Oasis No one will ever know how much it pains me to say this, but I am not thrilled with Don’t Believe the Truth.
And “not thrilled” doesn’t even really cut it. I had to restrain myself from saying “I don’t like it.” Because that’s not how I roll with Oasis.
I love Oasis. Love them. They are one of my favorite bands of all time – and please, save your protests, because I don’t care. Definitely Maybe is one of my top 10 favorite CDs ever, and their collection of b-sides, The Masterplan, is just amazing. They are like Pearl Jam in the way that their b-sides are just as good as (and oftentimes, better than) their a-sides.
But back to the lecture at hand.
Don’t Believe the Truth finds Oasis deviating from the path they’ve staunchly stuck to over the last decade. Instead of making unabashedly hedonistic rock and using Liams’ snarling swagger and Noel’s sweetly melodic vocals to their greatest effect, this album doesn’t do any of those things.
And in what is perhaps the most shocking revelation about this album, it seems like Oasis, the band who has made no bones about their obsessive love for the Beatles, are relying less on that influence. In the place of the Beatles is…the Velvet Underground?
Yeah, I know – you can’t get much farther from Oasis than Lou Reed. But it’s right there for your ears to hear – track two of Don’t Believe the Truth, “Mucky Fingers,” is waaay too reminiscent of “I’m Waiting for the Man.” And while the music on “Mucky Fingers” is good, textured material, the song is a travesty on Noel’s voice, as he takes on the atonal singing that works so well for Liam with unsatisfactory results.
This is not to say that the entire CD is disappointing – there are a few shining moments on Don’t Believe the Truth, and they happen when Oasis are doing what they do best. The first single, “Lyla,” is not the most inventive song the band’s ever done, but it features the type of singalong chorus and powerful guitar work that Oasis is best known for. “Part of the Queue” and “Meaning of Soul” also stand out, particularly the Kinks-era sound evident on “Soul.”
As I’m sure you can tell by now, Don’t Believe the Truth is something of a mixed bag. For hardcore Oasis fans, it’s still a must-have, if only because it chronicles another period in the band’s career. However, for Oasis, a band that made their name by following a set pattern and playing to their strengths, trying to mix it up this late in the game is more than a little disconcerting. While listening to this album, I often thought it sounded like a band that was trying to find its footing – in fact, Oasis’s last few albums sound like they are trying to grow and expand their sound, but it only makes me feel like they are in a bizarre time-warp and are releasing their albums backwards. Don’t Believe the Truth sounds like a debut album from a band with promise, not the band that recorded “Rock and Roll Star” back in 1994.
-- Jessica Netishen, 06/11/05
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