We waited for the return of Noel Gallagher with high expectations and a lot of curiosity for his new solo album.
The second album of his solo career with the Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, ‘Chasing Yesterday’ has been presented by Noel as the collection of great tracks “he is immensely pleased with”. As he declared few weeks ago, the “new album is is full of songs that make you punch the air while crying”.
So let’s have a look at the album track by track, looking forward to listening to it on 2nd March 2015 (day of the release).
‘Riverman’
“There’s something in the way she moves me to distraction”, Noel Gallagher sings in this song, one of his favourite ones. He described its opener as “summoned from a smoky room in 1963… It’s fucking amazing. It’s my favourite track on the album, and one of my favourites I’ve ever done.”
Get ready for a saxophone climax like something out of a muddled detective movie montage.
‘In the Heat of the Moment’
We heard this one, the first single of Noel’s return on the scenes. Noel stated this track “lightens up the mood of the album”.
‘The Girl with X-Ray Eyes’
“She swallowed space and time… she shot me to the sun, like a bullet from a gun” classic Noel lyrics, a melancholic hymn not unlike ‘If I Had a Gun’.
‘Lock All The Doors’
The song all Oasis fans are waiting for. 23 years ago Noel started to work on this song, an early Oasis one. It’s ‘Be Here Now’-era fizz of guitars are more than worth the wait here, powering to a stomping adrenaline-packed finale.
‘The Dying of the Light’
The b-side of Noel’s second single ‘The Ballad of the Mighty I’, Noel said it’s one of his wife’s favourites and he described it as “grandiose… uplifting and beautiful track”.
’The Right Stuff’
Noel asks “Are you the devil with a heart of gold?” A jazzy, lightly psychedelic jam is the album’s most far-out moment, full of crazed stabs of saxophone, bluesy distorted guitar and drugged grooves.
’While The Song Remains The Same’
Another Sergio Leone spaghetti western soundtrack killer, like ‘The Riverman’. “We can dance beneath the fire flies on an empty road,” Noel sings over spooky guitar echoes.
’The Mexican’
“You need love just like a kid on crack, I got a feeling that what I want is holding you back.” A sleazy LSD-fuelled ‘60s freak-out.
’You Know We Can’t Go Back’
If you are wondering if it’s about Oasis… It’s not, Noel says.
Sparkling guitars chime over airy synths before a four minute of pop-rock, unfurled over breathless drums. The album’s cheeriest moment, Noel sounds like he’s having a lot of fun. “Maybe I believe in magic love, find it in the moon and stars above,” he cries.
’Ballad of The Mighty I’
“Yes, I’ll find you” an emphatic closer, driven by a sinister bass line. Noel’s second single, the closure track that Noel considers one of his best songs with a collaboration with Johnny Marr.
Source: NME