Comeback Album of the Year: Shed Seven

There’s been a lot of discussion in the last couple of months about which Britpop legend has made the best album in 2017, Liam Gallagher or Noel Gallagher. But what everyone seems to be missing from the question is the inclusion of Shed Seven.

Shed Seven actually reformed ten years ago in 2007 having broken up in 2003, however 2017 saw the release of their first album since 2001’s ‘Truth Be Told’ in the form of ‘Instant Pleasures’.

The immediately enjoyable single ‘Room In My House’ and the vibrant bright red album cover marked the album launch campaign, with probably one of the most visually striking covers of the year.

Shed Seven have toured many a time in the last ten years and played to big crowds at festivals so it was little surprise to find they still had an audience to release an album to after a 16 year gap. But what was more of a surprise was the sheer size of the audience.

A Number 8 chart placing in the UK Charts and a Number 6 in Scotland helped illustrate just how big the band still are. This was followed up by a massive UK Tour which had largely sold out months in advance, including some cities like Glasgow where the band were playing more than one night. To top it all off the band recently announced a huge show headlining the Castlefield Bowl in Manchester next summer back by one of my favourite bands Reverend & The Makers and The Twang, the biggest in the band’s history! Not bad for a band who had, in the eyes of some, been away for so long.

So now we’ve established there’s still an audience for the band, let’s take a look at the actual album they released. The 12 track, 51 minute album kicks off with the single ‘Room In My House’, which builds up with a chant of ‘whoa oh oh oh oh oh’ until Rick Witter comes in with a trademark vocal to really kick off the album. A very strong, gripping opening track really setting the tone for the album. ‘Nothing To Live Down’ picks up the tempo even further in the form of a song you just know is going to be a live favourite in the style of the classic ‘Bully Boy’.

‘It’s Not Easy’ is up next and is arguably even better than the first two songs. When Rick builds up to the crescendo of ‘You knock me for six with your spellbinding tricks, that’s how you get your kicks, It’s not easy’ you just know this is a band back on top form. ‘Said I’m Sorry’ keeps up the quality with a message we’ve all said many times before the spiky ‘Victoria’ rides in. On first listen of the album this song gripped me right away, a properly exciting, entertaining tune.

But the masterpiece of the album is up next, ‘Better Days’. One of the best songs of 2017 and one of the best ever Shed Seven songs. It’s an absolute anthem and the 2017 tour has proved that fans are already placing it alongside the iconic ‘Chasing Rainbows’. Seriously if you like Shed Seven (or similar bands) and haven’t heard this song, you’re missing out.

The double-punch of energetic rockers ‘Enemies & Friends’ and ‘Star Crossed Lovers’ are up next, keeping the standard up. A gospel backing floating along nicely along with some brass on the large-scale ballad ‘Hang On’ which picks up where ‘Better Days’ left off. The bridge from 3 and a half minutes in this song proves to be one of the musical highlights of the album before one more triumphant chorus saunters in. The immediately striking ‘Butterfly On The Wheel’, taking us back to Alexander Pope’s 1735 quote “Who breaks a butterfly on a wheel?” Not the first time this quote has been reference by Britpop legends!

The penultimate track ‘People Will Talk’ is possibly the poppiest song on the record with an easy to sing a long chorus. The song is undoubtedly good fun, with great use of instrumental backing to supplement vocals at the end of lines during the verses. While this is not necessarily one of the strongest tracks on the album the one that proceeds it is. Closer ‘Invincible’ is probably my second favourite song on the album with a classic Shed Seven sound. Musically the song is quite chilled, with a stylish guitar line backing a chanted vocal by Witter. I think this is my favourite ever closing track from a Shed Seven album.

This caps off a very strong comeback album for Shed Seven, one has has proved to be one of the best albums of 2017. ‘Instant Pleasures’ contains some excellent songs which will go down very welcome in next summer’s massive Castlefield Bowl show.

I haven’t touched upon the second disc of the Deluxe Edition of the album, but I would urge fans of the band to pick up this version rather than the Standard Edition. There are four very good songs on here plus three demos, including a beautiful version of ‘Better Days’ which is worth it alone, and finally three remixes. 10 songs for a second disc is well worth spending a few extra pounds!

Liam Gallagher vs. Noel Gallagher: the Post-Oasis Battle for the Media and Fans

Since Oasis split up in August 2009, when Noel Gallagher quit the band after an argument with his brother Liam, the Gallagher brothers have walked quite different paths. Noel went solo and created Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, which despite the name suggesting the formation of a band became a solo project for Noel, accompanied with different musicians depending on the album and tour. Meanwhile, Liam, Gem Archer, Andy Bell and Chris Sharrock went on to form a new band, Beady Eye, along with Kasabian guitarist Jay Mehler.

In February 2011, Beady Eye struck first and released their debut album, ‘Different Gear, Still Speeding’, which was a mixed bag of a debut and received mixed reviews to reflect this. There was great tracks on this album, such as ‘Kill For A Dream’, ‘The Beat Goes On’ and ‘The Roller’, written by Andy Bell (x2) and Gem Archer respectively. Liam’s songs unfortunately were not as good as those written by his former Oasis bandmates.

Noel on the other hand released his debut album ‘Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds’ in October 2011, with 10 tracks all written by the man himself. This album received more positive reviews and included some strong tracks like ‘If I Had A Gun’, ‘The Death of You and Me’ and live favourite ‘AKA… What a Life!’

Not only was Noel’s debut the better album of the two, all of the songs were written by him. Noel had won Round 1 and became established as the media darling of the pair.

Various publications used Noel’s success to have a dig at Liam and, in turn, Beady Eye. This continued to widen the divide between the two brothers but also boosted publicity for both acts with constant barbs between the two appearing in the media. That summer Beady Eye headlined the NME Stage at Reading and Leeds while NGHFB sub headlined T In The Park and V Festival to the newly reformed (and heroes of both brothers) The Stone Roses.

Just over two years later, Beady Eye returned with their second record, ‘BE’, which introduced new sounds not previously heard in Oasis or Beady Eye work. This gained the band some new fans and some interested listeners. Lead singer ‘Flick of the Finger’ was a genuinely intriguing piece of work, with a strong lead vocal by Liam Gallagher. Unfortunately again, the album as a whole did not live up to this standard. Again, reviewers took the chance, seemingly with glee to criticise Liam and Beady Eye. Unlike 2011 Noel did not release an album in the same year. Interestingly though, one of the bonus tracks of ‘BE’ titled ‘The World’s Not Set in Stone’ proved to be arguably the best Liam-written song of the Beady Eye era but received little attention. In October 2014, Liam Gallagher confirmed Beady Eye had split up. While he still received significant media attention as an individual, musically he had become ignored.

‘Chasing Yesterday’, the second NGHFB album was released in February 2015 with the Blur sound-alike single ‘In the Heat of the Moment’, an interesting turn from the former Oasis man given the past rivalry of Blur and Oasis, now long gone! Whilst not receiving quite as positive reviews as his first record the album still was generally well received and spawned some of Noel’s most exciting work in years in the shape of ‘You Know We Can’t Go Back’ and ‘Lock All the Doors’ along with epics such as ‘The Dying of the Light’ and the Johnny Marr-featuring ‘Ballad of the Mighty I’.

Also in 2015 Liam had appeared in a pub signing a new song called ‘Bold’ which sounded like it had real promise, would it ever see the light of day on a record?

Check out the video here:

Bold Live in an Irish pub

Luckily it did! In 2017, this year of course, Liam released his debut solo record, ‘As You Were’, taken from the phrase he used to sign off many of his tweets. The album featured many co-writes with songwriters including Greg Kurstin and Andrew Wyatt. Between them, they created by far the strongest record Liam had released since leaving Oasis. Whilst there was much publicity about the co-writers it was clear that Liam was writing better songs than ever before. Only ‘I’m Outta Time’ from his previous work could compare with his new songs. Tracks like ‘You Better Run’ and ‘I’ve All I Need’ are genuinely brilliant songs and sounded massive live when he toured them in June this year in smaller venues such as Glasgow Barrowland.

Unlike the Beady Eye days, Liam’s new sets were a mix of new solo and old Oasis material, giving him one of the finest back catalogues around to draw from. ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Star’, ‘Morning Glory’, ‘Slide Away’, ‘Be Here Now’ and ‘Live Forever’ amongst others were all aired and sounded fantastic. The press were back with Liam, as were his fans.

Glowing reviews of the album and his live shows followed. Liam Gallagher is back on top was the general gist of any comments. His album sold over 100,000 copies in its first week and charted at Number 1 in the UK. He announced a UK-wide arena tour which sold out in a matter of minutes. Eventually he announced outdoor gigs for the summer of 2018 which again, remarkably sold out in minutes. He has re-established himself as one of the biggest acts around and the media love him again.

So where does this leave Noel? A month after the massive success of ‘As You Were’, Noel launched his third album, ‘Who Built The Moon?’ with the lead single ‘Holy Mountain’ to a chorus of “Hold on, what? This is Noel Gallagher?”, which I feel is exactly what he wanted. With the media deciding they love Liam more just now, this was the perfect time for Noel to try something a bit different, and he certainly did. Working with David Holmes, Noel produced music like nothing we had ever heard from either brother before. Once critics put their doubts aside and gave the album a try, many decided they loved it. Noel had cemented himself as a creative solo artist and pushed through his own boundaries. Whilst his arena tour is not sold out at time of writing it’s not far off. But this is interesting in itself, as not only has it sold more slowly than Liam’s, his album sold 25,000 less copies in launch week. Quite a chance in affairs since Noel was headlining festivals with Liam played to 2,000 people.

For the first time since Oasis split, Liam is on top and he knows it. What will be very interesting will be to see what the future holds. Will Liam be able to match ‘As You Were’? Will Noel emulated ‘Who Built the Moon’ or return to his classic Oasis sound? And who be the media darling going forward? Only time will tell.