CD Review: Oasis's 'Don't Believe The Truth'

CD Review: Oasis's 'Don't Believe The Truth'

Oasis's 'Don't Believe The Truth': Aidin Vaziri | It's been about eight years since Oasis unofficially gave up on America, shortly after the release of its wobbly third album, 1997's "Be Here Now," and the disastrous tour that followed. Not that it mattered. America had already given up on the badly behaved Gallagher brothers long before that. Yet all of a sudden, at least one side seems to be reconsidering the breakup. This week, Oasis releases its sixth studio album, "Don't Believe the Truth." This is shocking news not only because it means there was a fourth and fifth Oasis album, but also because people in the United States are actually excited to hear it. What's even more shocking, however, is tickets for the British group's upcoming shows at Madison Square Garden and the Hollywood Bowl sold out in less than an hour, and a Sept. 11 gig at Shoreline is already near capacity. Which raises the big question: Is Oasis ready to commit and make this relationship work? One listen to the lead single, "Lyla," from the new album and the answer is clear. The verses, a blatant rip-off of the Rolling Stones' "Street Fighting Man" reveal the band has stubbornly refused to grow over the past decade, still relying on old souls for new ideas. There are color-by-the-numbers imitations of the Velvet Underground ("Mucky Fingers"), Stranglers ("Part of the Queue") and Kinks ("The Importance of Being Idle"). And, in a telltale sign, the group's main songwriter, Noel Gallagher, only offers five of the 11 tunes, leaving the heavy-lifting to brother Liam, guitarist Gem Archer and bassist Andy Bell. What do they bring to the table? It depends on how you feel about excessive tambourines, watery ballads that kind of sound like "Don't Look Back In Anger" and lyrics such as, "The boys in the bubble/ They wanna be free." There's a reason why these co-dependent relationships never work.