I Carry the Madness Everywhere I Go

Let me take you back to the mid-nineties, a time when Rock and Roll bands rules the radiowaves (including the recently reviewed Better Than Ezra) and there was no bigger band at the time as the Gallagher brothers of Oasis. It didn't hurt them that sibling rivalry was as entertaining (or sometimes more entertaining) than the music. But around the third album, the luster of the band wore off and they started to put out mediocre album one after another with the song Stop Crying Your Heart Out being the one bright spot in recent memory.

Mediocrity continues with the release of Don't Believe the Truth. But for a band that who unapologetically rip-off the Beatles as on this album they steal from other English bands. A Bell Will Ring sounds like a Rolling Stones song. Lyla sounds like something The Kinks might have done. The Stone Roses get the Oasis makeover on Turn Up the Sun.

Oasis even borrows from a newer band as Mucky Fingers takes from the signature Coldplay crushing guitars. They even get some influences from across the pond with the 60's garage rock of The Meaning of Soul. Part of the Queue percussion sound particularly reminiscent of the Red Hot Chili Peppers' Breaking the Girl.

But Oasis shines when they stick to what they do best, and of course that lifting Beatles music. Love Like a Bomb and Guess God Thinks I'm Abel both fit the bill. The Noel takes over sing duties on The Importance Of Being Idle also fits in that category. But the highlight of the album is the closer, Let There Be Love, the first time I'm aware of where the Gallagher brother actually share vocal duties on the same song.

The album starts off with the lyrics, "I carry the madness everywhere I go." Too bad its not the same kind of madness that put a single of the brother on the English charts so many years ago. That is the Oasis I wish would come back.

Song to Download - Let There Be Love

Don't Believe the Truth gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.