Albums

Oasis - Dig Out Your Soul

Stas Werno 22/10/2008

Rating: 4/5

Whatever publication you're writing for penning an Oasis review always comes with certain prerequisites. You take their status as demi-gods as a given, talk a little about the coke fuelled hedonism of the mid 90's and conclude that any new material is not as good as 'Definitely Maybe', but nearly as good as '(What's the Story) Morning Glory'. Personally my life philosophy always lent more in the direction of 'Modern Life Is Rubbish' than 'Live Forever, and I related more to Dan Abnormal than, er, Digsy's Dinner. If you catch my drift. But as the Gallagher brothers matured into blokes you'd actually quite like to invite to dinner (I hear Liam does a great salmon dish) and Albarn remained a cunt, the music's matured with them, as shown on the very solid 'Dig Out Your Soul', and I've started to give them the attention they deserve again.

'DOYS' is the album they were meant to make after 'Be Here Now' (stfu, it's brilliant). It's the logical next step, a band capable of writing sing along anthems for the rest of their careers (and selling them by the bucket) choosing to leave that safety zone, because they clearly love music. There's no real singles here, nothing you'll hear booze fuelled football fans singing on the way home from a game, nothing your mate who's started to learn guitar can use to try and impress you with.

Instead there's texture, astounding production, new ideas; songs that go, in the words of Jeremy Osbourne, not 'from A to B to C, but from A to D, then back to A, and then to X!' Opener 'Bag It Up' is a great example of this, a song with no real verse or chorus, just 'bits' that come together and get bigger and better, climaxing in an astounding orchestral cacophony. Liam's song writing has finally reached greatness with his Lennon-esque 'I'm Outta Time,' Noel's singing has become as affecting as his brothers on Falling Down and (Get Off Your) High Horse Lady the first tribute to traditional folk and blues from any band in years, that doesn't induce eye rolling. And that, as the cliché goes, is just the start. You can't cherry pick from 'Dig Out Your Soul', it's an album that deserves to be listened from start to finish, and I thoroughly recommend you do so.

Release Date - 06/10/08