C'mon You Know by Liam Gallagher
On 1 October 2021, Gallagher announced that he would be releasing a third solo album, titled C'mon You Know, on 27 May 2022. Gallagher will perform at Knebworth Park on 3 and 4 June 2022, nearly 26 years after he performed there with Oasis. On 11 October, Gallagher announced that he would also perform at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester on 1 June and Hampden Park in Glasgow on 26 June 2022. On 20 January 2022, Gallagher announced that the first single to be released from C'mon You Know would be "Everything's Electric" co-written by Dave Grohl—who also provided drums—and Greg Kurstin. The track was released on 4 February 2022. Gallagher performed "Everything's Electric" at the 42nd Brit Awards on 8 February 2022. It debuted at number 18 on the UK Singles Chart Top 100, making it Gallagher's highest charting solo single to date. It debuted at number 1 on the UK Singles Sales Chart. The album's title track was released on 1 April. The album's third single "Better Days" was released 22 April and the song's proceeds went to War Child. The album's forth single "Diamond In The Dark" was released on 26 May. On 17 March, Gallagher announced that he would be releasing his Down by the Thames performance as his second solo live album. It was released on 27 May 2022, the same day as C'mon You Know
A few months before releasing his third solo album, Liam Gallagher told Apple Music to expect a little of the unexpected. “Some of it’s odd,” he said. “I’d say 80 per cent of the record is peculiar but still good, and 20 per cent of it is classic. If you’re gonna do something a bit different, do it in these times, and if people don’t dig it, blame it on COVID.” On <i>C’MON YOU KNOW</i>, “odd” doesn’t quite mean a journey into the outer rims of acid trance or vaporwave, but, chiefly guided by trusted producer/songwriter Andrew Wyatt, Gallagher is noticeably freer of spirit. After two albums of bedding himself into a solo career with gently psychedelic rock that didn’t range too far from Oasis or Beady Eye, Liam is now deftly toggling between polemic punk and weightless dub on “I’m Free”. He told Apple Music that he’d bought a tepee to help cope with the claustrophobia of lockdown and, by building from a children’s choir to a grand, strobing finale, opener “More Power” suggests he spent those outdoor nights picking up signals from Spiritualized’s richly orchestrated cosmos. Other more intrepid moments include deeply psychedelic pop (“Better Days”), elegantly psychedelic soul (“The Joker”) and limber funk rock (“Diamond in the Dark”). While the music peers in new directions, the voice remains unmistakable—and in decent health. There’s a familiar snarl and swagger to “I’m Free” and the trippy, indie groove of “Don’t Go Halfway”, but Gallagher’s sometimes-overlooked warmth and reassurance are also regularly in play. He never likes slapping definitive meaning on the words he sings, preferring that listeners take what they want from the songs, and in a post-pandemic age there’s plenty to draw from the piano-driven heart-tugger “Too Good for Giving Up”: “Look how far you’ve come/Stronger than the damage done/Step out of the darkness unafraid.” During “Don’t Go Halfway”, he sings, “You were all thumbs/Through the dark days/When your time comes/Don’t go halfway.” On a record released a few months before his 50th birthday, Gallagher is heeding his own advice and emerging as a man whose horizons stretch further than ever.
