Customer Reviews

Don't Believe The Truth [Dualdisc]

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

In 1995 there was nothing in the way of Oasis. "Definitely Maybe" had been released the year before, to great critical acclaim and sales. Fueled by rockers like "Live Forever" and "Supersonic", Oasis was heading to the top of the rock world. Later, in '95, they reached the summit with their landmark "(What's the Story) Morning Glory" album. Containing power ballads mega hits such as "Wonderwall" and "Champagne Supernova", "Morning Glory" became the second best selling album in the history of Britian (right behind THE greatest album ever, their idols' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band").

However, after "Morning Glory", Oasis seemed to fade away. "Be Here Now" was a huge setback for fans, and the band slowly moved away from mainstream audiences. Two more albums, "Standing on the Shoulders of Giants" and "Heathen Chemistry" were released relatively under the radar (compared to their earlier blockbuster albums). Now, a decade after their prime, Oasis is ready to return to the limelight.

"Don't Believe the Truth" is a good step in the right direction for Oasis. Many of the tracks are based around an acoustic guitar, minus rockers like "Mucky Fingers" and the catchy "Lyla". Everyone knows this isn't the most original band in the world. The song "Lyla" ,for example, starts off like the Stones' "Street Fighting Man", and builds into a Who-like song. After all, Zak Starkey (Son of Ringo) was taught by Keith Moon, so the drumming in many of the tracks sound like the Who. And as always, the Gallagher brothers input some of their mentors influnce, as you can hear Liam's Lennonesque sneering and Noel's songwriting is very reminscent of a Lennon/McCartney original.

Album highlights include "Turn Up the Sun","Lyla", "Love Like A Bomb" and "Let There Be Love". The latter supposedly took over 5 years to create, and it sounds like it. Easily the best track on the album, "Let There Be Love" earns a top 10 spot in Oasis' song canon. In conclusion, go get this album. I am not going to say it's the next huge album or "Morning Glory" but it is pretty stellar. A great new breath into the otherwise dying (minus Coldplay) Britpop scene.

*The other review that has this same text was written by me. I forgot to sign in before submitting that review.Also, the person who said this album won't work with iPods is wrong. Mine worked fine. It is either his computer or he put the disc on the DVD side.*
*The DualDisc version includes all the songs in "enchanced" stereo, a 20 minute documentary on the album, and the music video for "Lyla". Where I bought my copy, the DualDisc was $1 more than the normal, so I bought the DualDisc. However, I would recommend the normal copy, since all the videos on the DualDisc can be found for free at Oasis' website.*

Thankfully, Oasis makes a fine return to form with "Don't Believe The Truth", here in it's DualDisc incarnation.

The DualDisc DVD side has some neat stuff, a mini-doc and a video ("Lyla") but the music is not DVD-A 5.1, merely enhanced stereo, which to me means nothing.

The CD side is where the money is, as the boys have come up an album worthy to follow their first two impressive efforts.

This is their best album since "What The Story, Morning Glory?" It's the same Oasis sound we've all grown to love, but they manage to expand their parameters without sounding too arch, too weird or too boring.

I liked the foot-stomping "Lyla"...it's deceptively simple and maddeningly catchy.

I really enjoyed "Guess God Thinks I'm Abel"...the whole brothers thing, the plaintive vocals...it works.

"Keep The Dream Alive" has "classic Oasis anthem" written all over it, as does "Let There Be Love." Not too fast, not too slow, epic build-up, sweeping vocals...

The other stuff is pretty good too. "The Meaning of Soul" sounds like an MTV Unplugged wicked rave-up, and "Love Like A Bomb" is an example of a terrific song that has a definite "Oasis" sound, even though that very sound has it's derivation in British (uh...Beatle...) pop music of the late 60's/early 70's.

To those who complain over the obvious Beatle influence I say this: who better to model yourself after? All bands use their influences in certain ways, and nobody uses their Beatle influence better.

Stating it in another way, for Oasis music, the Beatles (and their songs, production, instrumentation, etc.) are their alphabet. They just creates words and phrases that also happen to be pretty freakin' great.

After slipping into near-obscurity with their lamentable "Heathen Chemistry", it's good to have Oasis back on the much-improved "Don't Believe the Truth."

Is it as good as their earlier, triumphant works such as "Definitely Maybe", "Be Here Now", or even "Standing on the Shoulder of Giants" ? No.

But, unlike some of their works, it is *consistent*.

The album, as I've listened to it, has neither highs nor lows, rather it is chock-filled with above average songs from the opening, enjoyable "Turn Up the Sun" to the closing (not-quite eternally memorable, standard Oasis ballad) "Let there be Love."

Will this CD be dulled by consistent play, as was "Definitely Maybe" ? NO, I don't think so. But it will be listened to, and not immediately be relegated to the dust-bin (as was "Heathen Chemistry").

Bottom line: Oasis fans, gobble it up. It's worth a listen. It will, at the least, rekindle your love of their best works. And that's more than most bands can claim.

I must admit that I am going through a phase of Oasis-mania right now brought on by my recent attendance of their gig in Detroit last weekend. But I dug this CD the day I bought it (one day after its release) and it has only grown more dear and essential to me as I've given it multiple and closer listens ever since.

Is this the disc that's going to restore Oasis to the world-dominating (morning) glory they enjoyed in the mid-90's? No, times have changed and more importantly, many of today's music listeners don't have much appreciation for the rock style that Oasis specializes in. But I would dare say that this is a must-buy album for anyone who still cares for the sound of majestic guitars, anthemic choruses and the bigger-than-life persona that epitomized rock and roll in its heyday. This ought to be a more popular (sales-wise) album than it will probably turn out to be, because Oasis won't get the record company hype to push it to million-seller status and a lot of the youngsters who might normally dig this band are getting bland corporate rock like Three Doors Down and Nickelback shoved in their face instead.

My favorite tracks are "Turn Up the Sun," "Lyla," "Keep The Dream Alive," and "Let There Be Love." But "A Bell Will Ring," "Guess God Thinks I'm Abel" and "Love Like a Bomb" also stick with me. And the other songs are worthwhile too - they're all strong cuts, actually, worthy of inclusion. This sounds like a band that had a lot of solid material to choose from and I would say they chose wisely.

Basically, if you are an fan of large-scale, audience pleasing and accessible rock music created with intelligence, performed with skill and created with careful but gritty professionalism, there's no excuse for you not buying this CD! I recommend the dual disc over the regular CD because it's compatible with all the devices I've tried it with, and the videos are better to watch on your TV than on your computer.

The critics, as usual, look down upon the Oasis's new album, even the "professional critic" who wrote the editorial review right on this web-page. You know...I would just love to see these paid critics be put in a studio and be made to make an album. Then we'll see who's full of it. One thing that I have noticed about Oasis is that they stick to their guns. So what if their record collection was not very eclectic and that you can clearly hear their influences. Every band/artist out there has been influenced by other musicians and yes, even the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Oasis makes the kind of music that they want to make and that's it.

If you are an Oasis fan, you will LOVE this CD! It ranks as my 3rd favorite Oasis album after Definately Maybe and Morning Glory. I only gave it 4 stars because it doesn't have the iTunes bonus track, "Pass Me Down the Wine." However, BEWARE of the DualDisc. The CD audio side would not play on my iMac OR my Dell PC!! I had to buy the regular version so I could load it onto my iPod. iMac users BEWARE of the DualDiscs!!!

It seems 1990's rock and roll has been coming back with a vengeance this year. The first half of the 2000's saw Hip Hop gaining market prominence even among suburbanites. Nonetheless, much like disco in the late 1970's, once Hip Hop acts appeared on the front covers of Rolling Stone one knew the Western world would be moving on. However much you like watching music videos with young women in bikinis dancing around swimming pools while the singer turns out crafty rhymes, after a while it sinks in that these guys are just Hugh Heffner wannabes and/or these gangster bad boys wouldn't last five minutes in downtown Baghdad. Nothing against the "bad boys"; but they pale in comparison to the marines who took Falujah in terms of courage, firepower and lethalness. This is one case where in a battle between fantasy and the real reality wins out. This a long way to saying that for some reason every time war or national tragedy rears its ugly head rock and roll returns to center stage.

Not that Oasis exactly has been away. With their first album, DEFINITELY MAYBE, Oasis caught the favorable attention of an assortment of critics and tastemakers. Then in 1995, Oasis released their magnum opus in WHAT'S THE STORY MORNING GLORY. So powerful was MORNING GLORY that it remains one of the very best albums of that decade. It was then the Gallaghers' strong affinity for the Beatles became apparent. Not only did Oasis employ a host of musical "Beatle-isms" in their songs and their worldview recalled the latter idealism of the Fab Four; but in terms of pattern and feel MORNING GLORY roughly resembled SGT. PEPPER. It also didn't hurt that MORNING GLORY was very much a GUITAR album. Instead of being vilified as copycats, Oasis enjoyed a royal honeymoon with critics and public alike for several months.

But then Oasis began a series of missteps. Press members were abused during interviews. Legendary fights on jet flights got them banned from several carriers for life. The Gallagher brothers fought with each other in public. Liam, the lead singer, walked out on the band at the beginning of a major U.S. tour-leaving the much less capable Noel to carry the vocal chores for the rest of those dates. Original band members either left the band or were fired. They pissed off George Harrison. Then came the major mistake of BE HERE NOW.

In all fairness, anything Oasis could have done could not have stood next to MORNING GLORY. But BE HERE NOW suffered from serious alcohol and drug over-indulgence that manifested itself in all the dials thrown to the max and an overblown delusion of grandeur. It was like a badly intoxicated drunk suddenly deciding to take on Mohammed Ali in his prime. Oasis simply got knocked to the floor. The once darlings of the rock glitterati got themselves banished to exile in obscurity.


Cleaned up and dried out, Oasis picked themselves up and released one decent album, a collection of their non-album cuts, and an excellent "live" record-all of which were largely ignored. All this began to change with HEATHEN CHEMISTRY. The band came back with a new confidence and aggressiveness that recalled the days of DEFINITELY MAYBE. That renewed spirit has put itself on the forefront of DON'T BELIEVE THE TRUTH.

As Zak Starkey remarks in the documentary on the dual disc version of DON'T BELIEVE THE TRUTH., Oasis is a hard working band that shows up at the studio early and leaves late with little in the way of breaks in between. You don't find a band wondering what to do next as they hold a wetted finger to see which way the wind is blowing. The Gallaghers are holding to the band's original vision and they've got something to say whether the world listens or not.

After first listening to DON'T BELIEVE THE TRUTH., what struck me was the album's unusual structure. It is made up of three song cycles with three songs each; then remains two songs at the end that can be taken by themselves. Whether by design or it was just easier to program the album this way, it is beneficial to recognize these song cycles as such because several of the songs end oddly unless you understand that musically you are being lead to the next song.

"Turn Up The Sun"/"Mucky Fingers"'/Lyla starts off with no introduction right into the fray. "Turn Up The Sun" is a complex song combining both a pleasant soft minor key progression of notes with a hard edge plea of love and brotherhood. "Mucky Fingers" and "Lyla" by contrast have a garage band thrashing with beats like a constant hammer. "Mucky Fingers" recalls a HIGHWAY 61/BLONDE ON BLONDE era Dylan sneer at what we commonly believe to be the truth. "Lyla" by contrast brings the Kinks to mind as an appeal to what appears to be a universal feminine spirit of love.

"Love like a Bomb"/" The Importance of Being Idle"/"The Meaning of the Soul" form a humorous trio that makes jokes at different levels. "Love like a Bomb" is a largely acoustic song at heart which compares/contrasts love with exploding munitions. "The Importance of Being Idle" at first appears to be one of Oasis' nonsense songs in which the singer is completely unconcerned with the necessities of life. (It could also be a wry comment reminding the listener not to confuse living with acquiring the requirements to live.) "The Meaning of the Soul" is the "flip" side of "Importance" in that the singer romances his love in a rapid almost machine cadence with the ironic promise to teach her about "soul".

"Guess God Thinks I'm Able"/"Part Of The Queue"/"Keep The Dream Alive" returns to the themes of the first song cycle-in a way. "Guess God Thinks I'm Able" is as lovely acoustic ballad Oasis has ever recorded. Lyrically it lays out choices everyone has before them in love and and hate. "Guess God" ends oddly sliding into "Part of the Queue"-marking the confusions of modern life in the spiritless ness of city life. The triad ends with "Keep the Dream Alive"-- a characteristically (for Oasis) dreamy anthem march for peace, understanding and love.

The album ends with two songs that for me seem to hang on like appendixes to the main body. "A Bell Will Ring" harks back to the Beatles' "Rain"; while "Let There Be Love" begins with that lonely hollow piano sound John Lennon used in his early solo career that suddenly evolves into an "All You Need Is Love" chorus faithfully equipped with slow drums and synth washes. I don't care for these two songs as much as the rest of the album and they do have a "tacked on" air about them.

Overall, this is a good album that holds up under repeated listenings. I am not prepared to say this CD is essential the way "Morning Glory" is and was. But it is far more interesting than 95% of other releases this year.

The flip side of the dualdisc version has the entire album in "enhanced stereo", a documentary, and the music video of "Lyla". Neither "video" is anything to write home about and I am still unimpressed with the advanced stereo. Still, it only costs a few extra bucks and may prove worth interest in years to come.

Oasis have never sounded so good. Gem and Andy have really found their feet in the band now and this is an improvement on their previous album 'The Heathen Chemistry'. These two bring something that make Oasis more of a complete band and not just the Noel and Liam show. While I still find 'Definitely Maybe' the best Oasis album, the Manchester lads have gone full circle with their career and nearly matched it with this effort. It almost feels like they have started their careers again and from here the sky is the limit. More great live shows and #1 singles and I really think they can reach the heights of the mid 90's again and keep their feet grounded at the same time.

This is a great album from beginnig to end. The songs flow perfectly into one another and sounds like the most complete album Oasis have ever released. It opens up with 'Turn Up The Sun', which at first doesn't sound like Oasis until the first chords kick in after a great opening few seconds. Written by Andy Bell it is top 3 best tracks on the album.
'Mucky Fingers' written by Noel is a cross between the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan
'Lyla' the first single, is a good song, not great, very simple but typical Oasis in its chord playing, also written by Noel.
'Love Like a Bomb' written by Liam and Gem is a highlight of the album, a mixture of acoustic guitar and piano it is Liam's vocal on this track that got my attention, much like the way in which he sings 'songbird'.
'The Importance Of Being Idle' Noel sings on this track which he also wrote, the second single off the album, sounds a little bit like 'the Doors'.
'The meaning of Soul' is a two minute fast acoustic driven song by Liam with a simple drum beat, unlike anything I have ever from Oasis before. It sounds familiar but I can't quite put my finger on it. Catchy and stays in your head.
'Guess God Thinks I'm Abel', another Liam penned track, has a cool tempo and mellow atmosphere. A slow song, not one of Liams best unfortunately.
'Part Of The Queue' Noel was inspired to write this song after being forced to stand in a real long queue just to buy a pint of milk. He considered stealing it even with his millions in the bank. Has a 70's feel to it, almost like a protest song.
Along with track 1, this song 'Keep The Dream Alive' is one of my favourites, also written by Andy Bell, this guy writes good songs. A very happy tune with good guitar and Liam's vocal sounds great.
'A Bell will Ring' is Gem's contribution to the album. A pure rock n' roll song, in the mould of 'Hung In A Bad Place' from Heathen Chemistry.
That brings us to the albums closer, 'Let There Be Love' the best song on the album and arguably the best Oasis song ever. It features Liam and Noel on vocal and I rate it right up there along with the Beatles 'A Day In the Life'. John and Paul could have easily have written this song,but it is written by Noel. The third single, this has the potential to pull in fans much like the way 'Wonderwall' did.

The album sounds great, the production and mixes are perfect. The band opted to hire D. Sardy to produce and mix the album for them, instead of doing it themselves and it has really paid off for them. He was also responsible for producing Jet and really knows how to acheive this kind of sound. Also lending out on this album is Zak Starkey on drums, son of the legendary Beatles drummer Ringo, he is a more complete drummer than Alan White.

The album features a bonus DVD with interesting interviews with the band and a 6 page booklet with complete lyrics for all songs. A great buy...

good side:Noel Gallagher let's other people showcase their songs which in turn are quite the highlights,Noel sings 3 and a half songs. strongest set of songs since the new line-up and now sober approach to living. Zak Starkey (Ringo Starr's son) is now drummer. very insightful bonus DVD. lyric sheet
bad side:could use more band pictures, DVD could have been longer, Noel could have sang more
standout tracks:turn up the sun, the importance of being idle; guess God thinks i'm Abel; keep the dream alive; let there be love

The truth is plain; a rock record must be electrically euphoric, have poetic lyrics, each track must sound far from being monotonous, and have uniquely multi-pitched vocals to take all this to its heights. Believe me although this record possesses and misses some of it has more to it than critical truth, like, predictable punk paradox, little romance, and unpredictable romanticism.

The eleven tracks, filtered out from supposedly seventy tracks, make an album worth listening-each one of them, which in turn makes it one of the successful creative attempts last year. A work like this doesn't always get done in a fading world of rock, but comes as no surprise from these gifted sons of British rock.

These acoustic-blended electric noise makers can unexpectedly deliver a piece like The Importance of Being Idle and refreshing Guess God Thinks I Am Abel. Liam can low-pitch craftily to un-annoy Noel's laser-sharp vocals in acoustic ballad Let There Be Love to go onto peaks in Mucky Fingers.

One-liners like "you found your God in a paperback," "I can't get a life if my heart's not in it" and philosophy "the world's as wide/as your life is thin/so entertain your goals" couldn't have been better placed but in a reckless rock `n' roll lyric; nonetheless, one wants more.

Who are out there saying "we are the greatest" would indeed get close to being great only when they keep from shouting it and rather let their musical work speak. Here one can venture an electrical ecstasy, yes, but with one's unbelief in truth. Syme (Ahimaz)