IT IS impossible to read the title of Gallagher jr's second solo album and not hear it as he would say it, delivered, undoubtedly with all the Mancunian cock-sure swagger you would expect.
Indeed the album bursts out of the traps with the 'shake the foundations' guitar chords, glam stomp, and massive chorus of 'Shockwave', topped with a vocal performance embodying the aforementioned Liam swagger.
'Shockwave' is something of a show stealer which the rest of Why Me? Why Not has a job living up to, and overall it never manages to hit the same heights or induce the frisson of excitement that debut solo album As You Were did, and continues to do on revisits.
That said, Why Me? Why Not is solid and satisfying, and at its best continues to allow glimpses into the reflective and more vulnerable side of Liam we first heard on As You Were.
'One Of Us' is sung straight to estranged brother Noel, and while it is partly a rebuke ("act like you don't remember...who you kidding" ), it is by far an olive branch ("c'mon and open your door" ) down to the gospel outro and the repeated chants of "It's a shame". That mood of melancholy, regret, nostalgia, yet realisation that the past is unrecoverable is also heard to superb effect on 'Once'.
'Alright Now' contains some tasteful George Harrison styled guitar work, and that Beatles-esque vibe continues on the pleasing psychedelic ballad 'Meadow'. Now it wouldn't be Liam if there wasn't a bit of Beatles, would it?
