Review: Liam Gallagher Sticks to Oasis’ Brawny Britpop and Beatle-esque Melodies on Solo Debut

It may be the closest Liam Gallagher has come to apology. “In my defense all my intentions were good,” the ex-Oasis singer asserts on his solo debut, in a song that shares its title with Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth.” “But I am a dreamer by design,” Gallagher adds, as good a description of kamikaze stardom as anything he sang in Oasis, from his brother Noel’s songbook. Eight years after that band’s messy breakup, Liam puts his signature voice on the line in a mostly original set of strut and reflection that sticks to Oasis’ template ”“ brawny Britpop, Beatle-esque ballads ”“ and often invigorates it.

Like his brother, Liam openly quotes his inspirations: “She’s so purple haze” (the suitably dreamy “When I’m in Need”); “Angels, gimme shelter/Cause I’m about to fall” (the harder, thumping “You Better Run”). There are fresh twists on the classicism too: the slashing-riff charge and falling-vocal chorus in “Greedy Soul”; Gallagher’s scouring bray swimming through the acid-folk “Chinatown.” As You Were lacks one Oasis specialty ”“ straight-up helter skelter. But if the album is a few steps shy of his old band’s best, it has Gallagher writing like he means it and singing like his dream isn’t over.