Madchester United
Liam Gallagher teams up with his Stone Roses hero
LIAM GALLAGHER & JOHN SQUIRE: Liam Gallagher & John Squire (Warner) Verdict: Mancunian giants unite in style ★★★★☆
KAISER CHIEFS: Kaiser Chiefs’ Easy Eighth Album (Self-released) Verdict: Stamina and swagger ★★★☆☆
WHEN a teenage Liam Gallagher caught a Stone Roses show in Manchester in 1989, the repercussions were huge. Intoxicated by the band’s melodic psychedelia and pulsating dance music, he sprang into action and the seeds of Oasis — and 1990s Britpop — were sown. No wonder he looks back on that night as ‘life-changing’.
Neither Oasis nor The Stone Roses are still around. The former imploded in 2009 after frontman Liam and his guitarplaying older brother Noel fell out spectacularly. The Roses made two albums before splitting in 1996, briefly reuniting for some live shows in 2012.
For the younger Gallagher and ex-Roses guitarist John Squire, though, things have come full circle, with the Mancunian giants teaming up on a new LP that should captivate anyone who has ever worn a fishtail parka and Adidas trainers.
It’s not, it should be said, an album full of surprises. But, in playing to their strengths, the pair complement one another perfectly.
The project came about after Squire, 61, joined Gallagher, 51, at the latter’s Knebworth shows in 2022. Liam was already forging a successful solo career, topping the album chart on five occasions, but the reemergence of Squire has given him the big-league foil he’s lacked since Oasis.
He certainly sounds energised here. With Squire the sole songwriter, Gallagher is free to focus on his singing, and he brings personality and presence to a set of guitar-powered tunes that swing between the bright melodies of Oasis and the fluid ‘Madchester’ rhythms of the Roses — with nods to the Sex Pistols and 1960s blues-rock.
Raise Your Hands is an Oasislike stomp in the style of 2005’s The Importance Of Being Idle. It would have made a better album title than Liam Gallagher & John Squire.
The legacy of Oasis looms again on One Day At A Time, on which Liam deploys his characteristic vocal rasp.
Elsewhere, it’s the Roses to the fore. The chiming guitars of Mars To Liverpool recall that band’s 1987 single Sally Cinnamon, with producer Greg Kurstin adding organ and Wurlitzer piano. Love You Forever reprises the heavier riffs of 1994’s Love Spreads. I’d like to hear Squire let go more: his playing is tight and dynamic, but only once, on Just Another Rainbow, does he unleash an extended, freewheeling solo. His acerbic lyrics play second fiddle to his tunes, but he’s adept at varying the mood. You’re Not The Only One has a music hall feel. Mother Nature’s Song is a hymn to the great outdoors. ‘The melodies are beautiful, the chorus sublime,’ sings Liam, seemingly lost in wonder. Is the former hell-raiser calming down? It seems so, though he’s lost none of his musical fire. Where all this leaves the chances of an Oasis reunion, or a Roses return, is anyone’s guess.
With a tour this month, and hints of a follow-up LP, it looks as if Gallagher and Squire will be the prime source of Mancunian magic for the foreseeable future.
■ IF THERE were prizes for persistence amid changing fashions, the Kaiser Chiefs would sweep the board. It’s 20 years since the Leeds quintet broke through with I Predict A Riot, and the days of multi-platinum albums are behind them.
But as the wryly titled Easy Eighth Album shows, they have staying power and an ability to reinvent themselves.
The title is a play on the idea of the ‘difficult second album’ and the premise that songwriting gets easier as you get older. Produced by Amir Amor, formerly of dance act Rudimental, it adds funkier elements to the group’s indie-rock bluster, a familiar wall of sound honed when narrow ties and trousers were all the rage.
Nile Rodgers adds swagger on Feeling Alright. Reasons To Stay Alive, which touches on US school shootings, is powered by a gnarly bass riff. But Job Centre Shuffle, a song about unemployment, isn’t a good fit for singer Ricky Wilson, a well-to-do rock star who’s also done three seasons on TV talent show The Voice.
Wilson, 46, fares better on more personal material. Sentimental Love Songs is a Duran Duran like dance track dedicated to his wife Grace. The Lads is a touching ode to male friendship. Two decades on, the Kaisers aren’t ready to abdicate just yet.
■ Liam Gallagher & John Squire will play Dublin’s 3Olympia on March 16 (see ticketmaster.ie).