Noel Gallagher: 'The Dreams We have As Children'
The Dreams We Have As Children (fade away). Or seemingly not, in the case of Noel Gallagher.
Long after Oasis have stopped making music Noel will still be writing songs and strumming his guitar. It is quite simply what he does. Much as he did when Liam was off forming the band that would become Oasis, and for years before if you believe the legend.
This album is a recorded exhibition of tracks performed as a fund raiser for the Teenage Cancer trust. Mostly they are acoustic versions of Oasis songs, with only the covers 'All You Need is Love', 'The Butterfly Collector' (with vocals by Paul Weller) and 'There Is A Light That Never Goes Out' not written by Noel.
The acoustics of the Royal Albert Hall and the intimacy of the crowd are captured quite delicately and bring a new dimension to Half The World Away a song which emphasises the harmonic nature of Noel’s vocals. 'Wonderwall' is the one track that doesn’t work. The Royal Albert Hall is not Maine Road, or some sweaty underground 1990s Manchester gig room, it was not written to be stripped back and slowed down. However 'Slide Away', 'Sad Song' and title track 'Fade Away' are songs that do fit seamlessly into the tone of the evening.
The overriding feeling is that we accept this album because it is by Noel Gallagher of Oasis. If it were an unknown solo artist’s album it would barely make a ripple on the British music conscience; it would probably never see the light of day as it just doesn’t have the toxic quality that Oasis first gave to a musically comatose British public.
There is out there an album that Noel Gallagher was born to make, we just haven’t heard it yet.
Words: Patrick Dennehy
Write a comment
- Required fields are marked with *.
-->