New High Flying Birds Release

Noel Gallagher revisits his Oasis B-sides for the latest from The High Flying Birds.

It’s a long-known wisdom that if you want to find the real gold in the Oasis canon, you need to dig around in their B-sides. That’s where you’ll find the likes of Talk Tonight, Round Are Way and Half The World Away. Since the band’s split, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds have filled the void for many, but let’s be honest, even Noel’s most ardent fan must hanker for the days when he graced the stage with his younger brother.

Digging back into his old band’s back catalogue, the High Flying Birds have just ‘unveiled’ their versions of Going Nowhere and The Masterplan, both Oasis B-sides. It’s a move which perhaps suggests that even Noel Gallagher is starting to realise that the well has run dry and the songs he wrote as part of Oasis (a naturally fractious and explosive band) were better than anything he’s done since. Surely, it’s time that the brothers Gallagher sorted themselves out and just got Oasis back together?

Whilst it’s hard to deny the anthemic nature of these songs, it’s fair to say that these retreads lack the passion and excitement Gallagher used to infuse his songs with. Back then, it felt like he was one of us, but now, it feels as if he’s going through the motions; disconnected completely with his roots and his audience.  He is of course, extremely rich, as he noted when winning the best video award for Wonderwall, and we aren’t.

The Masterplan was the flipside to what many consider the pinnacle of the band’s career (Wonderwall). The many are wrong. Oasis never topped the relentless glory of Columbia. All that aside, The Masterplan in its original guise did possess a sense of soaring emotion passion as did Going Nowhere which graced the Stand By Me single.

These new recordings do little to improve on the original versions. Sure, they were recorded at Abbey Road and have layers of orchestration, but there’s still something lacking. To borrow a line from Columbia, “what I heard is not what I hear”. But what do we know? The High Flying Birds have received glowing accolades for their latest album Council Skies and their end of year tour has several sold out dates. We still can’t help but think that everyone would rather Oasis put their differences behind them and got back together.

You can hear the new versions of these songs here. Have a listen and tell us what you think.
Or if you prefer you can watch The Masterplan here and Going Nowhere here.

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