Dig Out Your Soul

I'm a huge Oasis fan...they're my favorite band, in fact, and I've bought (and loved) every album they've put out as well as most of their b-sides. But frankly I can't say that I found much of anything to love about this album. It's boring and unmemorable and outside of "Falling Down" (a quality track) I've yet to hear anything on it that rises even to the level of one of their lesser b-sides. Repeated listenings haven't changed that impression either...each time I've re-listened it's left me even more underwhelmed than I was before.

Basically, if you're a long-time Oasis fan (like me) then it might be worth having just to say you've got all of their albums. But if you're not as familiar with their work this is probably an album best avoided and you should go spend the cash on any of their other releases to understand why they've been such a long-lasting success. Or even pick up a few of their singles from previous releases just to hear the b-side tracks ("Carry Us All", "Cigarettes In Hell" and "Pass Me Down the Wine" are some personal favorites). It'll be a better use of your money and much more likely to make you a fan.

Bag it Up is an awesome song, one of the band's very best. Nothing else on the album, however, is even remotely interesting. Really, it's amazing that a band can obviously KNOW that Bag it Up is spectacular, then proceed to release an album with nothing else but a bunch of lame mid-tempo songs. A repetitive, stomping beat is only interesting for so long, I'm afraid.

Oasis suffers from being one of those bands that die hard fans forever proclaim each new album as an epic return to form, when it never, ever is.

Oasis has been my favorite band since the 7th grade (and I am in my junior year of college right now)! I am so pleased with this album. I really feel that this is where the band should be at this point in their career and in their lives. This album is just as great the 50th listen as it is the 1st. Go buy it NOW!

I liked the album a lot. I thought that Heathen Chemistry and Don't Believe The Truth were kinda an attempt to make Morning Glory II, which is impossible. Oasis's best albums are when they get a bit on the edge and also get, dare I say, slightly crazy. The band's best work is Definitely Maybe, Be Here Now, Standing on the Shoulders of Giants and, now as well, Dig Out Your Soul. I admire their creative risks and I love their devotion to rock n' roll that works. They've never tried to reinvent the genre. They just play good tunes.

Also, be weary of those reviewers who say Oasis sound too much like The Beatles. To be perfectly honest, everyone sounds like The Beatles. I can't remember the last time I heard a rock song that didn't remind me of some Beatles track. I think it's great that Oasis are so up front about it, there's a lot of other bands who could use the same dose of humility--cough, cough U2.

All in all, strong album. First five songs are money. Next few are acceptable, save Falling Down which is great. Solider On ends the album kinda flat--shoulda been more there.

Half the record is as good as anything they've ever done, with the first two and "I'm Outta Time" being the incredible classics... but the last three songs are basically horrible... Liam Gallagher often writes amateur songs and Ain't Got Nothin' and Soldier On are awful... Surprisingly, Andy Bell's contribution "The Nature Of Reality is pretty forgettable as well... and something seems a bit off with Gem's "To Be Where There's Life"... which could have used some huge guitars. It's weird how Liam writes bad songs all the time but then writes a stunner like "I'm Outta Time"...

Noel Gallagher's songs are all great... he seems to be back on form and in a perfect world would write all Oasis songs and let Liam sing them...