Heathen Chemistry

07/02/2002 10:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Ken Micallef

Perk up your ears and suck down that lolly 'cause Oasis is back, and in top form. That is, top form for a band who has shot their mouths off, blown it with two horrible albums, yet still remained a band in the truest sense of the word.

Forget about Noel Gallagher running the show however, Heathen Chemistry is all about Liam, the snot-nosed (or is that cosmetically altered-nosed?) singer intent on reclaiming the classic Oasis sound. Sullen and joyless, Noel's songs are simply dead weight, but with Liam's "Born On A Different Cloud," "Better Man" and "Songbird," the mood noticeably lifts and Oasis peaks your interest in a way they haven't since 1995's (What's The Story) Morning Glory?. Liam has an obvious penchant for John Lennon, not only vocally, but in the very arrangements and production of his songs, which often sound like Lennon circa Imagine and Mind Games. Noel does contribute one outstanding song in the anthemic Mellotron-drenched sleeper, "Stop Crying Your Heart Out." You can just see the ciggie lighters glowing at Wembley as the fans toast the song and sway in the communal darkness. They may have lost the World Cup, but, for better or worse, England still has Oasis.