Three star
One of the most eagerly awaited albums of the year doesn't quite live up to expectations.
If this was the band's first offering instead of Definitely Maybe you might question whether they would have the mammoth following they do.
Living up to previous glories is a problem for any band. But you have to wonder how sustainable the Gallagher brothers' creative powers are on the basis of this.
Only half the songs on Heathen Chemistry sound fresh. The rest are like today's Oasis doing a poor impression of yesteryear's Oasis.
Force of Nature has a slow lazy T-Rexish feel, She is Love is a simple acoustic paean which could rate as a Noel classic, and Liam's folky Songbird proves the man is not completely lacking in the songwriting department.
Singles The Hindu Times and Stop Crying Your Heart Out are adequate but let's face it, they won't make a top 100 all time list.
The rest is filler with songwriting shared with rest of the band. Influences can be heard all over the place. Not necessarily a bad thing but a couple of the ballads might have the Lennon estate lawyers genning up on their copyright law.
JS
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