Like a particularly unadventurous goods train, Liam Gallagher has spent his career moving back and forth along the same track. In the ongoing absence of the Oasis reunion that he still calls for regularly, he has returned to the Knebworth stage of the band’s pinnacle for solo shows, and this summer will play their debut album, Definitely Maybe, over four nights at the O2 Arena.
By hooking up with Stone Roses guitarist John Squire, he resurrects a number of key moments in his music life. Gallagher was 16 when he saw the Roses play live in Manchester, which inspired him to form a band.
Squire appeared as a special guest, 26 years apart, at both the Oasis and Liam Knebworth shows, and the pair last wrote a song together in 1997: Love Me and Leave Me by Squire’s short-lived band The Seahorses.
It would be easy to read this full-length team-up as yet another two fingers to estranged brother Noel – look who our fellow Manc icon wants to play with, our kid! – but these songs sound far less cynical than that. With Squire sharing equal billing on an album sleeve that he designed, his weighty guitar lines are every bit as prominent as Liam’s teeth-bared vocals.
The pounding opener, Raise Your Hands, sounds carefree and optimistic. You’re Not the Only One pairs Squire’s rock ‘n’ roll riff with energetic hammering on the piano. Produced by Greg Kurstin, the overall sound is full, loud and ungroovy, its closest companion being the Stone Roses’ unloved Second Coming album.
It’s much more raucous than Liam’s undercooked solo albums, and more fun than Squire’s weak pair of solo albums from the early 2000s.
Its failings are predictable. Some lyrics are shaky. “Take me down to the river/Take me down to the sea/Drink up your coffee/And sip your tea/Sitting in the garden/Lying in the park…” goes Mother Nature’s Song. Make your minds up, guys!
It also lacks original thinking to the extent that there are yet more Beatles references and the big surprise is I’m a Wheel, which retreats all the way back to plodding blues rock. Just Another Rainbow gets a Gallagher full house by sounding like both the Roses’ Waterfall and The Beatles’ Rain.
It doesn’t really matter. The last thing the still rabid parka army wants, around three decades after these two peaked, is innovation. With Squire’s guitar turned right up, and Liam as Liam as ever, everything they could want or expect is right here.
