Beady Eye: Be

Beady Eye
Be
Columbia
***

Beady Eye are back with something to prove. The tame reaction to their patchy 2011 debut, Different Gear, Still Speeding, left the feeling that the English rock band's days were numbered.

Hence the welcome sonic shake-up with the follow-up Be; the biggest of which is enlisting the indie-rock producer Dave Sitek to take the helm. The result is Beady Eye's sound finally dislodging itself from the late 1960s to somewhere more current and moody.

Flick of the Finger opens with a brass explosion, with Liam Gallagher sounding positively raw. Soul Love is plaintive as Sitek wraps Gallagher's searching vocals with off-kilter bells and ominous keyboards. While Second Bite of the Apple's horn-laced chorus is lifted straight from a soul review; the clearest demonstration of Sitek's creative hold on the proceedings. That said, it's not all experimentation.

Oasis fans should enjoy Face the Crowd's classic riffs while the sunny Iz Rite shows Gallagher's Lennon-worship hasn't dimmed yet. Be shows The Beady Eye project has some vision.

[ sasaeed@thenational.ae ]

[ @LifeNationalUAE ]

Beady Eye: Be

Beady Eye's sound finally dislodges itself from the late 1960s to somewhere more current and moody.