THE CLUE is in the title. This is not about reinvention ("I didn’t want to be reinventing anything or going off on a space jazz odyssey," Liam has said. ) It's about a return to terra firma after Oasis's end and Beady Eye's failure.
The sound and feel of Laim's solo debut is very much in the vein of latter Oasis albums like Don't Believe The Truth or Dig Out Your Soul, with obligatory doffs of the cap to The Beatles (the majestic 'Paper Crown' ); Britrock style ballad ('For What It's Worth ); and plenty of that old Liam swagger (the propulsive, defiant, 'You Better Run' ).
What is new, though, is the more soulful feel, and gospel inflections, that are a welcome and affecting feature on two of the finest songs here - 'When I'm In Need' and 'Universal Gleam', showing that Gallagher knack of creating an epic, anthemic, psychedelic ballad is alive and well. And dare we say both songs take a fair bit of inspiration from the rhythm of Blur's own gospel-blues masterpiece 'Tender'?
For a man famous for his legendary egotistical outbursts, As You Were also finds Liam opening the shutters to reveal a vulnerability we have not really heard before: "I'm sorry for the hurt/I'll be the first to say I've made my own mistakes". A solid return then from 'Our Kid'.
