With big names, come great expectations. And Liam Gallagher, the former Oasis front-man, is no exception to this.

However, what with the flop of his post-Oasis band Beady Eye and simultaneous success of his older brother Noel, hopes weren’t exactly high. Despite this, ‘Wall of Glass’ offers us with a gimps into a Liam of former days, with his eye on chart success.

With an opening riff that sounds like it’s been taken straight off of (What’s the Story) Morning Glory, it has an energy (combined with talent) that has been missing from Liam’s post-Oasis pursuits. It is bold, it reeks of laddish charisma, and is driven by a roaring guitar line. It is exactly the kind of thing you would expect an on-form Liam to release: he isn’t reinventing the wheel by any means, but staying firmly within what he knows. But rather than the being lackluster and out of touch like Beady Eye so categorically were, there is a distinct energy here, and Liam’s vocals don’t sound as cigarette stained as they have done in recent years, which is most certainly a positive.

However, the song perhaps sounds a bit too familiar in places. Oasis were that first sip of beer on the first sunny day of the year. They were the excitement, the brashness, and charisma of youth personified, and they captured the mood of a generation, speaking the universal language of wanting to fuck it and get pissed with your mates. Of course Liam should be able to drop the ropes of the past and move on without being shackled by the legacy of (What’s the Story) Morning Glory. He should be able to do this, in a hypothetical world. But, in reality? Until he stops harking on about wanting an Oasis reunion but Noel is too much of a ‘$%£@!!’ to do so, he will continue to live in this shadow.

It is certainly a return to form for the younger brother after the disaster that was Beady Eye. For too long, Liam’s worked sounded like it was distinctly missing something, and that ‘something’ was Noel. With ‘Wall of Glass’, Liam has finally found his footing. But, despite it being a  positive step forward from Beady Eye, I can’t help but feel that rock has changed since Gallagher last had chart success. It’s too much of a trope to say that accuse him of being an out of touch oldie who doesn’t know when to give up when his brother has just defied that very trope, but ‘Wall of Glass’ can’t help but put you in up against a wall of nostalgia.

‘Wall of Glass’ is a return to form, but how long can Liam keep up this form without becoming a tribute act of his former glory days?

Juliette Rowsell

Image: Elquinto Beatle