Monday 10 November 2008
And so Oasis, one of Britain's best loved bands (10 years ago) has returned with a new album. The last effort was met with a bit of a lukewarm reaction. When you release 'lyla' as your key single you know you're in serious trouble I guess.
As such Oasis had a lot to prove with this release that they could bounce back to the big time and become one of music's biggest bands yet again, both in terms of critical reception and fan reception.
While the album is definitely an improvement on the last release, I find it difficult to recommend it to anyone as a really good album in itself, or when compared to the other albums released in 2008.
Their last album was a dirge. Largely due to half the songs sounding indistinguishable and generic to the point of absurdity, and of course there just not being any songs that were particularly good.
This album is still far too generic for it's own good. In an album of 11 songs there are 4 worth listening to. However these 4 songs are alright. 'The Turning' 'Waiting for the Rapture' and 'The Shock of Lightning' are half decent songs, and 'Im Outta Time' is a good song, one of the better songs they've done in a while. But aside from these the rest of the album is largely empty space and a bit of a shame.
The undeniable highlight is I'm Outta Time, a soft lennon-esque ballad and a real shining light amongst an album of murky sameiness, this stands out as something very different sounding. However it is not enough to save a fairly mediocre album. This does much to re-affirm the notion that Oasis are very much a band of the past that has struggled to live up to their old heyday of Don't Look Back in Anger. But as long as they keep playing that at concerts I suppose people will still go to see them.
