Oasis
(Big Brother/Warner Bros.)
It's a shame Oasis dumped their lamest records on an unsuspecting public back when the public was actually paying attention - in the years just after (What's The Story) Morning Glory gave the Brit-pop heavyweights a proper U.S. breakthrough. But 2005's Don't Believe the Truth marked a true return to form, and while on Dig Out Your Soul there may be nothing as instantly accessible as "Wonderwall" or "Champagne Supernova," but the overall effect is that the Gallagher brothers no longer seem like they're just going through the motions in the studio so they can get on with the real gig of playing rock stars.
It kicks off with a sneering little hook explosion, "Bag It Up," that filters glam-rock swagger and a psychedelic Beatles climax through a strictly ‘90s alt-rock sheen (think R.E.M. in Monster mode with bigger payoffs). And it rarely falters, whether pounding out the anthems through a massive Wall of Sound ("The Turning," "Waiting For the Rapture," lead-off single "The Shock of The Lightning") or scaling it back on this one's most inspired cut, "I'm Outta Time." It's the album's most Lennonesque moment, a point driven home by an actual sample of Lennon speaking to the BBC in an interview that aired two days before his murder.
But the ghost of the Beatles, both living and dead, hangs over several tracks here. Who but a Gallagher brother would shamelessly follow the line "love is a litany" with "a magical mystery?" At least it's saying something, not like 1997's surest signal that they'd bottomed out - that ridiculous line in the otherwise perfectly unexceptional "D'Ya Know What You Mean?" where they actually string two different Beatles songs together with no hint that it was meant to be a joke. "The fool on the hill and I feel fine?" I never would have thought they'd make it back from that one. But it seems they have. So do roll up.
Standout Tracks: "The Turning," "I'm Outta Time." A. WATT
