Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds Is Outselling Matt Cardle Two Copies To One

Noel Gallagher is on course to kick off his career as a solo artist with a UK number one album after starting the week by outselling Matt Cardle’s own newly-issued debut album by two copies to one.

Gallagher, who topped the albums chart eight times with Oasis, has already this week achieved nearly 55,000 sales of his Sour Marsh-issued album Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, according to today's Official Charts Company Midweek figures.

Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds single AKA What A Life, which reached number 20 last month, is now subject to a chart revival following its physical release. Having been 55 on last week’s chart, it is currently sitting in 21st place.

Source: www.musicweek.com

Noel Gallagher Is On 'Le Grand Journal' Later Today

EDIT: I HAVE BEEN TOLD THE SHOW IS RECORDED TODAY AND BROADCAST ON THURSDAY.

Noel Gallagher will be a guest on French TV show 'Le Grand Journal' later today on Canal +.

The show starts at 5:00 p.m (local time) details can be found here.

Noel Gallagher: A Grown-Up Pop Star

With the launch of his first solo album, Noel Gallagher reflects on life without Liam, turning down The X Factor and giving up the parties.

We're talking about this summer's riots, and Noel Gallagher is in full grumpy-old-man mode, describing some youths he saw interviewed on television when the disturbances hit Manchester. 'They've all got masks on, and sunglasses. And one of them has got a bottle of whisky in his hand. The news reporter says, "Can you tell us why you're out here tonight?" And one of them says, "Because the police, they arrest you for stupid things, innit." And I was sitting there thinking, they arrest you for stupid things? What, like trying to buy a hamburger with a fish? Or, "Come here, sonny Jim. Where did you get that third leg from? Jail!"

'It wasn't about poverty, it was just opportunist kids. They all had mobile phones and Twitter, so they've got some form of income. They were asking me about it in America, and what's to say? These fledgling democracies in the Middle East, they're actually fighting for their freedom. And what are they rioting for in England? Leisurewear.'

Had he not been so successful as a musician, Gallagher could have made a stand-up comedian, or a national newspaper columnist. Whether it's telling stories about his three children or talking about his own lack of prowess on a computer, he makes me laugh out loud several times during our meeting. He'd looked a little nervous in July, at the London press conference at which he announced his solo career, but tonight he's relaxed, articulate and good company, despite being jet-lagged.
He's been on a 10-day trip to New York and Los Angeles to make a video, do some promo work, and meet his new US record company. It's not something he's ever done before, this kind of corporate meet-and-greet, but in America especially it is part of the culture, so he's giving it a go.

'When I was with Oasis, we were far too up our own arses to do any of that nonsense. But what harm can it do? The best thing to do, I've realised, is to get a little bit drunk. Not too much so you just talk shit, just enough to be a bit merry and laugh your way through it, really.' When I suggest it might be easier if he had bandmates to support him, he shrugs. 'It would, but it's just the way it is from now on, I'm afraid.'

Oasis split up in August 2009, minutes before they were due on stage in Paris, near the end of a world tour. Noel had a row with his younger brother, Liam. Fruit was thrown. Insults were screamed. A guitar was trashed. None of this was particularly unusual, of course, but for Noel it was one time too many.

'There's always a power struggle in a band, and when you're young and daft and hopped up on drugs and alcohol, it can get violent. But when you're all grown men with kids, it just doesn't feel right. I found it quite undignified. We're supposed to be the elder statesmen now! All this effing and blinding before gigs, and then going up and singing Live Forever. It was all a bit of a sham, really.'

Not that he's complaining, he adds quickly. 'It's not as if we never really fulfilled our potential. For a lad from a council estate with a guitar and his younger brother, we did pretty well!'

Liam and the remaining members – the guitarist Gem Archer, the bassist Andy Bell, and the new drummer Chris Sharrock – disbanded Oasis, and started afresh under the name Beady Eye, playing music similar to that of Oasis but refusing to play any of the Oasis back catalogue. Noel, meanwhile, will be performing some old favourites live – he wrote them, after all. But he didn't want another band. 'The only noble thing to do was to go solo.'

He hasn't spoke to Liam since Paris. Liam has never seen his younger nephew, 10-month-old Sonny, and he wasn't present this summer when Noel married Sara MacDonald, his partner of 11 years and the mother of his two youngest children (he also has a daughter, 11-year-old Anais, from his marriage to Meg Mathews). 'It's no big deal,' Noel shrugs. 'We never used to speak anyway, really.'

There are some regrets. With hindsight, he would have liked to have finished the tour, then put Oasis on hold for a while. What he misses, he says, is being part of something so huge. He embarks on a tour at the end of the month, and admits it's odd not having at least three nights at Wembley Stadium to look forward to.

'In an ideal world, I'd love to be doing this, with Oasis getting back together in 2013 to make another album. It was my life for 20 years, that group. And I don't have that solid anchor any more. But maybe that might turn out to be a good thing. There's an open road now.'

If he were promoting the eighth Oasis album now instead of his new project, he says, there wouldn't be anywhere near the same level of interest. 'People would have already judged it, and it probably would have sounded like all the rest, because when you've got five people trying to paint a picture, the picture tends to look the same [every time]. So the upside is, people are getting excited about this record, they want to see what I've got.'

What he's got is Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds. It's not a band as such, he says, more a loose collection of musician friends that will vary depending on what he's doing. He has already recorded the first two albums, which will come out on his own label, Sour Mash. The first, due this month, is recognisably Noel Gallagher: strong songs performed with real emotion, with influences such as Neil Young, Ennio Morricone and – most clearly – Ray Davies, plus a generous helping of melancholy that he attributes to his Irish roots. It is more intimate, less bombastic than his previous work, and although Oasis fans will find a lot to like in it, so will fans of Elbow.

The lyrics are more direct than on many of the songs he wrote for Oasis, more narrative. 'It is different if you know you're going to sing them yourself. You have no inhibitions. With Oasis, I would consciously make them as universal and as vague as possible: if I was writing a song about how much I loved my wife, there's no way Liam could know that's what it was about, or he wouldn't sing it.'

The second album, which will probably come out next summer, is far stranger, made with Amorphous Androgynous, the psychedelic collective who did the most radical remix of the final Oasis single, Falling Down. He started making this one first, he says, but when he went into the studio to hear what they'd done with the song he'd sent them, 'They'd demolished it and turned it into something else. They were taking what I'd done, throwing all the pieces up in the air, and making these psychedelic pop songs. Whereas I like things structured.'

He took back his songs to record them his own way, but he also continued working with the Amorphous crew, giving them material that lent itself better to their experimental approach. It was, he says, interesting to be working on different projects after the constraints of Oasis. He loves the big sound of bands such as U2, Coldplay and the Foo Fighters. 'And if I had never left Oasis, I would have carried on writing stadium rock for ever. But I never stopped writing other kinds of songs. So being able to go between two projects was very liberating. It was a great way of working.'

When we meet, he is five weeks into rehearsals for the tour, and admits he's not a natural frontman. Before, he was always to the side of the stage, able to observe without being the centre of attention. Now, he jokes, he needs wing mirrors, because everyone is behind him. He wonders if the audience will expect him to talk, make jokes or, worst of all dance, especially when he performs the current single, AKA… What a Life, which was inspired by his experiences raving at the Hacienda nightclub in Manchester in the late 1980s. 'I've got no moves!' he laughs. 'I know I'm going to look like a 44-year-old dad of three kids, playing a guitar.' He is aware of his age now, and glad that he doesn't have a major label pressurising him to get an earring or dress younger. 'It dawned on me today that I'm getting old. I had an hour to kill, and I went round Selfridges' men's department. I didn't see a single item of clothing that I thought would suit me. I've moved on. I'm going to have to stop wearing casual shoes and wear proper shoes.'

Still, he thinks he has avoided the kind of midlife crisis he's seen some of his friends go through. 'I've never had cause for it, because my life isn't missing anything. I found Sara at the right time. I love my kids, I love my wife, I've got a great job, so I'm not sitting thinking, "I've got to get a motorbike." '

Gallagher grew up in Burnage, Manchester, the middle son of Irish immigrants, Peggy and Thomas. Tommy was a labourer who also worked as a country & western DJ by night, and could be violent and abusive. Peggy eventually gathered up her three boys, including Paul, who is older than Noel by 18 months – and left, working in the McVitie's factory to support them ('We were never short of a broken Penguin!'). Noel hasn't seen his father for more than 20 years, and if that bothers him, he hides it well. 'There's plenty of men like him in Manchester. It's Irishmen as well. They just get crazy with drinking. I don't really feel anything about that. When I do think about it, it's just, "What an idiot." '

His father would often tell him he was useless, that he'd never amount to anything. But when he took up the guitar at the age of 13, his mother was quietly encouraging. 'She is fiercely loyal to us three,' he says. 'But she was strict, as well. When we were on the dole, she wouldn't let us stay in bed. She would never let us sit round the house, and we were always doing the shopping and that kind of thing. So she taught us the work ethic. It was always, you don't get anything in life for nothing.'
Her sons have often tried to buy their mother a house, to get her to move away from the council estate where they grew up, but they've never succeeded. 'She won't leave,' Noel says. 'A new front gate – that was the only thing we got her.'

Riding the wave of Cool Britannia, Oasis were one of the biggest bands of the 1990s, with the kind of sales figures that are rarely seen any more. (After our meeting I sent Noel an email asking how many albums the band sold in total: 'Just the 55 million,' he quipped back.) Having grown up wanting things they couldn't afford, they could suddenly have everything they wanted. And more.

'We were like Viv Nicholson in Spend, Spend, Spend. I was buying stuff like it was going out of fashion. I've still got a lock-up in Buckinghamshire, and I must have half a million pounds' worth of art sitting it in. And I've got no shame or guilt, because I earned that money. I didn't win it in a lottery. It wasn't given to me by a relative. I didn't win it in damages because I'd fallen off a ladder or something. I wrote those songs, I did those gigs.'

When sales of the first two albums passed the 18 million mark, Alan McGee, his record company boss, bought Noel a chocolate-brown vintage Rolls-Royce, because he'd said in an interview that he wanted one. In 1995 Gallagher ordered himself a 1967 Mark 2 Jaguar, paying £110,000 upfront to have it refitted with a new engine and interior. By the time it was ready 18 months later, he'd forgotten all about it. It's been sitting in a garage ever since, with only 12 miles on the clock: he can't drive.
'It was a bit vulgar, but anybody else in my position would have done the same. See the difference between us and the bands that were around at the time – they were middle class. I remember going to Camden, and all these people from Blur and Elastica had holes in their shoes. I had brand-new clothes on, and I was thinking, "You've been to university! Why are you all dressing like poor people?" I couldn't get my head around it at all.'

Take some working-class pride, sprinkle liberally with cocaine and he admits you probably have a recipe for arrogance. 'And we probably played up to it a bit, but that's what those times required. I don't think it required wallflowers. "We just make music for ourselves, and if anybody else likes it, it's a bonus." F*** off! We said, "We're the greatest thing since the king-size Pot Noodle. Now, go and get me another bottle of champagne!" That was the life, it was great. But it would be nonsense now. If I was still behaving like that now, I'd be a bit of a cock.'

Gallagher can pinpoint exactly when he woke up. Germany were playing Italy in the 1998 World Cup, it was half-time, his house in north London was full of people partying as usual, and he'd just got out of bed and greeted the new day by opening a can of Red Stripe and snorting a line of cocaine.

'Up until that point, I thought that's what rock stars did. And I loved it. Then for some reason, I went, "Enough." But I didn't do the rehab thing. I just announced I was giving up drugs. And it's funny, everyone around me was going, "He'll be all right in a few weeks. He's going through a phase." And a week lasted two weeks, two weeks became two months, and then after a few months, it was like, "Right, these people have got to go."

'I guess once that romantic air of danger – we're on the inside doing shitloads of drugs with all these people – becomes just a normal Monday night out, it loses its appeal. It was the end of being lost in showbiz. I spent years in it, and I loved it. But there's only so many parties you can do before you go, "If I see Claudia Schiffer once more…" '

He still smokes, and he loves a good night out, drinking with friends. But he doesn't do it often now – the hangovers are getting worse as the years go by – and if Sara opens a bottle of wine at home, he doesn't share it. 'Drinking is something I do when I'm out. When I'm home, I don't miss it.'

Home is in Maida Vale, north-west London, though he still has a country pile in Buckingham-shire, and life is centred on his family. Anais is at boarding school. It was her mum's idea and he was against it at first, he admits. 'But she loves it. It's been the making of her.'

I ask if it bothers him that his children will grow up middle-class, and he laughs. 'No. I envy them. At least they won't be on the dole. People often ask this in interviews, am I going to send them to private school. Of course I am! I want them to have a better education than I had.'

This year, he had his first big fall-out with Anais, when he turned down the opportunity of being a judge on The X Factor. 'Simon Cowell had left messages for me, and I'd left messages for him, but we kept missing each other. Anais took to calling him Mr Cowell, and every time she came over, it was like, "Did Mr Cowell call?" So eventually we spoke, and said, "We're going to rebrand the show, and we need an alpha male to replace me. Would you be interested?" And I was like, "Look man, you don't want me on that show." ' Cowell was insistent, but Gallagher was equally adamant that he was the wrong man. 'It's just not me. Can you see me on the side of a double-decker bus, with little Louis Walsh? I never considered it seriously, though the devil in me thinks it would have been a laugh. And he's actually chosen one of my songs, Stop Crying Your Heart Out, for the American X Factor.'

Anais, however, didn't take the news well. 'She was screaming in my face, "But it's The X Factor!" ' laughs Gallagher. 'There was real anger. She then told all her mates, and the next time I see them, they're all going, "Huh. Turn down The X Factor then, did you? You idiot!" It was unbelievable.'

He says he's a hands-on dad, reading stories to four-year-old Donovan and providing after-dinner fights and tickles, and changing Sonny's nappies in the morning. 'Nappies are easy now,' he shrugs. 'It's not like the olden days.'

But the person he refers to most in conversation is Sara, whom he clearly adores. He was 32 when they met in Ibiza, and she was 27. Within minutes, he says, it was like they'd known each other all their lives, and he knew he'd found his soulmate.

'I never believed in love at first sight, I never believed in that thunderbolt moment. But it's true. You just know. I made her laugh, without trying. And she made me laugh. If I could hang out with anyone, for lunch, dinner or a night out, she would be the one. I could never envisage life without her.'

Their wedding this summer was an intimate affair in a hotel in the New Forest. Russell Brand did the best man's speech, which, Noel says drily, 'was hilarious if you weren't me'. Kilts were worn in celebration of Sara's Scottish roots, there were bagpipes – 'which is always quite stirring'– and Come On Eileen at the end. 'Then we went on honeymoon to Italy for five days, and ate pizza.'

Financially, of course, he has no need ever to work again, and he could be on honeymoon for ever. But he says that after he'd taken a few months off, Sara started hinting that it was time to book a studio. 'When you're in a band, it's like, "You should spend more time with the children. They're growing up so fast without you." The minute you do, they're like, "You should really go back to work, because – without saying it in so many words – you're beginning to get on my tits." '

He laughs, and says that anyway, he's too young to think about retiring. 'If you've still got it in you, I think you should carry on. I wouldn't know what else to do. Seriously. I've never lost the wonder of writing songs. And I hope I never do.'

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds start their tour in Dublin on October 23. The eponymous album is out on Monday

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Noel Gallagher Is Nervous About Fronting His Own Band

When Oasis finally broke up in 2009, few were caught off guard. The love-hate relationship between brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher had been documented to death, so when Noel announced he was quitting the band, most of us just shrugged and got on with our day.

And while some might have raised an eyebrow that it was Liam who was the first to release a solo album, it was pretty much a matter of time before Noel whipped his out, too. Which he finally did this week with Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds.

Gallagher's fans were given a chance to preview and review the album last week, from Gallagher's website (www.NoelGallagher.com). The responses, as one might expect, ranged from the effusive ("This album should further cement Noel Gallagher's position - as if it needs it - as one of Britain's pre-eminent songwriters") to the extremely effusive (Noel has "retained the key elements of greatness that has given him idol status amongst millions exemplified ... A superb piece of work").

But ask the man himself, and his self-review is pretty to the point. "Well, I think the album is really good and I hope people like it," Gallagher said over the phone from London. "Other than that, I'm not really feeling anything about it."

No, Noel Gallagher isn't always the most effusive of people when it comes to interviews. You get the feeling that if he didn't have to speak to the press, it wouldn't bother him at all. In fact, he would probably celebrate that fact down at the pub.

The album is a bit of an eye-opener, in terms of the songs that Gallagher has produced. While songs like If I Had A Gun and Dream On bear some resemblance to Oasis material, others like The Death Of You And Me, (I Wanna Live In A Dream In My) Record Machine and Everybody's On The Run, complete with strings and choir, are about as far removed from Oasis as an earthworm is from an Autobot.

"The Oasis sound, whatever that was, was made up of five people," explained Gallagher. "The sound that I've got now is my sound. And you can hear elements of 'my sound' in Oasis, that's in terms of sound. In terms of songwriting, I wrote all the songs, so that sounds similar, I think."

He continued: "I don't really analyse it that much. It's for you to analyse, not me. I just do it. That's not to say you shouldn't analyse it. Analysation is good sometimes, but I don't think it's my place to try and analyse stuff like that."

We are starting to understand why the man doesn't like giving interviews.

While some have speculated that the track The Death Of You And Me is about the breakdown of his relationship with Liam, Gallagher expressedly stated that it is not. "No, no, no. It's about the death of a relationship between the one man and his surroundings."

And seeing as we are on the topic of Liam, no, the critical praise heaped on Beady Eye's album - that would be the album put out by his brother and the other ex-members of Oasis - earlier this year didn't affect his recording process one bit.

"I never go into the studio worrying about what anybody else is doing," said Gallagher. "I never even go into the studio and worry about what I'm going to do. I've already decided whether I think (the songs) are good or not. So it doesn't really bother me in any way. I just do what I do and hopefully people like it. And yeah, that's it really."

For Gallagher, the biggest challenge wasn't in the studio - it was getting back on tour. "Yeah, because I've never really fronted a band before," he explained.

What, is the speak-his-mind songwriter nervous? "I am, a little bit. Yes. I'm not nervous for me. I know I can do it. But I'm nervous for other people's expectations. Do you know what I mean?" said the 44-year-old musician.

"If people are going to expect another, you know, f***ing rock 'n' roll band, then they're going to be sadly disappointed. I'm not Mick Jagger. I'm not Liam Gallagher. I'm not Richard Ashcroft or Ian Brown or any of that lot. It'll be interesting to see what people think."

Of course, you have to wonder why Gallagher would even bother with all this. After all, he could probably live off the royalties he earns, having written some of the most recognisable stadium rock anthems of all time.

"Well, I've never lost the sense of wonder in writing music," he said. "I could retire if I wanted to, but that'd be boring. What would I do? Sit around the f***ing house all day and watch football? Which is great - but if you've got the chance to work, you should work. Because there's going to come a time soon enough in my life where I won't be able to work, and I'll miss it."

As for his legacy, Gallagher had this to say: "I'd just like to be remembered for my songs. Otherwise for what, my f***ing handsome good looks?"

Source: www.todayonline.com

Liam Gallagher Hits Out At Noel After He Labels Latter Day Oasis 'A Sham'

Beady Eye man takes to his little used Twitter account to have his say on the matter.

Liam Gallagher has hit out at brother Noel, after he described the latter days of his time in Oasis as "a bit of a sham".

Liam, who is currently touring Europe with his band Beady Eye, took to his little used Twitter account Twitter.com/liamgallagher to criticize his brother's comments and to tell him to contact him in four years time.

The tweet read: "A sham? Speak for yourself, I never faked anything, go to bed and give me a shout in 2015."

Liam was responding to comments made by his brother in the Sunday Telegraph Magazine, in which he'd talked about the power struggle within Oasis and how he had found the whole thing "undignified".

Noel said of his latter days in Oasis: "There's always a power struggle in a band, and when you're young and daft and hopped up on drugs and alcohol, it can get violent. But when you're all grown men with kids, it just doesn't feel right. I found it quite undignified. We're supposed to be the elder statesmen now! All this effing and blinding before gigs, and then going up and singing 'Live Forever'. It was all a bit of a sham, really".

Source: www.nme.com

Video: Noel Gallagher Talks To Chris Tubbs

Watch Noel Gallagher talk to Chris Tubbs ahead of the release of High Flying Birds.

The interview is in three parts, click here for part one and follow the links.

Listen Again To Noel Gallagher On Capital Radio

Listen below to Noel Gallagher talk to Capital Radio in Italy, about High Flying Birds.



Thanks to frjdoasisfan

Video: Noel Gallagher On The High Flying Birds And More

Below Noel Gallagher talks to Korean Universal Music about his album Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds and more.

Liam Gallagher's Latest Tweet

A sham? Speak for yourself, I never faked anything, go to bed and give me a shout in 2015 LG x

Follow Liam on Twitter by clicking here.

Beady Eye Roll Into Amsterdam...

Beady Eye will play at the Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam, The Netherlands later today (October 18th).

If you are going to the show, and you are able to scan your ticket or send in pictures email them to us @ scyhodotcom@gmail.com and I will do my best to get them on the site.

Visit my Beady Eye fan site standingontheedgeofthenoise.com by clicking here.

Another Gallery: Beady Eye In Berlin

Click here to see a gallery from Beady Eye's gig in Berlin last Friday.

Thanks to AG_foto

Noel Gallagher's £500,000 Art Collection

Rocker Noel Gallagher boasts a £500,000 haul of expensive artwork, which is gathering dust in a warehouse.

The former Oasis rocker spent a fortune on pricey paintings and sculptures when he became a millionaire after shooting to fame in the 1990s.

He also blew hundreds of thousands of dollars on cars, even though he can't drive - but he's adamant he's not ashamed of his flamboyant spending sprees.

Gallagher tells the Telegraph magazine, "I was buying stuff like it was going out of fashion. I've still got a lock-up in Buckinghamshire and I must have half a million pounds worth of art sitting in it.

"And I've got no shame or guilt, because I earned that money. I didn't win it in a lottery. It wasn't given to me by a relative. I didn't win it in damages because I'd fallen off a ladder or something. I wrote those songs, I did those gigs... It was a bit vulgar, but anybody else in my position would have done the same."

Source: yahoo.com

Noel Gallagher Discussing A £10,000 Bet He Was Reported To Have Made

Check out Noel Gallagher discussing a £10,000 bet he was reported to have made!

Podcast: Noel Gallagher On XFM Manchester

Noel Gallagher was a guest on XFM Manchester this morning, if you missed the interview you can now grab it as a podcast from iTunes for free.

Click here for details, click here for all the recent articles and interviews from XFM.

Noel Gallagher 'Oasis Was A Sham'

Noel Gallagher is adamant his former band Oasis became a "sham" in later years because he had to pretend to be pals with his brother Liam onstage.

The Wonderwall hitmakers split in 2009 after a backstage bust-up between the guitarist and his singer brother minutes before they were due to perform in Paris, France.

Gallagher admits he and Liam always struggled to remain on friendly terms throughout the history of the band - but he insists their relationship deteriorated so badly in the years before the break-up, it felt false to play gigs together.

He tells Britain's Telegraph magazine, "There's always a power struggle in a band, and when you're young and daft and hopped up (sic) on drugs and alcohol, it can get violent. But when you're all grown men with kids, it just doesn't feel right.

"I found it quite undignified. We're supposed to be the elder statesmen now! All this effing and blinding before gigs, and then going up and singing Live Forever. It was all a bit of a sham, really."

Source: www.contactmusic.com

Video: Noel Gallagher Interview

In the video below Noel talks about the 'Noel Gallagher High Flying Birds' album and more.

Watch Noel Gallagher's Interview With Soccer Saturday On Sky Anytime

Fans in the UK with Sky Anytime can catch Noel Gallagher's interview from 'Soccer Saturday'.

The interview is available until Sunday 23rd October

Fenners catches up with Manchester City's avid supporter Noel Gallagher, the former Oasis rocker and High Flying Birds frontman with plenty to say on his club's start to the season.

Video: Noel Gallagher Interview: "Long Live The Knobs!"

We speak to former Oasis legend Noel Gallagher about his debut solo album, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds…

One thing Noel Gallagher has never been short of is confidence. Known to his former Oasis bandmates as 'the chief', he was the musical brains behind the UK's biggest band of the 1990s. With his debut solo album, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, just out, we caught up with him for a chat and took the opportunity to gently prick his ego. Thankfully for us, Noel's sense of humour proved to be more than a match for his well-documented self-regard.

Click here to watch the interview.

NME Review Of Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds

8 out of 10

Album Info

Release Date: October 17, 2011
Producer: Noel Gallagher and Dave Sardy
Label: Sour Mash
Fact: High Flying Birds is a reference to a Jefferson Airplane track


Is Noel Gallagher fucked? Less than 100 days since his comeback press conference and he’s been abandoned by Radio 1 (too old), failed to really set the charts alight with any of his new tunes and seen the debut performance with his High Flying Birds on Italian TV lambasted by Oasis fans who said he looked too nervous to pull off being a frontman (sample YouTube comment: “Come on Noel! You’ll get used to it!”).

Noel’s admitted from the off, of course, that the idea of standing centrestage without little bro around to lap up the attention has left him biting his fingernails. But actually hearing him say that is really weird. Why? Because he’s the most brash, outspoken, bolshy and bitchy musician – no, personality – of the last 20 years. To have the guy come across as vulnerable just doesn’t sit right. And that’s exactly what makes this album so crucial, because for the first time since ‘Don’t Believe The Truth’ in 2005, Noel Gallagher actually has something to prove to people. He’ll always have ‘Wonderwall’ to bang his head against, sure, but to start your post-Oasis career with a shitter of a solo album? That’s something that’s definitely not in the manuscript.

But let’s not be prissy here. You’ll have already seen the album’s mark at the end of this review. It’s no monstrosity, no major fuck-up, and no minor fuck-up either. On the contrary, it’s rather brilliant in places. Take the second track, ‘Dream On’. Noel says it’s “throwaway”, which doesn’t do it any favours. It’s a key song here because it’s so goofy. It’s carefree and catchy as hell; catchy the same way ‘Telegram Sam’, ‘Hotel Yorba’ or – hah! – ‘She’s Electric’ were. There’s a great, moronic line in it about all the kids drinking up their lemonade, and it proves that away from the arched-eyebrow seriousness of the past decade (‘Falling Down’, ‘Stop Crying Your Heart Out’, ‘Little By Little’), Noel can still bash out a three-minute guitar-pop gem that sounds at once wonky, blithe and brilliantly stupid. And for a 44-year-old father of three, that’s pretty impressive. It also takes precisely 52 seconds to get to the chorus, which as any burger-flippin’, jukebox-owning hick from 1950s America will tell you, is the OPTIMUM time in pop to get the masses singing along. Any longer and you’ve lost them. I raise this point for a reason, because structurally Noel’s reined everything in on these 10 tracks. Gone are the days of the three-minute intro (apart from opening track ‘Everybody’s On The Run’, everything here gets down to business within about 20 seconds), and gone are the maddeningly repetitive guitar solos and endless outros. In fact this is probably the first Noel album since ‘…Morning Glory?’ where you feel the songs never really outstay their welcome, and it’s all the better for it. Weller played the same trick on 2010’s ‘Wake Up The Nation’ (where many of the songs clocked in at around two minutes), and while there’s nothing as brash’n’breezy as that here, it’s still an absolute joy to listen to the songs, think to yourself, ‘THIS is where the vocals need to start’, and then hear Noel’s voice come in. Simple, but effective.

Elsewhere, you’ll have already heard ‘The Death Of You And Me’, which along with ‘If I Had A Gun…’ is the best thing on here. It’s got the much-touted brass section wheezing away at the side (you’d hope Noel takes them on tour), and marks a highpoint of Side A. Just about, that is, because the aforementioned ‘…Gun…’ trumps it. Ever since that scraggy soundcheck bootleg appeared online it’s stood out as something special, so you’ve gotta give its creator credit for fully realising its potential in the studio. Its chords, capo placing and canter-pace may be nicked from The Book Of Wonderwall, but it’s a far more contemplative piece overall, even sounding faintly glam when the drums and distortion kick in. The yearning, lovelorn chorus of, “Excuse me if I spoke too soon/My eyes have always followed you around the room” is one of the prettiest things Noel’s ever come up with, and it rightfully feels like the album’s centrepiece. By the time the ending saunters in (with a guitar line pinched from ‘Fade Away’), he may as well be off buying guitar-shaped beds and waiting for Chris Martin to cover it at Glasto.

Of course, ‘Stop The Clocks’ and ‘(I Wanna Live In A Dream In My) Record Machine’, both of which have been online in demo form for years, are the two that sound the most Oasis-like. How could they not? The former – now with added choir and ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’-esque guitar solo (the only one on the record, incidentally) – features a chorus dug straight outta the soul of Noddy Holder’s platform boots, while album closer ‘Stop The Clocks’ is an altogether more simplistic muse on what happens when you die (it’s uplifting rather than depressing, because it’s Noel). But then, you already know what they’re like, ’cos you’ve heard them both before. Their inclusion here is slightly perplexing because of that. Noel says it’s because they’re too good to fall by the wayside, and that they act as a final goodbye to his Oasis years… and you can kind of see his point. But he needs to stick to his guns, because the genuine newbies here (like ‘AKA…What A Life!’ and ‘AKA…Broken Arrow’) show he’s still got enough chops in him to carry off being solo without surviving off his former glories. Now, you want him to run with the idea of change and end up god knows where.

The big question, of course, is does he miss Liam? And yeah, he does at times. Take opener ‘Everybody’s On The Run’. It’s a brilliant song. It’s got a 100-piece Abbey Road choir on it and would sound great bouncing off the walls of Wembley Stadium. But it’s built for Liam Gallagher to wrap his lungs around. Without him, it’s subbed to merely ‘great’ status, and the lingering thought of what it’d be like with its rightful singer in place is tantalisingly frustrating.

They need each other, everyone knows that. But this is a redundant point, as well as a minor quibble. We all know where Noel and Liam stand at present, and things aren’t gonna change between them for at least another album apiece. What Noel’s done on ‘…High Flying Birds’ is test the water, keep the good ship from listing and hand over a collection of tracks of which the best can stand proudly alongside ‘The Importance Of Being Idle ’. Fuck radio, fuck the charts and fuck nerves. Noel’s still got it. Only a fool would write him off.

Source: www.nme.com

Noel Gallagher On Adele, Matt Cardle, X Factor And More

In between his ongoing feud with brother Liam and mouthing off about this year's X Factor lot, it's easy to forget that Noel Gallagher has a new album out. His first sort-of solo album, to be precise - with the backing of his anonymous High Flying Birds bandmates.

Having given the album a spin earlier this month, we called him up to find out whether he's suffering any release-week nerves and his take on today's rock bands.

What would you be doing now if you weren't talking to us?
"If I get a day off I'd just be mooching about the house. I don't like to do a great deal. Smoke some cigarettes, strum the guitar. You don't get much of a chance to do that when you've kids running around you all the f**king time."

You have an album out soon; are you allowed to relax at the moment?
"I work until about 7 o'clock and then clock in with my wife for the night shift. It's been OK - I don't mind the work because I allow myself such long periods of time off between recording and touring. I kind of get geared up for it; to know that I'm working flat out for the next two years feels great because I know I'll take another 18 months off after."

Early reviews of the album are suggesting it's on a par with Oasis's What's the Story Morning Glory?. Do you agree?
"I've only read the Q and Mojo ones, but it's difficult for me to get involved in that argument - but I think it's the best collection of songs I've had on an album in a long time. I've not written a whole album since 1999, so I'm glad people are saying that."

Some of the songs were written as long as ten years ago; did you always intend to keep them back for a solo project?
"I'd actually recorded those songs for the last two Oasis albums - and they were f**king great - but the vocals were never finished on them - they weren't as good as the versions on this album. Liam always ran out of time to finish them, and I thought if I didn't put them out now, I'm never going to."

You've released two great singles from the LP but they haven't charted as highly as you'd necessarily expect. Does that annoy you?
"Chart positions haven't bothered me since [2005's] Don't Believe The Truth - it all seemed to change after that. I was actually blown away that the singles managed to hang around for as long as they did - it shows a good song is a good song. I mean, how many 45-year-old fathers of three are in the charts? None! Beady Eye have done similar chart-wise, so why should I expect any different?"

What's wrong with the charts at the moment?
"There's nothing wrong them, they're just unrecognisable now from when I was growing up. It's a f**king free-for-all now! When 'The Death of You and Me' charted, the only other guitar song in the Top 40 was Red Hot Chili Peppers' 'Under The Bridge' which was out 20 years ago but was in some new film. It's a mish-mash of all sorts of s**t. Who cares what's number one anymore? Just be thankful we lived in the '90s."

Are you hoping for a number one on the album chart instead then?
"I can't see it being number one as it's out the same week as Matt Cardle. Chart positions are for people with manbags who get to work at 11am because they've been at a digital meeting. It definitely won't affect the band - I'm on my own label and funded it with my kids' school fund - I'm hardly going to drop myself."

It would be quite funny if you did, though.
"It would - and then I can sue myself for aggravated dismissal. All I need is the record sales to break even so I can make another one."

'AKA... What A Life' is being used on the Vauxhall TV ads; has that ruined the song for you yet?
"Not really. Radio 1 are refusing to play my records - I understand that because I'm too old - but there are very few ways to get your music out there today, and unfortunately everything is for sale. I've had my shot with Radio 1 - I'm not going to sue them like Status Quo did. I wasn't sure on the advert at first - I want you to know that I was only thinking of the money when I agreed to it. It's hard being this age in the music industry."

Adele has bucked the current trends and become one of the biggest successes of the year. Are you a fan of her album?
"I've not heard it. I've heard 'Rolling in the Deep' and that was pretty good. I haven't got the album though - and to be frank I don't know anyone who has."

Aren't you intrigued to see what all the fuss is about?
"Not really. I know what she's about and I have no desire to hear that album."

As well as the charts being in a bit of a state, so is the country. Could that be a driving force for the revival of rock music?
"I don't think we live in those times when great art comes out of great adversity. People don't give a s**t anymore - as long as they've got an iPod, an iPad, mobile phone, and a flatscreen TV then they don't give a f**k. Everything you want you can get because it's all superficial. People don't aspire to be what Oasis and similar bands were about. They all want to be on The X Factor."

Do you think The X Factor is to blame for the state of the music industry?
"Take that Frankie [Cocozza] kid - he looks like an indie kid yet he's on The X Factor. They want the fast track to the big car. F**king go for it, but it's nothing to do with music. I think this country will produce less and less Morrisseys and Ian Browns because people won't sign them. Labels don't want it and the working class people can't afford to do it for themselves."

There's still a lot of indie bands around, though...
"There are, but what are those bands about? Will any of them say anything controversial? I don't think they ever will. I read interviews with bands and I don't give a f**king shit about what they're saying. It's all superficial nonsense. There's no reason why Kasabian or the Arctic Monkeys couldn't sell out Wembley for three nights - so it's something else. Whatever it is, these bands don't have it anymore."

You met Tony Blair when he was appointed prime minister; would you do the same if David Cameron invited you today?
"No way. I gave up on politics at the last election - it's all bollocks now. It all ended at this coalition - I don't remember an option for a coalition. How many people would have voted for it if it was an option? Who gives them the f**king right to decide that? I've don't mind Cameron - but get a proper f**king job, because what they're doing is pointless."

You're including some Oasis songs on your upcoming tour. Which do you think are the best?
"I have to include them - I don't have enough material for a show otherwise! Fortunately I've got an excellent back catalogue to fall back on. I'm doing 'Don't Look Back In Anger' on the acoustic guitar which is sounding particularly poignant at the moment. Rehearsing is getting f**king boring now. I just want to get on with it before we over-rehearse and turn s**t."

Noel Gallagher releases Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds today.

Source: www.digitalspy.co.uk