Liam Gallagher has been touting his Beatles-meets-Stones Roses tribute act, Beady Eye, for some time now, but last week finally saw Gallagher Sr offer an audible glimpse of his post-Oasis output.
The Death of You and Me, Noel's first solo single and the first from his album High Flying Birds (due October 17), was aired online and the conclusion from most was that it sounded like, well, Oasis. But this wasn't suggested as a criticism.
Launching with some pretty acoustic strums before Noel's trademark falsetto breaks in with very Oasis-like rhyming couplets and climaxing with a full-blown brass section nicked straight out of a circus, it's a mainly enjoyable - if slightly uninspiring - affair. Naturally, the comparisons with Beady Eye started emerging before the song had even faded out, and by-and-large, Noel seemed to be on top.
"Better than Beady Eye", was a popular online comment. "I really wouldn't want to be Liam right now," proffered one fan on Noel's website, perhaps forgetting that Liam was probably sitting in a big mansion with his former All Saints singer wife and laughing into a box of money.
Most people saw similarities between The Death of You and Me and Oasis's The Importance of Being Idle, which, while far from being a Master Plan or Champagne Supernova, wasn't their worst song.
Unfortunately, the critic whose opinion everyone wants to hear has yet to speak - @liamgallagher has remained suspiciously quiet for some time now. One old rival(ish), in the form of Robbie Williams, has emerged, however, saying he'd "love to write with him". We doubt Noel really cares anymore.
The Death of You And Me comes out on August 21.
