Without a doubt, one of the rock surprises of this year 2024 is the album signed as a duo by Liam Gallagher and John Squire. And beyond any retro or nostalgic hint of the late ’80s and early ’90s, it is not every day that there is a collaboration between the Oasis singer and the Stone Roses guitarist. Or between a fan and the violist of one of the groups he admires the most. But this time there is a story that deserves to be told.
This union begins on May 30, 1988 at the International 2 in Manchester. That day the Stone Roses and James performed, for five pounds a ticket (and four if you bought it in advance). That day, the quartet made up of Ian Brown (vocals), John Squire (guitar), Mani (bass) and Reni (drums) gave a show that changed the lives of two young attendees: brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher.
“Even today I think it is the best recital I have ever seen in my life. “It killed me, and it changed my life,” Liam said on more than one occasion, and both he and his brother stated several times that If they had not seen that concert, Oasis would never have existed.
Time continued its inexorable march. With two excellent albums, the Stone Roses collected the legacy of The Smiths and of Manchester as the rock capital of Great Britain and the group of the British people. And since 1994 Oasis took that flame and spread it worldwide, with three unbeatable albums (Definitely Maybe of that year, What’s the Story- Morning Glory? of the following year and Be Here Now of 1997).
In the middle, Noel Gallagher took some time and collaborated with Ian Brown on the song Keep What Ya Got, of the plate Solarized (2004). And after the separation of Oasis, in June 2012 Beady Eye (the combo led by Liam along with Gem Archer, Andy Bell and Chris Sharrock, that is, an Oasis without Noel Gallagher), supported the short-lived return of the Stone Roses, in recitals in which, for the first time, Liam sang songs by his old band.
Liam Gallagher and John Squire. press photo
The decision to play together
But it was on June 3, 2022, at the Knebworth Festival (an event that hosted historic shows by Led Zeppelin, Iron Maiden, Stone Roses and Oasis, to name just a few) when this alliance finally took shape.
In that performance by Liam Gallagher, which ended up recorded on a live album, the encore of the Oasis classic Champagne Supernova featured John Squire on guitar as a stellar guest.
The media and emotional event was such that Squire did not hesitate, he abandoned his career as a painter for a time (he is the author of the covers of the Stone Roses albums, in a style very indebted to action painting of Jackson Pollock) and proposed to Liam to record an album together.
For the singer, It was the kid’s dream come trueand he did not hesitate to say yes.
Liam Gallagher’s classic pose when singing on stage.
What is the album like?
And what does that album sound like? It sounds like an album of songs by Squire (the main composer of Stone Roses, beyond later missteps like The Seahorses) sung by Liam.
What must be said is that they are the best songs composed by Squire since Second Coming from Stone Roses (1994), and that the youngest of the Gallaghers sings to not disappoint his hero and to demonstrate to his older brother that a good part of the success of Oasis passed through that throat that even today insists on mixing John Lennon with John Lydon and emerge successfully from that experiment to confirm that what was once a new form of rock vocal intonation is still in very good health.
Although the single Mars To Liverpool is definitely one of the songs of the year, as it allows you to think about where the sound could have gone. Madchester from the Stone Roses to the mix of Beatles and T. Rex of Oasis in the 21st century, there is much more.
I’m a Wheel is a full-fledged blues, reminiscent of the underrated update of Led Zeppelin which was the second Stone Roses album, the same as the coda of Just Another Rainbow.
Make It Up As You Go It is one of those songs that Noel Gallagher could have made thinking of his brother’s gola or John Squire of Ian Brown’s, but the combination of Liam and Squire makes it more powerful than expected and logical.
Liam Gallagher and John Squire’s album cover.
You’re Not The Only One It has a honky tonk piano that is much more American than English, I’m So Bored It may well pass for a Stone Roses B-Side and Mother Nature’s Song It has nothing to do with the Beatles’ tune, but instead evokes an acidic and multicolored sixties landscape closer to both the Stone Roses album of the same name and the first Oasis.
Liam Gallagher and John Squire already came out to play these songs live in short shows in small places since, as the singer said, they don’t have any more songs than these, and at the moment they don’t feel like performing songs from their previous groups.
Therefore, the cover of Jumpin’ Jack Flash of the Rolling Stones with which they usually close their presentations. Hence the endless rumors of a surprise daytime recital in one of the infinite stages that the Glastonbury Festival has.
And that’s why, for now, the distant possibility of a South American tour that brings them to this country. But with people who want to be adored with Squire, or who sang their desire to live forever like Liam, it is always necessary to have faith and be grateful for an album as unexpected as it is good like this one. Let it be rock.
