occasion to boot. But so do loads of other people, who also make albums with three or four good tunes on. So there you go. An album which, while horrifically bad at points, ultimately isn't that awful. Well done, Liam. Very well done. What a star.

Watch John Lennon being violated

Comments

Any review that consists of more personal insults than there is chat of the actual music stands for abolutelly f**k all. Well done.

Yeah, your terribly wrong about this album. Many professional reviewers are giving this album the praise it deserves. Professional reviewers are saying this is Liam's best work since (Whats the Story) Morning Glory. Which basically means it is a success. You clearly don't like Beady Eye. You are judging from personal opinion rather than an in-depth look at the songs. Plus most of the songs are growers, you have to listen to them at least 3 times to really know if you like them.

Some might say that any album which conisists more of painful John Lennon impersonations than of anything original stands for not much more than that, Jack ;)

I thought he was pretty restrained considering. This is a brilliant review given the prohibitive word count.

I agree with David. How dare you base your review of this album by Beady Eye on your opinion of Beady Eye?

This album is The Rutles, isn't it?

Heard hear folks - horrible review. To the reviewers defense its almost impossible not to be subjective when talking about music... but still this is beyond that. Now let me have a go at being subjective: This album is brilliant, period!

the reviewer's correct, business as usual a la Gallagher; more sub-Beatles nonsense, the Emperor's New Clothes in full regalia in most other reviews!

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