Liam Gallagher (Oasis and Beady Eye) released his second solo record Why me? Why not. on Sept. 20.
A different effort from his solo debut, As you Were, Why me? Why not. is packed with soft rock ballads instead of hard rock tunes.
The song “Shockwave” starts the record, and it’s also the first single.
The hard-hitting track describes the actions of someone the songwriter isn’t fond of, calling them a weasel and a snake. The song’s chorus, “its coming ‘round like a shockwave,” is very catchy and aggressive in a good way. Overall, it’s a very melodic power ballad and a good first single.
The next song, “One of Us,” is directly aimed at Liam’s brother and former bandmate Noel Gallagher, keeping alive a well-documented decades-long feud.
In the song, Gallagher begs his brother to come to his senses, reunite with him and be the old Noel, the one Liam knew and loved.
The lines “You said we’d live forever, who’d you think you’re kidding, you were always one of us, in time” is a nice node to Oasis 1994 hit “Live Forever” and their working-class upbringing.
The third song and second single off the album is “Once,” on which Gallagher reminisces about his younger days and how he feels as a man now in his forties.
The fourth track, “Now that I’ve Found You,” is a Beatles-inspired melodic ballad about Gallagher getting rid of something that’s haunted him for a long time when he reunites with his estranged daughter.
The next song, “Halo,” is atrocious and by far the worst lyrical song of the album with cringeworthy lyrics such as, “When it’s freezing, she’s my mittens and my coat.”
Following that disaster is the album’s title track, a solid number with some nice violin work. It also demonstrates Gallagher’s underrated vocal range.
Following that is “Be Still,” a nice deep cut very similar to a song off of As You Were called “You Better Run.”
“Alright Now” sounds like a song that could be on a Ringo Starr album.
“Meadow” is a quiet ballad but it’s not interesting.
“The River” is next. This hard-hitting track is very similar to “Shockwave” in intensity and is probably the second-best song on the record. It’s aimed at Gallagher’s younger audience to rise up, get off their phones, and go support rock music.
The closing track is named “Gone.” Its message is very simple: the songwriter doesn’t know how long he’ll be gone — Gallagher doesn’t know how long it will be until his next record.
Overall it’s a solid record, but it does have some week songs in it — “Halo” and “Meadow” —that could easily have been cut from the album.
As a Liam Gallagher fan, I find this a weaker effort than his first solo record but it’s far from being a bad record. “Shockwave,” “Now that I’ve Found You,” “One of us,” and “The River” are all solid tunes that will stick in Gallagher’s discography.
