Oasis finally produce ‘third great album’ with ‘Dig Out Your Soul’

Reviewed by Edward Wallace

Oasis/Dig Out Your Soul

This the Oasis album that should have come after (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? – the third great album fans have been waiting for. Closest in spirit to their debut Definitely Maybe, it’s tighter than their last two good albums Heathen Chemistry and Don’t Believe the Truth with a much better single. Hopefully it will find the appreciation Radiohead and Foo Fighters recently enjoyed. The first song “Bag It Up” has the Gallaghers taking on fear:  “Somebody tell me I’m dreaming/The freaks are coming up through the floor”/I’ve got my heebeejeebees hidden in a bag” with soaring, classic guitar and throaty vocal bravado. “The Turning” has a Kid A Radiohead beat, but sped up into an exciting rocker – the kind Radiohead may have made in a parallel universe where they took Bono’s advice to make a pop hit. Setting a theme that continues into the next song, Oasis uses imagery of Adam & Eve and the Christian Rapture. Where they began their careers declaring they wanted to “Live Forever”; here they face mortality (“I’m tired, come pick me off this merry-go-round”) but see love and living life to the fullest as the obvious answer. “Grab your guitar when the rapture takes me…will you be by my side?”

“The Shock of The Lightning” opens with an air raid, complete with plane noises and strafing machine gun drums. Vintage “Supersonic” guitar hooks explode. The chorus “Love is a time machine/Up on the silver screen” doesn’t worry about making sense because it’s too busy kickin’ arse. Returning to the mortality theme, “I’m Outta Time” is a touching Liam piano ballad on the final days of John Lennon. “If I’m to fall would you be there to applaud/Or would you hide behind them all.” It ends with powerful dialog from Lennon himself. Oasis is the one band that could pull this song off, and does.

“Get Off Your High Horse Lady” is a bluesy, hand-clapper kiss-off that fits with their last single “Lord Don’t Slow Me Down.” “Falling Down” is a shoegazer song with swirly guitars, strings and psychedelic lyrics about dreams and butterflies before turning defiant: “I try to talk to God to no avail/I said ‘If you can’t save me, then please don’t waste my time.’ “

The Chemical Brothers remix of that song (available separately) is bombastic. Had the two bands collaborated on a full album during the ’90s (The Chemical Gallagher Brothers?) matching Oasis’s rock-craft charisma with cutting-edge techno production, I think they could have created the best CD of that decade. It’s not too late. “To Be Where There’s Life” continues the psychedelia with a George Harrison-influenced sitar piece. “Ain’t Got Nothin’” (the most swaggering song Liam has written) kicks the door back in like ‘Force Of Nature’ demanding “The Truth,” with a more jangly, blues rock take from The Who. 

“Nature of Reality” returns to hippyland with shaky maracas, building into a glam rockier, reverberating update of “Helter Skelter”-era Beatles. “The nature of reality/Is pure subjective fantasy” seems to answer the question posed by the previous track. I’m amazed how well the brothers’ songs intertwine. The haunting ending “Soldier On” ends with a plodding, martial beat. A bold choice that leaves the brothers’ song personas toiling onwards – not at the promised land, but refusing to give up as though at the end of a cliff hanger movie sequel. Which of course leaves us looking forward again to the next exciting Oasis chapter.

http://www.oasisus.com

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California band Tied to the Stone rooted in spiritual faith

Written by Carson James

Tied to the Stone belongs to the Neil Young school of Americana, built on a foundation of country and folk but given a classic-rock kick. Based in California, Tied to the Stone more closely resembles the roots-oriented acts of the late ’60s and early ’70s (I could imagine them opening up for the Band or Poco) than much of what passes for Americana today. Lead singer Dan Worley discusses the meanings and origins of the group.

Carson James: The name of the band: Tied to the Stone. It can have two meanings, one positive, one negative. The positive being that the stone is a solid foundation, such as spiritual faith that you’re devoted to; the negative being that it’s something that is holding you in place, preventing you from moving forward. Which side of the coin is it on?

Dan Worley: I named the band after the song. I wrote “Tied To The Stone” on one of the worst days of my life. I wanted to give up on everything. I didn’t know what else to do so I sat down at the piano to try and sort it all out; that’s when the song came out. I could feel God giving me that song as a blessing to help remind me what was important and to hang onto Jesus and not let go. He’s the Stone I’m tied to. I decided to name the band Tied To The Stone to keep reminding me. I need a lot of reminders or I take over and screw everything up.

James: Your songs strike me as being quite personal. Were any of them uncomfortable to write?

Worley: Extremely so. For the most part, I enjoy writing songs, but for me it’s always a journey into uncomfortable territory because I end up having to wrestle with feelings and issues and aspects about myself and the world that I’d rather ignore. I’d love to just write about how hot and sexy and wonderful I am (like so many songs I’m hearing on the airwaves), but for some reason that never seems to come out. I wonder why? Even the happier more positive-sounding songs can be uncomfortable to write because it takes me a lot of internal processing to get to that point. I cop out once in a while, for sure. Out of fear, I may not go the entire distance to explore what it is the song is trying to reveal to me, or I just don’t have the talent or patience to get there artistically, so I end up taking short cuts and missing some of the scenery. Many of the songs for the album were specifically uncomfortable to write because they deal with pain I’ve carried with me since my youth, self-inflicted and otherwise.

James: Do you consciously write songs with the goal of longevity or are you not even conscious of that during the process of penning them?

Worley: Longevity, no. Integrity (hopefully), yes. When writing, I never think about if a song’s sounding like a hit or if it’s current or if it will have staying power, or anything like that. I want to write what’s truthful and meaningful to me at the time I write it, and it has to have the right feel and sound and fit. Songs are not commodities to me; they are a form of therapy and a way of communicating with myself and others.
I do want people to listen, and I do want them to get something out of them and like them, and I try to do the best I can so that will happen, but I can’t write specifically for a market or for posterity’s sake.

James: Is Tied to the Stone a real group or is it just you and session musicians? How did everyone get together?

Worley: We’re all friends who have played music together in one way or another throughout the years.

James: When did you start your musical career? Let us hear your story.

Worley: I’ve been writing songs for 40 years, since I was 12. In and out of bands and work for a lot of that time. Gave it up and tried “regular” jobs so I could raise a family. Bored me to tears (the jobs, not my
family). I always kept writing. Went to work for my producer Carolyn Wing Greenlee at her studio. She took a liking to my songs and encouraged me to do something with them, and she supported that effort.

http://www.tiedtothestone.com

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The ‘dimly-lit confessions’ of ‘The Chorus Man’ has traces of the Screaming Trees, Joy Division

Reviewed by Kit Burns

Yves Villeneuve/The Chorus Man

The Chorus Man is a pretty cheerful title for an album that honestly should only be played with the lights out. Yves Villeneuve has a deep, raspy, blues-tinged voice that is reminiscent of Mark Lanegan, former lead singer of the Screaming Trees. Like Lanegan, Villeneuve sings from the gut, his brooding baritone rooted in some inner pain. With Villeneuve, his angst may stem from unrequited love as the slow-boiling songs
“I’m Sleeping Single in Love” and “Will She Say Hello Again” reveal. “Won’t forget your lovely face,” aches Villeneuve on “I’m Sleeping Single in Love.”

The music doesn’t shift in tone or style much as Villeneuve is locked in a fuzz-drenched groove throughout much of the CD. The distorted rocker “See River Flow (North)” is reminiscent of R.E.M.’s grungy makeover on their mid-’90s Monster album. “A Dream I Had Last Night,” consciously or not, owes a debt to Joy Division’s sinister post-punk rhythms. As you can tell from these descriptions, The Chorus Man isn’t packed with laughs; however, if you’re in the mood for dimly-lit confessions, you won’t find much better right now in the indie scene.

http://www.yvesvilleneuve.com

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