Heathen Chemistry [VINYL]

Well well well. It's now been 10 years into the fray for Oasis, or 7 if you count the time since their emergence on the scene. In that time, drugs have been taken, given up, crowds have been wowed consistantly and fans have both loved and hated them in equal measure for very different reasons.

But how BORING would the nineties (and, yes, the noughties) have been without this fantastic band? From the opening bars of 'The Hindu Times', through the sing-a-longs of 'Stop Crying Your Heart Out' and 'Little By Little', to the spine-tingling final chords of 'Better Man', this album reminds us all of how precious Oasis have become.

A 'return to form', people said. Well, in my opinion they only really lost it with 'Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants', a scratch and sniff album which, quite frankly, smelled as bad as Liam's mac after Knebworth (I'll bet). And yes, I do include 'Be Here Now' as a bona fide classic - just listen to it again, skipping 'The Girl In The Dirty Shirt' and tell me you don't like it. Thought as much.

After the rock n roll excess of the nineties then, Oasis' fourth album proper DOES give us a cause to be jubilant in the jubilee year (there's no other reason, after all). Filled to the brim with classic Oasis tunes, it's the sign of a great album that when me and my mates had a conversation about it after seeing them at Finsbury Park twice last week, we couldn't agree on the best track. In fact, the four of us nominated FOUR different songs. And, a week later, mine's changed already from 'Stop Crying Your Heart Out' to 'Better Man'. Argh...decisions, eh?

So, from the slamming of the door at the end of 'Be Here Now' which ironically marked the end of Oasis Mark I, we have finally got off the ground with Oasis Mark II after the arrival of this album. I'll lay my money on the next Oasis album being their best - all these great rock groups like The Beatles, The Stones etc have at least two golden periods and it looks like Oasis are hitting their second one now. I for one can't wait.

Bring it on!

After the shambles of 'Standing On the Shoulder of Giants' was deservedly shelved, this was the album where Oasis needed to reinvent themselves - BADLY needed to reinvent themselves. But aside from Liam's genuine effort at some decent songwriting coupled with Andy Bell & Gem Archer's input, the result remained inanely same old story, different album.

The infamous single 'The Hindu Times' is a bold, brassy intro to the album that may even have hit harder than 'Rock N Roll Star'. With a distinctly heavier guitar sound than usual, the song may not achieve greatness, but it is a befitting start. What follows is the first of several pitfalls at the hands Noel's diminishing ability to write good songs.

'Force of Nature' sounds little better than filler material & should have been demoted to a b-side at best. Along with a drumbeat that can only be described as a rip-off of Iggy Pop's 'Nightclubbing', its bemoaning lyrics led many to believe that the song was an attack on the then-newly-divorced-ex-wife Meg Matthews, an assumption vehemently denied at the time. It was hard to be anything but sceptical of thoses denials as he sings 'What you seek is a wise man's treasure / You know it's buried beneath your feet' and its stinging chorus; 'You're smoking all my stash / You're burning all my cash / I bet you knew right away / It's all over the town as the sun's gone down / On the days of your easy life'. The song doesn't even have a second verse written for it and its final line is 'Better get on your knees and pray', surly advice already offered in 'Gas Panic'. This nonsensical grumbling makes for a very tasteless song & the passage of time has done nothing to help it.

'Hung in a Bad Place' (written by Archer & somewhat reminiscent of the 'I Got the Fever' b-side) is charismatically sung by Liam along with a committed generic rock tune, albeit atypical of Oasis. The second single 'Stop Crying Your Heart Out' has potential as a heart-felt ballad, with soothing guitar riffs accompanied by a very apt string arrangement. Unfortunately, the song is let down by truly mundane lyrics. 'Fade Away' is used for the umpteenth time in an Oasis song and the 'Keep holding on' sentiment is hardly original.

Liam's first writing attribute to the record is surprisingly intuitive with 'Song bird'. Compared to his laughably bad debut with 'Little James', it's a sweet, sonic folk-rock song played with ringing acoustic guitars and an effective piano riff and it sounds unexpectedly fresh. However, at only 2 minutes in length, it disappears before it has a chance to peak.

'Little By Little' is as glum as it is perplexing. Obviously written in a somewhat philosophical mood, it seems to answer questions nobody asked. With lyrics such as 'You have to give it all/In all of your life' & bellowing 'Why am I really here?' towards the end, the song lacks sparkle. 'A Quick Peep' is an instrumental written by Andy Bell & it consists of an uninspired guitar riff underscored with a heavy bass riff. It does not venture or deviate at all and being less than 90 seconds in length, its inclusion is bordering on pointless.

'(Probably) All In The Mind' once again has a philosophical touch with lyrics that depict amateur poetry. 'And the life I'm trying to find/Is probably all in the mind'. You're on 5 albums, the lyrics do not have to rhyme!!!!! At this point, it's difficult to believe that the songs could get any more basic, but they do. 'She is Love' is obviously about a girlfriend which is a bad start; Noel has already wasted one track grumbling about one girlfriend & repeats the error by praising another one. 'All I know is that I'm in love with someone who loves me too', David Brent playing guitar in The Office anyone? Anyone?

'Born On A Different Cloud' penned by Liam, reminds the listener of the Beatles once again, a cardinal sin for Oasis at that stage. Sung in unconvincing fashion, its vibe is very similar to 'Hey Jude' or 'I Am The Walrus' (ironically). The final track 'Better Man', also written by Liam, represents what Oasis should have been doing: experimenting. Cutting guitar solos that bring an oddly punk-ish sound with distant background hum working perfectly with Liam's slurred, aggressive vocals. It's a good exit for a record that also had a good start. Shame about what was in between.

Also, for those interested, there's a hidden instrumental in the final track on CD and you have to search through about 33 minutes to find it. It's only a hashed repetitive riff similar to 'Champagne Supernova' but without the class, so it's not really worth the effort.

All in all, a disjointed fragmentary affair, cluttered with lyrical shortcomings & predictable Beatles influences. Oasis failed to exceed their own limitations with this release & pondered the question of whether they would be remembered as an album great instead of a rock n' roll great.

And sadly, the answer was Definitely Maybe.

After the disappointment of Standing on the Shoulder of Giants and the over production of Be Here Now, Heathen Chemistry sees the lads playing good honest rock and roll and all the better for it! One of the big differences on this album is that Noel, although still the main songwriter, isn't the only contributer. It seems that now they can pick the best songs that they've all written instead of relying on Noel to write 2 or 3 great songs and finding some other tunes just to fill the album. Hung in a bad place, a song that wouldn't sound out of place on Definatley Maybe, was written by Gem, and Andy Bell contributes the instrumental, A quick peep. But probably the biggest suprise of the album is that not only has Liam contributed 3 songs, there actually very good! Songbird is a great track, a 2 minute Beatlesque ditty in which his voice is the closest to John Lennon's that I've ever heard it, and in my view, he also contributes the best track on the album in Better Man. That's not to say Noels songs are poor, on the contary, this is some of the best stuff he's ever written, especially the haunting Stop Crying your Heart out. His guitar playing seems to have improved too. Theres some great solos on this album and although he'll never be up there with Hendrix and May, he can still wield a mean axe when the time calls for it!
Another good thing about the album is the band itself. With Gem and Andy Bell on board, Oasis sound like the band they've always threatened to be, musically tight and instumently interesting.It makes you wonder what their first 3 albums would have sounded like with this line up.
On the whole a very good album. Everything seems to be falling into place for Oasis and I for one am glad to see and hear it!