Liam Gallagher - As You Were: Album Review

The long awaited return of Manchester’s finest loved rock starlet Liam Gallagher is finally upon us. Yep. Finally.

His debut solo album ‘As You Were’ hit the shops (or the internet, rather) on the 6^th October, with a 12-set track listing, accompanied by three bonus songs for the deluxe edition.

The ongoing rift between Liam and his brother Noel, who is set to release his own third-generation solo material next month to go head to head with his younger, has often split fans and risen the age-old debate of which Gallagher is best.

Liam, being his own humble self (that’s not a joke, by the way), has said in recent interviews that he knows he’ll never be a good a songwriter as Noel. The fact that the pair have always been at each others throats and of course, came from the same mother, at least gives us a cause to choose our favourite – but as some scepticals say, in many ways, they’re both as bad (and good) as each other.

Noel’s next effort with the High Flying Birds has been teased lately on social media and features a distinctly psychedelic sound, revealing his own intentions to experiment and dabble in a new, Pink Floyd-esque genre for the first time. That will certainly get the people talking, but for the first month at least, we can enjoy Liam’s new music without any fighting from the other corner.

So here we have it. As You Were.

The album kicks off with the lead single, 'Wall of Glass', which was released on the first of June. It received pretty rave reviews initially, but it isn’t one of my favourites. the song isn’t formulated well with too many parts that don’t seem to fit together. The lyrics, including words like ‘paraphernalia’, were quite obviously not written by Liam and the song seems to be trying to be too modern, with the build up and the instrumental post-chorus bit. That pre-verse end chorus bit is pretty awful aswell, but the actual melody of the song is good and it’s a grower.

'Bold' is a Liam-penned track, and has distinct licks of Noel-inspired songwriting in there. It sounds a bit like ‘The Masterplan’ in the verse and even references Noel’s album ‘Chasing Yesterday’. In fact, the song seems to be directed at him. ‘I know I didn’t do what I was told.’ The song kicks in with the drums on the second verse and is a decent listen, but is another non memorable song.

The fourth single off the album is 'Greedy Soul', and this is where it gets decent. A snarly acoustic riff opens the song amidst pounding drums and Liam’s spat-out lyrics add fire to what is an aggressive number and reminds of heavier Oasis songs like Morning Glory. It nosedives into a melodic chorus too but there’s still issues. What could’ve been a heavy, stadium filling rock song is ruined by the lack of electric guitar and the flimsiness of the production. That riff is made for overdrive, not for an acoustic guitar, and the dynamic doesn’t even change during the chorus. It’s annoying. As are the falsetto, bluesy-soul backing vocals. What happened to rock and roll, Liam?

Paper Crown is a slow-burner, and a song that despite doesn’t even feature Gallagher on the songwriting credits, doesn’t even try to hide its blatant Beatles’ template. Every Liam fan knows of his lifelong adoration for the Fantastic Four, but this one milks it a bit much. People said Oasis sounded like the Beatles – but this one is a deliberate attempt at sounding like them, with those harmonies being picked straight out of the Lennon-McCartney handbook. It doesn’t really match up. Again, it’s alright, with a good melody and a different timescale in the verse. I suppose you’ve got to have a specific taste for it. I don’t.

'Paper Crown' is a slow-burner, and a song that despite the fact it doesn’t even feature Gallagher on the songwriting credits, doesn’t even try to hide its blatant Beatles’ template. Every Liam fan knows of his lifelong adoration for the Fantastic Four, but this one milks it a bit much. People said Oasis sounded like the Beatles – but this one is a deliberate attempt at sounding like them, with those harmonies being picked straight out of the Lennon-McCartney handbook. It doesn’t really match up. Again, it’s alright, with a good melody and a different timescale in the verse. I suppose you’ve got to have a specific taste for it. I don’t.

Liam performing in 2017.

'For What It’s Worth' is almost a Don’t Look Back in Anger homage, with a powerful chorus and some neat guitar fills in amidst the rest. It’s very listenable and has good lyrics. Maybe it is a letter to Noel. ‘For what it’s worth, I’m sorry for the hurt, I’ll be the first to say I’ve made my own mistakes.’ It’s a bit boring though. Not what most would’ve expected from Liam.

When the sixth track, 'When I'm In Need' started, with the jangly acoustic guitar (like just about every other track on this album, unfortunately), I thought I was listening to the intro of the acoustic version of ‘You & Me’, by the Hunna. Listen to it, it’s exactly the same. I doubt Liam took influence from a small indie band, but it sounds good nonetheless. This song is a nice tribute to his girlfriend Debbie Gwyther, or at least it sounds like it. It’s a love song of some sort – and it’s pretty and teenage-innocent, showcasing a different side to Liam. The song encompasses some Eurythmics-esque organ midway through, before powering back into a triumphant chorus. It reminds of Crowded House in places. A solid effort.

Another faster-tempo effort, ‘You Better Run’ has a similar riff to Greedy Soul, and once again lacks that killer edge. The bluesy riff and vocal melody are quite Queens-of-the-Stone-Agey. The lyrics are interestingly politically-driven and quite cryptic. ‘We’ve got to stand for something, that’s why we’re not standing for you’. A Labour anthem, maybe? At least he slips another Beatles reference in. ‘It’s all gone Helter-Skelter’, he says. Necessary? Maybe not.

If you didn’t know better, you might think you were still listening to the previous track when ‘I Get By’ comes on. This one reinforces the notion that the album’s kind of getting better as you go along. The chorus is a singalong one and actually features an electric guitar. Hallelujah!

'Chinatown', if you didn’t notice, isn’t written by Liam. Why the hell it was second single beats me. Actually, I’m surprised Liam agreed to sing this one. Alright, so it’s got an alright melody, but a ‘Happiness Is A Warm Gun’ reference (yep, another one) and the psychedelic production just hint that they’re sucking up to their idols a tad too much. The song isn’t remotely like anything Oasis or Liam has ever done or wrote, and seems to be inspired by folk music. It’s a weird mix of Jake Bugg and The Beatles.

The tenth track is ‘Come Back to Me’. It’s a more exciting foot-stomper with a funky verse. The chorus melody is reminiscent of ‘Everybody’s On The Run’ by NGHFB – as are the drum fills. How much he was influenced by this would be interesting to know, but he’s made

Liam doesn't try to hide his adoration
for the Beatles on his new album.

it his own and – we finally get a guitar solo.

The final two tracks are both Liam-written tracks. 'Universal Gleam' is first. The verse starts with a bit of a James-Blunt vibe to it and has a homely feel to it, with some All-Around-The-World-esque string arrangements in the mix. Overall though, it’s another one that’ll pass the masses by.

Then comes the last track. The final bow. One last chance to give it all he’s got. And he does. Finally, a good song! It’s all Liam’s work, and ‘It’s All I Need’ is, after a couple of listens, undoubtedly the best song on the album. It starts with a pretty unconvincing one note strummed riff but is then joined by a tambourine and a Snow Patrol/U2-esque guitar part. The vocals, perfectly within Liam’s range, are sung with a sweet, unstrained elegance, and the vocal melody is simple. Surely a good chorus can’t be on the shortlist? It is. Ignore the fact that there’s yet another Beatles hint in there, and you’ve got a fantastic refrain. It’s a pleasure to listen to, with delightfully refined production and nothing more than is necessary. Signing us off with the line ‘I’ve got all I need and more’, Liam seems to be paying tribute to his life with this one, and the fact that he’s content with where he’s at. A breakdown in the middle leads to an emotional solo, and Liam sees us off with a flourish. Undoubtedly the highlight of the album, this last track finally gives us what we wanted – and shows us a glimpse of his full potential. It’s a shame though – it makes you realise how underwhelming the rest of the album actually is. At least he saved the best til last, eh?

Overall verdict

Let’s be honest, Liam’s debut solo effort, from a guy who markets himself as a singer, not a songwriter, wasn’t ever gonna be Oasis-standard. There are good bits on the album – Greedy Soul and When I’m In Need are both well written songs – and I’ve All I Need is a gem amongst the rocks. But apart from that, there isn’t anything great about this album.

Vocally, Liam’s voice is really tested on some tracks. On songs like Bold, he has to really strain to reach high notes, which for a self-proclaimed hard man, is a bit embarrassing. The amount of good reception he’s been getting recently is surprising, but maybe it’s just cause all the Noel fans are just waiting for Noel, rather than hating on Liam. The die-hards will say he sounds better than he has done for years, and you can see what they mean, but his nasally delivery isn’t pleasant and actually makes you wish for his snarlier, gruff, angry tone in places. Alright, his larynx isn’t what it was in the 90’s, but in trying to smoothen out his voice, he’s got rid of some of the emotion he used to be able to achieve.

The main negative of the album, however, is not the vocals, which are very alright, but the lack of ferociousness, the lack of power and edge to the songs. The stuff that makes you want to punch a wall in excitement and turn your amp up to 10. That makes you want to be a rockstar.

Liam, despite his performance with Chris Martin at the Manchester benefit concert this summer, has always dismissed Coldplay when asked about them in interviews, because they ‘aren’t rock and roll enough’. If this is rock and roll, disappointed would be a bit of an understatement. There’s not enough electric guitars, and there’s too many synths and violins and trumpets. Where’s that fist-pumping energy, the stuff that got us all into Oasis in the first place. Just watch their performance of Supersonic at Earl’s Court. Then you’ll know.

The truth is, as a songwriter, Liam’s probably still got a lot to learn. Maybe stripping it back to just the primary instruments would’ve been better, like Royal Blood – or even having the confidence to do it all himself – the songwriting of Greg Kurstin and Andrew Wyatt is not one of the highlights of this album. But it’ll do for now, and I’ve All I Need will be one to repeat. For some, it’s a blessing simply that Liam is back.

4/10