Noel Gallagher – Love Will Tear Us Apart Review

Being from the same region as perceived legends grants some sort of birthright to cover their works in the future. Noel Gallagher to Joy Division, likely Jamie Webster to The Beatles and The Reytons already mark slim developments of the early years of Arctic Monkeys. Peddled the past for the sake of securing a future. The former Oasis songwriter is content to see what Ian Curtis and company have in store for him, one of many to flog the horse which gave us Unknown Pleasures and New Order. A demo release is a release all the same and Gallagher knows this, using the addition to duck for cover when people turn on his rendition of the best-remembered Joy Division track.  

For fans of Gallagher, particularly his voice, this is where to head. He saps the life and love out of the original – the brutal tenderness to the Curtis original, instead trying to replicate heartbreak with strings. It is the idle hands of Gallagher which mark this change-up so frequently, some bizarre hope to inflict new emotional damage with rising strings and a voice which feels nowhere close to the original. Covers can move songs along, as the likes of Elvis Costello and even Oasis did at times, but Gallagher recedes into the background of this one. It is closer to apt and uncomfortable karaoke, wearing the skin of a dead man and dubbing it a tribute, than it is a firmed-up change of pace for a song of this calibre. It is not like it needed this reworking, and so it becomes clear Gallagher and the High Flying Birds troupe are trapped under the weight of this project. 

Vocal manipulation and the electronic buzz which surrounds it mark an uncomfortable listen. Gallagher tries to marry this song to his psychedelic push from previous albums, but it seems he backed out at the last minute, a lack of faith in his desire to rework a classic song. Tiresome stuff which feels bereft of life and not at all up to scratch. Covers are a chance to express an emotional connection with a song, to change this bit or that and to consider the impact of an artist, legendary or otherwise. All the pieces are right there for the taking, to build some grand masterwork. But for Gallagher, this is perceived similarly to how his fans consider his music. Love Will Tear Us Apart is a good song, wouldn’t it be nice to cover it? That is it. An open and shut case.  

For all the considered and possible emotions Gallagher may feel for the tune, little of it is shown in this rendition. A sadly wasted endeavour which has no life of its own, instead it feels scuffed and dulled. It may be just a demo, but this thin blanket of security Gallagher tried to pull on this release is clear to see through. Not up to scratch and a stumble from a musician whose finest solo works are long behind him. Taking on tracks of simplistic beauty and quality, fumbling them as poorly as this, is a real sign of poor form. Gallagher should have no difficulty in expressing his love or relationship with a song which shaped Manchester, though here it sounds as though he has encountered a broken green man light, never quite sure whether to risk a run or to idly stand by.