6 Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds

Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds SOUR MASH 2011, £4.98 You say: “He had something to prove again and it did him a lot of good.” Malcolm Turner, via e-mail Even on first listen, Noel’s solo debut felt like a liberation. Swapping Oasis’s stampede of multitracked guitars for a strummed acoustic, and his strained bark for a more natural, choirboy-esque vocal purity,

…High Flying Birds birthed a sound that played to his own strengths (thoughtful, sophisticated), rather than Liam’s (headlong). Everybody’s On The Run and If I Had A Gun… saw him take his foot off the gas to wonder at the world, while proven pop smarts resurfaced in Kinksian whimsy (Dream On) and piano-houselike euphoria (AKA…What A Life!). Britpop’s songwriting master had got his edge back.