News

so what do we really think of Beady Eye?

• 17th Mar 2011

Beady Eye seem to be occupying a rather strange position within the music industry.

As times changed, Oasis it seems would stay the same, and the rise of Beady Eye is testament to this.

Oasis claimed an esteemed position as one of the UK's most exciting, most vital and most bankable bands during the britpop era, in a day and age when record sales hadn’t yet been severely rocked by the likes of Napster.

The love affair soured slightly when the unconceivably hyped third album, Be Here Now was released, facing a backlash from critics, and by the time Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants was released in 2000 the game had changed around them, as the whole album was leaked online ahead of its official release.

Despite these knocks, Oasis remained a well loved band right through to the very bitter end, garnering magazine covers and number 1 albums throughout their career, and accompanying tours would see them selling out stadiums across the summer.

But Oasis had become part of an old guard in the music industry, sternly sticking to the tried and tested path that had put them on the top of the heap, and so it is that the prescence of Beady Eye sees them as a band out of step with modern times.

Liam Gallagher must have been heavy-handedly coerced into allowing Bring The Light to be made available as a free download, having been expectedly outspoken on the subject in the past.

It was this first taste of the new band that reverberated around the internet and saw interest sparked as the track spread like wildfire and whether reactions were positive or negative were un-important , after gossip and speculation the second coming of Liam Gallagher had arrived, further tracks were teased out throughout the winter, with videos posted to youtube for Four Letter Word and The Roller, accompanied by a couple of low-key 7” releases.

Despite being this country's most scrutinised ‘new’ band, Beady Eye seem to have faced incredibly mixed reactions, they have still graced magazine covers and sold out shows, but radio hardly seem to have warmed to them, limiting exposure to newer audiences, and The Roller only scraped into the top 40 at number 31, yet only 2 weeks later the debut album crashed into the charts at a highly respectable number 3, placed only behind Adele and Jessie J.

Feedback on the album seems to have been overwhelmingly positive from most quarters, and those presuming the band would flounder without the songwriting and guidance of Noel Gallagher, had obviously been paying little attention to Oasis’ latter output, as Andy Bell and Gem Archers contributions had already been notable, and Liam’s growing talent has advanced in leaps and bounds since he penned the simple (and often mocked) Little James for Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants.

Time will tell if Beady Eye can lay claim to the kind of devotion that had Oasis heralded as rock royalty and saw summer stadium tours become massive events in their own rights, with a supporting cast of bands that resembled a mini-festival. Their talent, their passion and their commitment is not in question at all, but if they can jump straight back in where Oasis left off and be accepted as natural successors without falling back on Oasis’ rich back catalogue is yet to be seen.

The album is unlikely to convert any nay-sayers that had no interest in Oasis but with a legion of die-hard Liam acolytes still standing firm, I'm certain Beady Eye have hardly noticed.