There’s glimpses of what they both do best, but this all-star duo can’t cover each others’ flaws
I wasn’t going to write this as my previous review of the album’s lead single captures many of my thoughts. But I reconsidered as a derivative retread seems like the most appropriate tribute I could pay to a 2024 Liam Gallagher and John Squire album. After the promising but ultimately disappointing Just Another Rainbow, my expectations were sufficiently lowered, so this full-length collaboration managed to exceed them…but still isn’t very good.
The positives are that the production does often sound pretty great. And while it’s all fairly predictable, there’s enough variety to distinguish this from just being Liam singing over a bunch of Stone Roses leftovers. It does quite obviously recall the Roses at times, but the dreamy epic of Just Another Rainbow was almost a bit of a red herring. Instead, Squire leans more heavily into Byrds-style psych-pop alongside blues stompers.
He also provides a couple of playful moments lyrically which allow Gallagher’s lovable swagger to shine, like the “you should have fucked me when you had the chance” line on One Day At A Time. Or the casual “Oh my God, about last night” that opens Mars To Liverpool. It’s a perennial missed opportunity that Gallagher and the songwriters he’s worked with over the years, consistently fail to capture the cocky but down-to-earth charm that makes him such a likeable personality outside of his music.
And those moments are too brief here, amongst some stinking songwriting from Squire. The album is filled with some of the blandest shit imaginable; empty faux-uplifting, self-help bullshit like “Raise your hands” and “Just take it one day at a time”. Or the obligatory “It’s gonna be alright” (has Liam ever been on an album that didn’t include some version of that refrain?). It often has the feel of AI-generated stadium rock; a soulless approximation of emotions that lacks any personal insights.
The writing is mostly generic, though inoffensive enough that you can kind of ignore it, but there’s times that it’s distractingly bad. Mother Nature’s Song is almost pretty beautiful, with big hints of the Roses’ Sally Cinnamon, but it’s so cheesy that I’m just too embarrassed to sing along. Also, three months later and I’m still not over how bad that colours of the rainbow recital bit is in Just Another Rainbow. There’s a childlike simplicity here; and that’s not meant in an endearing way, it’s meant in a ‘I can’t believe a 60-year old would write this’ kind of way.
The indulgence of bad habits is one of the album’s common pitfalls. Outside of the lyrical flaws, Squire also has the tendency to descend into epic riff wankery, which drag things out to unearned climaxes. For Liam’s part; he may be one of the last great rockstars, but he really isn’t a very good rock singer anymore. It’s a really hit and miss display from him. His grating nasal drawl is at its worst as he becomes a parody of himself whenever he aims for anthemic. But when he chills out a bit and stops forcing it, his voice is much stronger. It may go against his image, but he’s a much better singer of ballads and laid-back affairs these days.
It’s a frustrating listen as much as anything because there’s hints of something really good here. Both still have something to offer, and display flashes of past glories, but they really need to be reined in from their worst instincts (plus some help from a better songwriter).
I can’t help but feel that this is irrelevant in 2024. Two middle-aged blokes who are still hung up on imitating their favourite records, without having anything new to say themselves. Are there young people out there listening to this? Because there’s plenty of classic rock out there you could be listening to that did this sort of stuff better (and it’s easier to forgive the lyrics cos people hadn’t been doing them for 60 years at that point). And for the long-term fans, you’re listening out of loyalty at this point; you don’t have to pretend this is biblical, Liam isn’t gonna shag you.
Rating:
Best tunes: Mars To Liverpool, I’m A Wheel, You’re Not The Only One
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