antiMusic.com: Oasis - Dig Out Your Soul Review

Oasis - Dig Out Your Soul Review
by Kevin Wierzbicki

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Oasis is not unlike a hookah-smoking caterpillar; they are seers of a realm that is beyond that of normal comprehension. Fortunately for those of us who are less psychedelically attuned, they are willing to translate. And that brings us to Dig Out Your Soul, the band's latest dispensation of wisdom, with guitar. It may be a bit of a stretch to say that Oasis has made their Sgt. Pepper, but opening track "Bag it Up" is obviously influenced by that Beatles' masterpiece. Singer Liam Gallagher sounds very much like John Lennon on the tune and there's a ton of Fab Four love sprinkled throughout the Abbey Road Studios-recorded album, most notably Ringo-like drum work from Ringo's kid, Zak Starkey. The members of Oasis are infamous for their big egos and their music continues to prove that they have the right, but that doesn't mean they totally lack humility. On the rocking single "The Shock of the Lightning" Gallagher makes a lyrical reference to the Beatles, singing that love is like a "magical mystery" but he also hints that there's still work to be done, that perfection will come "all in good time." It's kind of a game here to tally up all the nods to the mop-tops---a mind-bending "Strawberry Fields Forever" outro here, a "Helter Skelter" guitar riff there---and some will hear Dig Out Your Soul as one long Beatles rip-off. It is not. But it is a statement, issued with love and respect, "We can do this too, and quite well thank you." All in good time, indeed.

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Oasis - Dig Out Your Soul
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