Grade: A
“Don’t Believe the Truth” is the band’s best effort since 1997 with “Be Here Now.” Their latest album doesn’t brag one bit, but offers hard-hitting proof that Oasis has a lot of life left in them.
From the opening riff, this album offers something different but strangely familiar to Oasis fans. Fans might recall the feeling when they got their first dose of “D’ya Know What I Mean.” The single bounced off the speaker and quickly became a hard-nosed hit and Oasis favorite. “Don’t Believe the Truth” starts off light and melodic with “Turn Up the Sun” and “Mucky Fingers” in which Noel sings with harmonica back-up.
It’s not until song number three that we get the single “Lyla” and its images from the music video of a girl lost in her own fantasy where she enters a ball where everyone is being serenaded by the band. The upbeat positive number talks about one girl’s journey to find herself.
The chorus totes, “Hey Lyla! A starts about to fall/So what D’you say Lyla? The world around us makes me feel so small Lyla! If you can’t hear me call then I can’t say Lyla! Heaven help you catch me if I fall.”
With loud explosive drums, the band gets their one of a kind guitar tone and help writing music and lyrics from Andy Bell and Gem Archer as well as the next song penned by Liam. The feel-good love song talks about “your love like a bomb yer blowin my mind.” The song harkens back to “Hindu Times” from the band’s last record, “Heathen Chemistry” some of the guitar melodies and execution sound like the single.
In “Guess God Thinks I’m Abel,” the midtempo down beat acoustic number talks about escaping.
The pre-chorus says, “Let’s get along there’s nothing here to do/Let’s go find a rainbow/I could be wrong but what am I to do/Guess God thinks I’m Abel.”
The bridge confidently boasts, “No one could break us/No one could take us if they tried.”
My personal favorite, “Keep the Dream Alive,” talks about just that — keeping the dream alive as time passes, even though you might have lost it.
In an homage to the Beatles, “Let There be Love” is another acoustic anthem that will be sung by concert goers at the top of their lungs. The melody changes and the Hammond keyboard in the background is the perfect backdrop for Noel and Liam’s duet in the last track on the record.
The first verse asks, “Who kicked a hold in the sky so the Heavens would cry over me?/Who stole the soul from the sun in would come undone at the seams?/Let there be love.”
The song itself sounds like a mixture between the Beatles’ “Masterplan” and “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club,” it’s a good closure to another strong Oasis record.
Overall, “Don’t Believe the Truth” is as strong as “What’s the Story Morning Glory?” but time will tell how good the singles do and how accepting MTV, MTV2 and Fuse will be of the videos.
