Beady Eye: BE – review

After criticism of Beady Eye's unadventurous debut, Liam Gallagher and co have brought in production whizz Dave Sitek for a sonic revamp. In come motorik krautrock/Velvet Underground rhythms, a brass band, disoriented guitars and an eerie narrative on man's capacity for destruction featuring the words of a murdered French Revolutionary. Even the conventional acoustic strum Soul Love has a discordant countermelody that shouldn't work, yet lifts the song beautifully. "The future starts here," yells the more risk-taking of the feuding Gallaghers, and he's half right anyway. Stormers outnumber so-so songs (such as Oasis-by-numbers I'm Just Saying) roughly two to one; lyrical cliches abound. Still, Second Bite of the Apple's odd imagery of Liam having his feet tickled with the NME is hard to forget. The unusually tender Don't Brother Me extends an olive branch to his estranged sibling ("Give peace a chance") after poking him in the eye with it ("Sick of your lying, scheming and crying"). At best – Flick of the Finger, beautifully vulnerable outer-space mission Start Anew – exiting the comfort zone can lead to a strange and fantastic place.