Beady Eye
Different Gear, Still Speeding

Not even had time to process the news of the breakup when what's left of the Oasis post Noel's goodbye—and therefore inevitably different from the Oasis of the nineties splendor—reappears on the music scene, just two years later, under the pseudo-renewed guise of the "Beady Eye". Same members, same sly Liam Gallagher serving as the musical-fashion icon who draws attention and obscures the insignificance of it all.

Yes, because the album with which the "new" band (re)introduced themselves to the world last February 28, titled "Different gear, still speeding," is the emblem of mediocrity and superficiality. Despite the pretentious title, the speed is no longer the same without Noel. Without a genius songwriter of his caliber, the Oasis mix of classic reinterpretation and originality in assembling influences gives way to a simple musical reminiscence of snippets of tradition, a simplistic and tired repetition of the most superficial layer of a certain 60s-70s rock'n'roll. The tendency for derivation, which in Oasis was reworked in a modern key and given new meaning, now remains the only color of the Beady Eye palette. A poor palette, leaving a sensation of thinly veiled discontent for catchy pieces that do not rise above the flatness of a smokey gray (or Manchester gray, if you prefer).

But let's delve in detail, this non-debut debut, with thirteen tracks whose origin we do not know whether is from new creative flourishes or the baggage of demo snippets-attempts that a group like Oasis had behind them. Let's start with the most disappointing tracks, which, in my opinion, are the ones that persist on a sickly sweet take on rock'n'roll in its most trivial and light-hearted sense, with worn-out references to all shades of Cliff Richard and the Kinks. They are "Three Ring Circus," "Beatles and Stones" (for instance), and "Bring the Light," which upon first appearance, even stirred laments from the most ardent fans convinced that Liam had turned into a pathetic Elvis impersonator. Going up a notch in the value scale, we find tracks that are a faithful copy of the pure Oasis style, even here in the most banalizing sense of the term: that typically Gallagher flavor, characterized especially by Liam's drawling yet raspy voice and that all Britpop cadence Noel had in his veins, is brought back now in its most predictable version, in songs like "Kill for a Dream," "Standing on the Edge of the Noise," "The Roller" (the first single extracted, a cross between "Lyla" and Lennon's "Instant Karma"), "Millionaire," "Wind up Dream," "Wigwam" that could have been pulled from a "Standing on the shoulders of giants" written by a cover band. On the highest step of this not particularly thrilling escalation, are those tracks where the melting pot of influences, although verging on plagiarism, transforms into something minimally "original," or at least appreciable: the gentle and sweet pop gait of "For Anyone," the paced and evocative progression of "The Morning Son" (very similar to "Soldier On"), the shamelessly Beatlesque yet pleasant ballad "The Beat Goes On," the gritty and powerful rock of "Four Letter Word."

In short, very little is salvaged in this ocean of predictability. Recommended only to die-hard fans of the genre. For everyone else, this is certainly not the chance to reassess it. Perhaps only the much more substantial Noel could accomplish such a feat.