Liam Gallagher Why Me? Why Not. Second Album

Nothing wrong with that. But those were long-term collaborations or bands, not modern professional songwriting-by-committee.

 

If I like a song I honestly don't care how many people had a hand in writing and producing it. Some people are talented at singing, others at playing an instrument, others at writing lyrics, hooks etc. If they all get together and create a song that I love it matters not to me who wrote or played which part. A good song is always greater than the sum of its parts. Hopefully there will be some good songs on the new album...

 

I’m interested. I’ve always been way more of a Noel fan but I found As You Were enjoyable. Some good tunes on it. I’m sure this one will be the same.

 

Eh, I guess. But when there's so many cooks in the kitchen, it's sorta like, not really Liam's album or Liam's songs anymore? It sort of lacks distinctiveness aside from the vocals. The great thing about Noel's songs is, good or bad, only Noel could've written them. But when you've got 5 co-writers, it usually ends up sounding like something that could've been anyone's song. And unfortunately Liam isn't going to get there on his own, because he's just not a natural songwriter. And I mean, that didn't stop Roger Daltrey from making a bunch of solo records, but once the initial buzz of "Liam as solo artist" wears off, I imagine his solo career will parallel Roger's. The only difference is Liam will get a lot more media attention. But unless this album surprises and ends up having a bunch of really catchy Oasis-esque tunes, I think a few more years and he'll be doing Oasis nostalgia gigs as a solo artist. As You Were benefitted from very low expectations pre-release, I think, and that won't last.

Like, I see country records where the name in big font on the cover doesn't have a single writing credit and doesn't play a single instrument, so like, what did they do? That was okay in the old Motown/Stax days if you could sing like Dusty Springfield or Marvin Gaye, but with some dude in a funny hat who isn't even that great a singer? Sorry for the diversion there, but it blows my mind.

 

I’m a Noel man, but he was daft to shelve The Roller and greenlight Hung In A Bad Place. The last Oasis album could have benefited from the inclusion of Millionaire as well.

 

Point well taken.

 

I disagree, insofar as I find Born On A Different Cloud, Love Like A Bomb, The Meaning Of Soul, Guess God Thinks I’m Abel, Boy With The Blues, I’m Outta Time, and I Believe In All to be good to great Oasis songs, and all better than anything on Liam’s solo album, with the possible exception of For What It’s Worth, which is the most successful clone of Noel’s style on the solo album. I think Liam really did develop into a decent songwriter towards the end of Oasis, although I believe Liam and/or Gem have hinted that Gem was an uncredited co-writer on many of these songs (Gem is actually credited on Love Like A Bomb). That Liam can actually write, and wrote a couple of good tracks (Bold and Greedy Soul) on As You Were by himself makes the hack by-committee attempts to recreate Noel’s style such as Chinatown that much more disappointing.

 

The first album was shockingly good. Looking forward to this one!

 

I was pleasantly surprised how much i liked the songs on 'As You Were', they worked quite well mixed in with the Oasis songs during the show. 'Why Don't You Come Back To Me, All My People / All Mankind, Doesn't Have To Be That Way, Bold, For What It's Worth and 'I Never Wanna Be Like You' are still in regular rotation. I presume he has worked with the same people for this album as well, so i'm sure it'll be catchy but I wouldn't mind some heavy rockers (think Headshrinker).

 

Are there any details about the songs yet? Is he using the same co-writers as on As You Were?

AYW pissed all over Noel’s Who Built The Moon!

 

That’s funny. Liam could throw darts at a wall of chords and words for the rest of time and not come up with a song half as good as If Love Is The Law or Dead In The Water.

 

Other than "Love Like A Bomb" I'm not sure I could hum any of those songs to you right now if you put a gun to my head. I mean, they were all better than "Little James," but that's not saying much.

I actually thought initially Beady Eye would have a shot, with three members piping in songs, but I think their big mistake was not pooling their creative resources and (with one or two exceptions) not actually writing the material as a band, and learning each other's strengths and weaknesses to create better songs together. I thought Liam joining a band that contained other writers was his best post-Oasis option, but it didn't work out that way.

 

Yeah, WBTM grew on me a lot over time after being an initial disappointment, especially after seeing the tour.

Wish I could say the same for Liam's album, but he's never had the cahones to come play my town, either with BE or solo. (Noel's been here three times since 2012, I believe)

 

Despite all the praise for As You Were, the two Beady Eye albums are better albums, in my opinion, even if almost all of the highlights - The Roller, Four Letter Word, Millionaire, Flick Of The Finger, etc. - are Oasis leftovers.

 

I thought BE was a pretty interesting album. It had the potential to be pretty great, but it ended up being an overlong LP of solid album/deep cuts without any standout singles, which is why it failed. But at least musically and production-wise, they were trying to do something different. But if I had to pick between BE and AYW, I'd pick BE.

 

Agreed. And Andy and Gem were better and more natural collaborators for Liam than Greg Kurstin and the other hired guns on As You Were.

 

"As You Were" was as good (or arguably better) than "Who Built The Moon" (although I like them both)

What's fun is to take a few songs off both those 2 albums and put together a 50 minute (or so) playlist and pretend it's like an Oasis album.

 

As You Were was great. Hopefully this one is as well.

 

Talent? You’ve heard the vocals on Morning Glory?

 

Agreed. Calling AYW better than WBTM? is ridiculous

 

Lyrics aside the music is decent.

 

Total BS

 

I haven't listened to any of Liam's solo stuff, other than one or two A-sides (which were forgettable), due to lack of interest, but I do find it interesting how when someone like Liz Phair hired pop songwriters she was the ultimate sellout, while when Liam Gallagher does the same (since, unlike Liz Phair, his own solo songwriting is hopeless), it's "good luck, Liam,!".

Seems a double standard.

 

Having different musical tastes is ridiculous?