4 out of 5

Label: Warner Bros.

Produced by: Dave Sardy

While followup Dig Out Your Soul was the perfect swan song for the group, an effort of cumulative years of stresses and successes resulting in their boldest and most original album, Don’t Believe Your Truth was the template, the proving ground the group needed to show they could still do what they do.  As such, it’s easily, and rather succinctly, described as a really good Oasis album, full of the heavy hooks and Beatle-isms you’ve come to expect.  But what tweaked the formula a bit – for the better – was that this did feel like a group looking more outward than longingly upward.  The love songs are a bit more relaxed, the contemplative songs a bit less pensive, and thus we can just revel in the hooks.  Which, as usual, are generally strongest under Noel’s guidance, who begins to display the slightly more brash experimental side the group would employ on their next disc on tracks like ‘the importance of being idle.’  But some of the best songs – opener turn up the sun, penultimate a bell will ring – are penned by others than our two primaries: andy bell and gem archer, respectively.  And this isn’t to discount Liam’s contributions.  He’s as nasal and lyrically simplistic as ever, but that laid back sensation translates to his delivery as well, lending his singing – finally – a lighter, more rollicking vibe that helps carry the album.

And I’d like to think a major catalyst of this sound evolution was producer Dave Sardy: the richness he brings to the work makes the band sound so incredibly fresh, and helps to highlight how, when they’re in their groove, all of the players are incredibly talented.  Drummer Zen Starkey especially gets to be primary in the mix more often, and his fills are more impressive than I recall noticing on previous discs.
The “sounds like an Oasis album” begins to wear past the midpoint: tracks 7, 8 and 9 start to feel a bit like retreads of what came before, but it closes out successfully with Archer’s ‘Bell’ track and then the soaring Noel-penned ‘Let There Be Love.’