Don't Believe the Truth

Democracy revitalises Oasis, encouraging a true career highlight. Between them, Liam Gallagher, Gem Archer and Andy Bell have written over half of the songs here and, underlining that spirit of accord, the best of those is Liam’s sweetly melodic, conciliatory message to Noel “Guess God Thinks I’m Abel”. Gallagher Sr. would never let himself be anything other than his band’s finest songwriter though, and his work is satisfyingly tight and exploratory. “Mucky Fingers” barrel-rolls into Velvet Underground territory before the psych-soul storm of “Lyla” and “The Importance of Being Idle”’s music-hall romp.