C'MON YOU KNOW
A few months before releasing his third solo album, Liam Gallagher told Apple Music to expect a little of the unexpected. “Some of it’s odd,” he said. “I’d say 80 percent of the record is peculiar but still good, and 20 percent of it is classic. If you’re gonna do something a bit different, do it in these times, and if people don’t dig it, blame it on COVID.” On *C’MON YOU KNOW*, “odd” doesn’t quite mean a journey into the outer rims of acid trance or vaporwave, but, chiefly guided by trusted producer/songwriter Andrew Wyatt, Gallagher is noticeably freer of spirit. After two albums of bedding himself into a solo career with gently psychedelic rock that didn’t range too far from Oasis or Beady Eye, Liam is now deftly toggling between polemic punk and weightless dub on “I’m Free.” He told Apple Music that he’d bought a tepee to help cope with the claustrophobia of lockdown and, by building from a children’s choir to a grand, strobing finale, opener “More Power” suggests he spent those outdoor nights picking up signals from Spiritualized’s richly orchestrated cosmos. Other more intrepid moments include deeply psychedelic pop (“Better Days”), elegantly psychedelic soul (“The Joker”), and limber funk rock (“Diamond in the Dark”). While the music peers in new directions, the voice remains unmistakable—and in decent health. There’s a familiar snarl and swagger to “I’m Free” and the trippy, indie groove of “Don’t Go Halfway,” but Gallagher’s sometimes-overlooked warmth and reassurance are also regularly in play. He never likes slapping definitive meaning on the words he sings, preferring that listeners take what they want from the songs, and in a post-pandemic age there’s plenty to draw from the piano-driven heart-tugger “Too Good for Giving Up”: “Look how far you’ve come/Stronger than the damage done/Step out of the darkness unafraid.” During “Don’t Go Halfway,” he sings, “You were all thumbs/Through the dark days/When your time comes/Don’t go halfway.” On a record released a few months before his 50th birthday, Gallagher is heeding his own advice and emerging as a man whose horizons stretch further than ever.
R Kid doesn't overthink this third record, which is packed with Summer of Love anthems that find him mixing up the formula for his comeback
The frontman’s third album sets him up perfectly for two massive gigs in Hertfordshire
C'mon You Know opens with children singing the chorus to "More Power," a sound that's not necessarily unheard on rock records but one that often conveys a sweetness so cloying it's saccharine.
There are moments on C'mon You Know, the third album by Liam Gallagher, where everything he's been striving for in the years since the fallout of Oasis feels like it finally clicks into place.
Gallagher Jr enlists the likes of Dave Grohl, Ezra Koenig and Nick Zinner for an album that has pleasing touches but can’t rise above solid
All of Liam Gallagher's differences in approach on C'mon You Know are small on a grand scale, but there's substance here. Just don't expect to be taken on a mystery tour.
C’mon You Know by Liam Gallagher album review by Robert Duguay. The UK singer/songwriter, and ex-Oasis member's LP drops on May 27, 2022
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Lots of big-sounding sonic detail but a lack of great songs on the latest from Liam. Album New Music review by Thomas H Green.