Oasis - Dig Out Your Soul (Album)
Let’s get it out in the open straight away - I’m an Oasis fan. Not the kind that bought their first couple of albums when the Britpop thing was in vouge and kept a casual interest for the rest of the 90s, but the kind that will bail you up at a party and spout on about how good their new albums are until the boundaries of acceptable social behaviour have well and truly been exceeded. The kind that is maturing in every other aspect of life, but still finds a wall in their otherwise grown-up house for a Be Here Now poster and a place in their otherwise grown-up wardrobe for a Noel Gallagher for Prime Minister T-shirt. The kind that will talk to other Oasis fans on websites, using acronyms for album titles (WTSMG anyone?) and listing in order our top five favourite Oasis songs starting with the letter S (mine, in case you’re interested, are Supersonic, Slide Away, Some Might Say, Stop Crying Your Heart Out and Stay Young. Ladies feel free to contact me via The Dwarf if you’re interested in going on a date). It’s a strange and somewhat socially debilitating affliction, but one that myself and those around me have learnt to live with. And so it’s with this declaration that I undertake what I can assure you will be a completely unbiased review of their seventh studio album Dig Out Your Soul. Kinda like when Eddie McGuire used to commentate Collingwood matches.
A quick re-cap of the Oasis timeline - after launching onto the scene in the early 90’s with the massively successful albums Definitely Maybe and (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?, the Manchester lads suddenly found themselves in the world's biggest band. The inevitable crash from such a giddy rise came in the form of coke-tastic third album Be Here Now (which is actually not as bad as you remember - dust if off and have another listen!). Just when all signs pointed to a break-up, Noel kicked the drugs, got a new bass player and guitarist, and kick-started the band's recovery with 2000's Standing on the Shoulder of Giants. This slightly shaky showing was followed by a much stronger effort in 2002 with Heathen Chemistry and then their true return to form with Don’t Believe the Truth in 2005. Along the way there were an endless number of brotherly punch-ups, outlandish statements and notable haircuts to spice up the story.
And so here we are with a brand newie, almost 15 years after it all began. I, for one, was pants-wettingly excited. Opener Bag It Up gets things underway nicely, a grooving rocker that may just be the best track on the album. Liam’s trademark sneer has evolved (or digressed, depending on who you speak to) significantly over the years, but for mine its sounding better than ever here. The Turning follows up, producing lukewarm results by relying too much on a so-so chorus. The first vocal turn from Noel comes next in the form of Waiting for the Rapture, a stomping blues number set around a riff that owes more that a little to the Doors and brings to mind The Importance of Being Idle from the last album.
First single The Shock of the Lighting is everything that an Oasis first single should be, but a little faster than normal and with an Animal from the Muppets style drum solo thrown in for good measure. This is followed by second single Im Outta Time, a Liam-penned piano-driven ballad complete with a John Lennon speech sample in case anyone had forgotten that Oasis heart Beatles. Both of these tracks are destined to be live favourites for years to come, however on the album they suffer slightly from being produced to within an inch of their life. Some of the best Oasis album tracks have been the ones that manage to capture the raw energy of their live performance (see Morning Glory, Acquiesce, Lyla), and these ones lose some of their bite from being given as much studio polish as a Veronicas track.
Noel takes vocal duties again for the very catchy Falling Down (which has ‘third single’ written all over it) and the excellently titled but otherwise fairly unremarkable (Get Off Your) High Horse Lady, and at the half-way mark of the album things are looking peachy.
But it then starts to fall away a bit as the song-writing responsibility is moved away from Noel and onto the other band members. The return to form in recent Oasis albums is largely due to the writing input from bassist Andy Bell (ex-Ride), guitarist Gem Archer (ex-Heavy Stereo) and Liam (ex-guy who could sing and not much else). Suddenly some of the pressure had been removed from Noel, who penned every track on the first three albums, and all except one on the fourth. Liam in particular improved rapidly after his first effort in 2000, and Archer and Bells tunes were among the best on the last album. So it is disappointing to find that the songs written by these three on Dig Out Your Soul are significantly weaker than those penned by Noel, with the exception of Liam’s I’m Outta Time.
Archer’s bass-heavy To Be Where There’s Life and Bell’s TheNature of Reality both kind of plod along without really going anywhere of interest, and Liam’s Soldier On is too simplistic and repetitive to provide the closure the album needs.
So due to this second-half dip in quality, I must say that as an album Dig Out Your Soul is weaker that the last one, and probably not enough to recapture the interest of those who fell off the wagon after Morning Glory. But overall it’s still pretty awesome, and me and the other lads on the website forums will be all over it. You know, when we’re not out on the town with hot dates.
