Oasis – Don't Believe the Truth (2005)

Oasis gets quite a lot of bad rep for their later albums. In some cases it's quite deserved, but I quite like Don't Believe the Truth. It may not be a fantastic album throughout, but there are more than a few decent tracks on it. The sounds are lighter than in the beginning of their career or on their last album that kind of returned to their roots. I've heard many times people compare Oasis to The Beatles. normally, I think, that comparison comes down to things like how they look like, how they sing etc., but on this album, I think there are quite strong musical similarities as well. For one thing, all the band members have contributed to songwriting, which wasn't the case on all of their albums. Noel has usually pretty much written all the songs for their albums. Also, there are nice yet subtle 60s psychedelia influences in many songs on this album, which points to The Beatles.



I was well into Oasis during their first couple of albums, but around the time they had released Standing on the Shoulders of Giants, I lost interest in the band and I didn't even bother listening to their later albums until at some point I borrowed Don't Believe the Truth from library. Some of the songs on the album really made an impression right from the first time I heard them. That led me to listen to other late albums as well and I liked some of that stuff genuinely. I think Standing on the Shoulders of Giants is to this day, their weakest album.

The album begins with very indie style chiming and echoey guitars in the song Turn Up the Sun. When I just hear the intro, I could imagine I was listening to Doves or The Dears. It's not until the overdriven guitars kick in and Liam's vocals come in when it becomes clear which band we're dealing with. Mucky Fingers is a peculiar Oasis song as it sounds much more like Velvet Underground than The Beatles. There's a pounding rhythm that carries on through the song and any melodies in the song are just made by the vocals. Lyla was one of the main hits from the album. It's kind of a classic rock song and really reminds me of The Soundtrack of Our Lives. This is perhaps a song that sounds most like early Oasis, but at the same time, it's really not among the best songs from the album. Love Like a Bomb is a more acoustic bit with intentionally lo-fi sounds. There are some looping psychedelic parts in the song as well. The Importance of Being Idle is one of the best songs from the late Oasis era. The songwriting is fantastic on this one and Noel's vocals show their best qualities. There are nice 60s style hippy parts in the song. The Meaning of Soul is a fast paced rock song that sounds like some garage bands of the early 00s. Guess God Thinks I'm Abel sounds like a clear nod towards The Beatles with it's India sounds and hypnotic psychedelia. Part of the Queue is another fantastic Noel song where the wild waltz beat dominates the scene with excellent melodies. The guitar solos in this song are quite impressive. Keep the Dream Alive is very much influenced by psychedelic rock. The song is written by Andy Bell, but it sounds like it's specifically made for Liam's voice. A Bell Will Ring is the clearest The Beatles rip-off on the album. It sounds like it could be a cover from Rubber Soul or Revolver. The album ends with a piano ballad Let There Be Love, which is quite clearly influenced by John Lennon's Imagine. It's a good song, but it's almost too clearly just a copy of Lennon's hit song at least when it comes to sounds.

I think I saw the music video for The Importance of Being Idle somewhere right before I went to borrow this album from the library and it made a great impression on me. The song I mean. That might have even been the spark to get me listening to Oasis again. The video is in black and white and features very British scenes with Victorian style. The man in the video is shopping for a coffin and there is lots of singing and dancing in the video despite the grim theme.

Looking back at the list of songs here, I now understand that the reason why I like this album is probably that Noel was able to get so many of his amazing songs on this album. I mean, he was writing almost all of the songs on other albums, but since he had to write less songs for this album, the ones he wrote are quite excellent. It becomes very clear that he's miles away from the others in the band as a songwriter.

Listen to the album on Spotify.