Liam Gallagher was, certainly, in a different gear when he formed Beady Eye. A jutted shift in pace to the comedown of Oasis and their slow, agonising death, paved the way to further guitar growing pains. He is a man with a singular plan, and that plan is heavy guitar music with his nasally vocal pairing. Different Gear, Still Speeding, was a chance very early on after the death of Oasis to chart a new wave of sound which could advance the withered state popular guitar music found itself in. Mod revival reigns. He has shifted focus from digging up The Beatles to pilfering the early works of The Who and the culture which surrounded it – a culture which outshines Gallagher here. Different Gear, Still Speeding is more dull ambitions from a man struggling to form a sound any different than the one he peddled for decades with his brother.
Such a shame it turns out this way – their revival of the genre is far removed from what mod rock can be classed as but it brings out some fantastic instrumentals. Frenetic, stuffed full of energy and engaged – a rarity for Liam Gallagher. Still, miracles can occur as they do for him on Four Letter Word. A genuine shock. Utterly stumped. It does not last long though, these operatic fixtures and rising tones are not long for this world – they recede into the background soon after. Millionaire and The Roller are sadly forgettable. No amount of goodwill can change that around. How on the nose can you get with a track like Beatles and Stones? Lay out the influences and crush them under the boot of ill-timed and unimpressive pieces which see Gallagher expect himself to “stand the test of time, like Beatles and Stones”. Gallagher’s shtick is not for everyone, though this track and his mighty proclamations are signs of a head wound.
Flickers of life can be found within Different Gear, Still Speeding. The likes of Bring the Light are at least worth a listen to hear how Gallagher sounds when he is not sullied with a blocked nose. Over and over, it goes, The Kinks-oriented acoustics on For Anyone serve, well, anyone. Gallagher struggles here. His impressionable and often listened-to lyrics lack the specifics of key storytelling or deeper meanings for interpersonal relationships between listeners and songs. Broad ideas bring about broader, and weaker, impact. Fine for the bulk of it, the best of these songs sound wheezing and watered down by a desire to marry the past and present. Gallagher, at the same time as dispelling the idea he has just ripped John Lennon, doubles down on the bands which still define his music – and still sound far better than his efforts.
Largely forgettable, but what more could be expected of a band who, had they released a third album, would be “playing pubs” according to its Knebworth-selling frontman? Gallagher is a tycoon and an icon who cannot amount to anything more than his early years and stuff like Different Gear, Still Speeding shows it. Through delusion and sleep deprivation, it is possible to enjoy this one though you would be hard-pressed to get another play out of it. Beady Eye may boast of speeding along, but they fail to tell their listeners they are cruising a few mph above the speed limit of a care home car park, doing doughnuts as though it were still impressive to be this immature and useless.
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