Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds
Chasing Yesterday

On his second long-distance attempt, Noel Gallagher confirms himself as one of the best British songwriters of his generation.

The idea of restarting that moneymaking machine called Oasis with his brother is far from his mind (at least verbally), and four years after his debut, he presents with his High Flying Birds a second work that has nothing to envy from its predecessor. In fact, with a couple of flashes and some good new solutions, it even manages to surpass it.

Named “Chasing Yesterday” (“I basically gave it a random title,” he more or less declared with his usual disdainful irony), and preceded by the sparkling pop of “In The Heat Of The Moment” and “Ballad Of The Mighty I” (the album's only collaboration, with the legendary guitarist of The Smiths, Johnny Marr, and directly linked to the dance-like experiment of the previous album “AKA… What A Life!”), the album is essentially crossed by two different currents.

One is the recovery and consolidation of the typical Brit rock songwriting now a hallmark of the elder Gallagher: take “Lock All The Doors,” built on an Oasis demo dating back as far as 1992 (and you can tell), or “You Know We Can’t Go Back,” with its refrain shouted to the sky that calls to mind even the repudiated (by Noel himself) Oasis of the “Be Here Now” era. The other thread, undoubtedly more interesting, involves the inclusion of some novelty in the well-established Gallagher sound (nothing revolutionary, but undoubtedly a nice and healthy refresh): the smoky and Floydian atmospheres, with a sax solo, of the impeccable opener “Riverman,” the Eagles-like “The Girl With X-Ray Eyes,” even the strong jazz patina of “The Right Stuff” (with precious added female vocals), by far the best solo piece of the senior Gallagher. Only weak points are the flat “While The Songs Remains The Same” and the bland hard rock of “The Mexican,” especially when rare gems have been left out, eventually included as bonuses in the deluxe version (“Revolution Song — another Oasis demo — above all, but also “Freaky Teeth,” clearly inspired by 007 soundtracks). Exactly halfway through the work, there is also the typical Gallagher ballad, this time “The Dying Of The Light,” which had been circulating online in guitar and voice version for years.

With this work, Noel Gallagher confirms his solo ambitions, consolidates his so-far flawless path, and increasingly distances any hopes (for those who hope, of course) of a restart of the “mothership.” Whether that’s better or not, the difficult judgment is left to future generations.

Best track: The Right Stuff