No Frills Reviews

What if Liam Gallagher fronted The Stone Roses? Well it’s exactly as you’d imagine…

I debated whether to bother reviewing this because plenty of opinions will have been formed even before hearing it. I mean, Liam’s fanbase is gonna uncritically eat up anything he does, and the appearance of John Squire will only increase the fanboy worship (which is weird BTW, you’re all about 45). Then you’ve got the “I always preferred Blur anyway” crowd, who will dismiss this regardless.

But if, like me, you sit somewhere in between. Then, in spite of diminishing returns for 25 years, there’s still some excitement at the prospect of THE iconic rock vocalist of his generation teaming up with the guitarist behind The Stone Roses. So I wrote this for anyone else who’s been trying to work through their cautious optimism.

It’s really the presence of Squire that makes this an interesting prospect beyond another run-of-the-mill Liam solo outing. But, we should probably remember that the diminishing returns tag could just as easily be applied to him. His relative reclusiveness has provided a contrast to Ian Brown’s karate and conspiracies persona, and allowed his disappointing solo and Seahorses output to be largely forgotten. That has probably helped rehabilitate his status as the creative maestro behind The Stone Roses. But, like Liam, he’s never came close to matching the quality of his early work. So, while we already know that Liam is prone to hyperbole, his proclamations of this being the best thing since The Beatles’ Revolver should probably be taken with a whole bucketful of salt.

The song starts off promisingly enough and yes, it sounds like The Stone Roses. There’s a hint of their classic, Waterfall, with Squire’s riffs bringing his signature blend; being both hazily atmospheric and boldly anthemic. There’s also nods to the Roses as the track wears on, with some off-kilter Reni-like drumming and a brief descent into mystical psychedelia. Maybe you could argue it’s a bit too much of a Roses soundalike, but I’m not going to complain about a pretty good approximation of that sound. And it’s John Squire, he’s allowed to sound like himself.

Things start to go downhill almost as soon as the vocals hit. Liam has a tendency to try to be too Liam at times, resulting in an extended nasal whine, and his vocals simply don’t work for much of this song. On the Roses’ classics, Ian Brown’s vocals were hushed yet swaggering; fully immersed into the atmosphere. This very much feels like Liam Gallagher singing on top of a John Squire guitar track; the vocals are too abrasive against the instrumental. That contrast may have worked if there was any substance to the lyrics, but it just exposes their emptiness.

Squire is actually credited as the songwriter so he should take the blame, but the lyrics almost feel like peak Liam. The kind of faux-hippy philosophical nothingness he often resorts to in his attempts to emulate John Lennon. And let’s not even get into the colours of the rainbow recital bit.

You get the impression that this was designed to be epic (or ‘Biblical’ as I’m sure Liam would describe it) and it kind of has all the constituent parts. But it doesn’t quite fit, it’s like it’s been stitched together. The classic rock wankery of the guitar solo in the last third ends up sounding like filler (as technically solid as it may be), and the final chorus feels tacked on. It’s all a bit soulless.

If this is representative of the upcoming album then we may have an answer to what it would sound like if Liam Gallagher fronted The Stone Roses? It’s both exactly like, yet somehow worse, than you imagined.

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