I’m fighting the urge not to bring up Oasis in this review of Noel Gallagher’s second solo record Chasing Yesterday but as the title suggests, he’s fighting the same desire to dig up bones of his previous band. Back in 1995, I was 12-13 years old and obsessed with The Beatles. When everyone on radio, MTV, and music magazines were comparing Oasis to The Beatles, I was far more annoyed than excited. Let’s settle this once and for all: Oasis sounded NOTHING like The Beatles. Sure, there were sonic flavorings here and there that might be reminiscent of something they may have done, but The Beatles mastered just about everything pop music could be capable of before Gallagher Noel was even born. The Gallagher brothers had mop hair cuts, round glasses, and sarcastically chewed gum a-la Lennon, but so what? Oasis simply marketed their ‘swagger’ to people who correlate any artist being from England as Beatle-esque.
That’s not to say they weren’t good, because they were pretty decent. The mid-90s British Invasion was an interesting time for alternative rock music in the states in the post grunge world. Bands like Blur, Kula Shaker, Elastica, etc. were borrowing cues from fantastic bands and artists like T Rex, Humble Pie, and David Bowie and bringing it back in the mainstream with little to no effort. Then there was Oasis. They put on that “oh we’re sooo Beatles mate” schlock extra heavy. They were arrogant, they were egotistical, but above all, they made some great pop tunes. (For the record, American bands like Superdrag and The Apples In Stereo were doing things closer to The Beatles in the 90s, than anything Oasis ever did).
Arguably, the horsepower of Oasis was the synergy between the Gallagher brothers. They were always at odds. Verbal altercations, fist fights, and even walk-outs were all common up until the day the band called it quits. The rivalry even continues to fuel the brother’s respective creativity amongst their own solo bands. Liam’s new band Beady Eye seemed to kick the Lennon/McCartney pop sensibility up to eleven, forcing Noel to work even harder to come up with something even more brilliant and masterful for his own solo album. Nowadays, that feud is nearly non-existent and Noel no longer feels the need to compete with his brother (or anyone else for that matter) and now wants to make music for himself.
Sadly, Chasing Yesterday suffers from it. From the get-go, we’re greeted with “Riverman”, which sounds like “Wonderwall II” coupled with the groan inducing “Something in the way she moves….” lyric, proving that even though Noel is no longer compelled to out do Liam, he still can’t let go of the ingredients of his Oasis days. Let’s not get too ahead of ourselves here, Noel Gallagher was the primary songwriter behind Oasis anyway. Liam’s Beady Eye band was much more of a Liam solo project as where High Flying Birds are a continuation of what Oasis had become before their eventual break-up. Noel is Noel and he isn’t apologizing for it. I guess it would be criminal if he did, after all he hasn’t had his name credited to anything that hasn’t went platinum in his entire career.
Throughout the album there are plenty of throw-backs to the Oasis days, from “Riverman” sounding like “Wonderwall” and how one could interchange the lyrics of “Lock All Of The Doors” with those of “What’s The Story Morning Glory” but it doesn’t make the album terrible. I like all those memories of his previous band in those songs, it almost feels like the listener is reminiscing along with Noel on his 25 year deep career. Like him or not, the man can create a fantastic post-grunge, brit-pop rock song as easy as breathing. Just listen to “You Know We Can’t Go Back” and tell me he still has a lot to prove. My personal favorite track on Chasing Yesterday, “Revolution Song”, just might be the best song he has written since 1997.
On the negative side, Chasing Yesterday drags it’s feet through the first half. Upon my first listen I was constantly rolling my eyes at just how pretentious the first 4 songs were. Overly long, one note jams that do their best at trying not to be padding had me tempted to skip ahead. An editor could’ve fixed that minor issue but around the middle mark everything seems to fall into pocket and come together nicely. Well, nice as a Gallagher could strive for anyway. Noel doesn’t re-invent the wheel with album and there is little to no ambition what so ever. If you hated Oasis, you will probably hate Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds’ Chasing Yesterday. In a lot of ways, this could very well be packaged as a new, Liam-less Oasis record and I doubt anyone would oppose it. In fact, I personally think if Liam was on lead vocals on half of these tracks, they would probably be better.
Which brings me to the record’s biggest flaw: the lack of chemistry. This could be the very first record Noel has ever worked on that wasn’t fueled by a rival. Even though there is nothing really lazy about Chasing Yesterday, had Noel been a bit more hungry, or angry, it might have brought it to the next level. Noel is the kind of guy who NEEDS that sort of kick in the pants to keep from running in place. In closing, this is a record that relies on the past as driving force in place of rivalry. An album that is influenced by his 20-something self, who in turn was inspired by The Beatles, so how bad could it be? Chasing Yesterday is solid album even if a bit safe. It’s far better than the last three Oasis records, but certainly not as good as their first two. It’s about on par with the Beady Eye releases for different reasons. Noel might be over fighting with his brother for inspiration but it looks as if he may never escape the correlation.
Rating: 3.5/5