Album: Oasis

Heathen Chemistry, Big Brother

Though it is a clear improvement on the abysmal Standing on the Shoulder of Giants – how could it be anything else? – there's not an awful lot here to bear out Noel Gallagher's assertion that Heathen Chemistry is Oasis's second-best album. The creeping democratisation of songwriting duties hasn't exactly unearthed world-shattering talents in Gem Archer and Andy Bell, and while Liam's three contributions are slightly more rewarding, his reinvention of Lennon's psychedelic wheel with "Born on a Different Cloud" has little enduring value, a condition not improved by its Harrisonic slide-guitar break, a crass and obvious feature that simply underlines the band's shortfall in imagination. The others' efforts, however, do help Noel's songs to shine by contrast, even though he's starting to repeat himself with the limply anthemic "Stop Crying Your Heart Out", which borrows the reflective manner – and a few of the chords – of "Wonderwall". Elsewhere, "Force of Nature" is a plodding, Quo-style meat'n'spuds rocker that, Noel assures us, is not about Meg Mathews, despite lines such as: "You look like a fading picture/ I see the cracks frozen on your skin," and "Smokin' all my stash/ Burnin' all my cash/ It's all over town/ That the sun's goin' down/ On the days of your easy life"; while "She Is Love" has the kind of brazen simplicity that only a self-assured songwriter could pull off, brimfull of McCartney-esque singalong sweetness. That their reference points should still be so limited is sad: Oasis have been recording for two years longer than the Beatles did, but seem to have learnt nothing of their idols' eclectic musical interests. Predictable and dull.