Don't Believe the Truth

Don't Believe The Truth is the sixth Oasis studio album-and a very proud success for this group! You get the awesome hit single "Lyla" as well as "Let There Be Love." It appears they saved "Let There Be Love" as almost the best for last since this is one of the most beautiful songs I personally have ever heard! No longer is Oasis stumbling though setbacks and comebacks-I get the strong sense that they have permanently emerged strong and very memorable with this CD being the proof of it. You still get that classic British guitar pop rock flavor running distinctly throughout. Yet with this CD Oasis finally gives us the strong lyrics consistently throughout the album and the musical arrangements are both instantly and all at once both free and secure-a very tough feat to accomplish! Simply put: Oasis is back on top!

The CD starts off running strong and hard with the opening track "Turn Up The Sun." There is a beautiful and thoughtful musical intro to this track-love those lyrics! And how's about that guitar on "Mucky Fingers?" AWESOME! In "Love Like A Bomb" you hear of a man's love for his woman; it's very memorable. "Guess God Thinks I'm Abel" is practically instantly memorable; and "A Bell Will Ring" has great lyrics.

And that song, "Lyla." The guitar and the vocals blend flawlessly on "Lyla" and this is without doubt a great song. "Lyla," as some of you may already know, is destined to be a long lasting hit song. It is well crafted, well arranged, and very well performed here by Oasis. In fact, the total sum of every song on this CD proves Oasis is rejuvenated and very much a strong force on the music scene.

A special note once again on that last track, "Let There Be Love." This song is destined to have a strong impact on the majority of people listening to it and reading this review. I think in some ways the album is worth it just for this one song! The song is remarkably inspirational; it begins with the gripping and oh so sensitive words "Who kicked a whole in the sky so that heaven could cry over me?" As you listen to the song, especially more than once, don't be surprised if you find yourself reaching for the phone to make up with that old friend who stopped talking to long ago; to go back to school to get that degree; or to follow whatever your dreams may be.

All in all, Noel and Liam are producing and singing some awesome, very fine music on this CD of theirs. They are amply aided by their peers. Zak Starkey, Ringo Starr's son, and Terry Kirkbride play drums; Lenny Castro plays percussion. Also look for Gem Archer on guitar with Andy Bell on bass guitar. This CD is an absolute must for Oasis fans who want the joy of knowing the group is very far from any setbacks! British pop fans as well as fans in general of rock and pop will be awestruck by this album. Great job, guys!

As someone who thinks Heathen Chemistry is a great album, I find this less a return to form, as it's generally being hailed, but as a continuation of this return. Always embracing their influences, I can hear plenty of traces of (of course) The Beatles, but also the Stones and an outro reminiscent to Mrs. Robinson in the song Lyla.

This is strong, confident, BIG rock and roll, and the songs are fantastic.

The difference between 4 and 5 stars for me is this: The lyrics are uniformly strong, but don't really take it to the next level. The biggest example is the use of the phrase "Blowin' my mind." Three songs in a row use this phrase: Mucky Fingers ("All the phoneys blowin my mind"), Lyla "I waited for a thousand years for you to come and blow me out my mind"), and Love Like a Bomb ("Blown' my mind, Blowin' my mind, Blowin' my mind"). This isn't a bad lyric in any of the songs, but the non-thematic repetition of this same phrase lessens the scope, for me, of the album as a whole. Perhaps spacing the songs out, or defining the album in such a way as to indicate the link between this repetition would have helped.

Nevertheless, "The Importance of Being Idle" is an absolute stunner, immediately one of the great Oasis songs. In fact, all of Noel's songs shine the brightest. He's writing and especially singing as well as he ever has. Truly, truly, an excellent album, worthy of the high praise it's receiving in all circles.

With Oasis' new effort I was curious whether they would attempt to keep moving forward with their music, or simply reach back to their roots for prior success. Well, they did a little of both, and rather well too.

For example, this album, more then any since "What's The Story (Morning Glory)" seems to return to that love of the Beatles; this is a resounding feeling with Oasis. However, Oasis realized a little while ago with their decline in popularity (and common sense) that they'd never match the fab four, so they've also added their own to the mix, which is of course necessary, but also quite fine.

`Lyla', their first single, strikes the listener clearly with the hooks and overall melodic feel. This is a single, so one must not forget that it is meant to be catchy (and succeeds). However, for songs that might not get as much notice "Guess God Thinks I'm Abel" is probably the best. The song is the epitome of that Oasis-Beatle combination I mentioned, and really a great listen.

So with nice sounds, both instrumental and vocal, I believe that "Don't Believe The Truth" will be another steady and good album for Oasis. Unlike Heathen Chemistry this disc has a lot less just `rock'. However, it also has a lot more classic Oasis, although still not completely progressing (or regressing) to the times of "What's The Story (Morning Glory)" or "Definitely Maybe".

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