Liam Gallagher and John Squire

The first track, Raise Your hands has all the feel-good attitude that an album opener needs, and is a song that demonstrates great collaboration characteristics, with Liam’s vocals and John’s lead guitar having a call and response relationship throughout the verse. The second track, Mars To Liverpool, which was the second single released is by far the best track on the album with a chorus that sits somewhere between A Hard Days Night and Definitely Maybe. But these two tracks are good stand outs because it demonstrates the key component of what this record's biggest strength is; they’re enjoying themselves.

When news was announced of this collaboration, it had a sense of false excitement about it. Years ago, a wave of exhilaration would’ve swept through the music industry at the thought of an Oasis and Stone Roses ex-members supergroup. Now though, fans have become very accustomed to constant new projects from Liam. Whether it’s supergroups, films, or album anniversary celebrations, it’s almost taken for granted that some sort of project will be bestowed upon listeners. And it’s this mentality that has transcended itself into other endeavours, such as this one.

But this record genuinely has the feel that Liam is always projecting off his own personality; that he doesn’t care that much about what others think. I’m sure this record is very much for his much younger 16 year old-self that first saw Stone Roses play live which inspired him to pursue music in the first place. This has allowed the pair to strip back any outside experience that sticks to your original influences as your career progresses and go back to the fundamentals of music that they enjoy playing and writing. However, as this becomes the record's biggest strength, it also presents its flaws. Songs like I’m So Bored sounds like a half-hearted attempt to get more tracks on the album after a heavy night of reminiscing of the glory days. Repetition of the word Bored will eventually rub off onto you by the end of the song.

This album is John Squire’s best work since The Stone Roses. For him personally, every track has a great blend of musicality that demonstrates both his ability as a guitarist, and songwriting capabilities, with neither overpowering the other. It makes it a bit of a shame that we don’t see John appear more consistently with collaborations, and solo projects that would further demonstrate his ability as a songwriter. With Liam’s solo records, the songwriters that work on those tracks tend to lend a hand mostly to the pop songs. However, the tracks that are mainly written by John really strip back the need for pop musicality, and lyrical politeness.

The first single, Just Another Rainbow failed to make an impact, and there isn’t really a track on this record that would jump out as the next single to really make this record shine. However, if you were judging this record as a collective body of work and theme, then this would be Liam’s best. It’s nice to see this creative freedom still existing within the music industry, and it may be worth paying attention to what these two icons do next.