Amazon.co.uk Review
Oasis were always a "dangerous" rock 'n' roll band in an expressly pipe 'n' slippers manner, where a couple of raised fingers, a spilt beer and a bruised photographer were all good substitutes for genuine revolution.
Forever The People--Paolo Hewitt's second tome on the Mancunian five-piece that took on the world--really should open the door to the rock 'n' roll meltdown that plagued Oasis on their ill-fated "Be Here Now" tour, but instead of dishing the dirt on Oasis's fractured limbs (shortly after the tour ended, Oasis lost founder members Guigsy and Bonehead in a messy, uncomfortable and quite possibly acrimonious split), Hewitt's book indulges his fascination with the heart of the band--the ever-tempestuous relationship between Noel and Liam. It's all good fun, but ultimately a game of swings and roundabouts.
Hewitt is a close friend of Noel, and it shows--he hangs on the boy's every quip and really would make an ideal biographer--but it's clear that the rest of the band are more guarded towards the ever-present journalist. Hewitt's anecdotes, then, concentrate on funny things that Noel says, or does--all tinged with growing shades of desperation as the "Be Here Now" tour reaches new depths of dissatisfaction, misanthropy and creative stagnation. Credit where it's due, though, Hewitt's prose captures all the wonderful madness of Liam Gallagher--a man who seems to terrify and fascinate in equal measure, a law unto himself. But when even Liam concedes that "the magic has gone", where does that leave Forever The People?For many people this will prove as unnecessary an addition to the canon as Oasis' own overlong, bombastic, joyless "Be Here Now". --Louis Pattison
Product Description
A follow-up to "Getting High", charting the progress of the pop group, Oasis. The author presents a diary of the group on tour, interviews with all five, and an examination of Noel Gallagher's lyrics. There is also coverage of Liam Gallagher's arrest for drug offences, and the brothers' marriages.
