Back to suburban youth with string-heavy retro rock.
While the rippling lead single “Pretty Boy” raised eyebrows, the following “Easy Now” raised hands like it was 1996 on the Knebworth meadow again. An ecstatic singalong in the tradition of “Don’t Look Back In Anger” and “Little By Little”, as only Noel Gallagher can pull it off, with the eternally same message: heal heal blessings, tomorrow there will be rain, the day after tomorrow there will be snow and then it doesn’t hurt anymore, so stop crying your heart out.
Some things in life, like in pop, cannot be assured often enough, see also: I love you. Does the 55-year-old put this song-turned-consolation on his younger self, who was beaten up by his alcoholic father? Definitely maybe. Despite the album title and artwork, which takes us through Gallagher’s troubled but hopeful suburban youth, this isn’t an insightful conceptual work.
Words have always served Gallagher to convey a positive attitude to life over wide arcs of melody. He does it best on the stomper “Love Is A Rich Man” and the string chunky “Open The Door, See What You Find”. In general: strings, everything full of strings! For those who’ve always wondered why Oasis never got the sound of one of their most enchanting tracks, “Whatever” feat. The London Session Orchestra, may now pull back the curtains and let this sunshine of an album work its magic on you.