Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds

Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – Who Built The Moon? (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 48:52 minutes | 575 MB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sour Mash Records Ltd

It the saying that goes ‘an album stamped with the name Gallagher – Liam or Noel – must sound like Oasis’ about to become obsolete? With Who Built The Moon?, Noel, the younger of the two sworn enemies, who was once in charge of the songwriting for the famous Mancunian duo, signs here a solo album that has a much more eclectic sound than usual. For the first time since going solo he has accepted to confide the production of his music to a third person: David Holmes (more of an expert in electro and trip hop than rock’n’roll) takes the wheel for Who Built The Moon?. It’s no wonder that Noel Gallagher’s music leers towards unexpected sonorities in this album. Even if this third studio is in parts in line with its predecessor, Chasing Yesterday, it turns out so much more eclectic, going from psychedelia to folk, electro to glam, not forgetting the madchester sound of the sixties… It even allows for deliciously enchanting instrumentals from David Axelrod, like on Interlude (Wednesday Part 1). From the start, Noel Gallagher delivers, without a doubt, his richest and most diverse record yet. And with each song we feel all the different genres he devours – Noel is a fascinating glutton who doesn’t care about having to decide on his tastes, preferring to try them all! To make things even more diverse, he has even invited along two special guests: the ex-Jam member Paul Weller on the organ for Holy Mountain and the ex-Smiths band member Johnny Marr on the guitar and harmonica for If Love Is The Law.

(more…)

Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – This Is The Place EP (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 25:25 minutes | 299 MB | Genre: Alternative
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sour Mash Records Ltd

Noel Gallagher returns with a new three track EP and a couple of remixes on the B-Side.

(more…)

Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – Chasing Yesterday (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:00:32 minutes | 1,38 GB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sour Mash Records Ltd

Opening with a minor chord strummed on an acoustic guitar somewhere off in the distance, Noel Gallagher’s second solo album, Chasing Yesterday, echoes Oasis’ second album, (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? — a conscious move from a rocker who’s never minded trading in memories of the past. He may be evoking his Brit-pop heyday — “Lock All the Doors” surges with the cadences of “Morning Glory” even as it interpolates David Essex’s “Rock On” — but it amounts to no more than a wink because Gallagher knows he’s two decades older and perhaps a little wiser as well. Certainly, Chasing Yesterday is the work of a musician very comfortable with his craft. Like the first album from High Flying Birds — a largely anonymous group of pros who make no attempt to steal the spotlight from their leader — it moves deliberately, never rushing and rarely rocking, preferring to find pleasure in majesty instead of hedonism. Where 2011’s HFB kept things a shade too calm — its reserve almost seemed like a rebuke to the messy id of Gallagher’s brother — Chasing Yesterday occasionally threatens to actually rock, delivering that signature wall of guitars on the aforementioned “Lock All the Doors,” mustering up a bit of old-fashioned, cowbell-driven glam boogie on “The Mexican,” and quickening the tempo on “You Know We Can’t Go Back,” a piece of incandescent pop that plays as a resigned companion to “Step Out.” Better still, the self-styled epics — which include the first single “In the Heat of the Moment” and closing “Ballad of the Mighty I,” which features grace notes from a guesting Johnny Marr — pulsate with quiet color, as does “Riverman,” a signature piece of stately late-period Beatles pop that would’ve been drained to grey on HFB. Here, “Riverman” breathes and sighs, taking a moment to slide into a saxophone-accentuated guitar solo straight out of a pre-punk 1976, and this masterful flair is a testament to the control and focus Gallagher displays on Chasing Yesterday. He’s not racing after the past, nor is he afraid to seem floridly fussy: he’s reveling in his ascendency to the position of one of rock’s wise old men. –Stephen Thomas Erlewine

(more…)

Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – Black Star Dancing (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 26:43 minutes | 323 MB | Genre: Rock, Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sour Mash Records Ltd

It looks like we’ll have to wait a little bit longer for that inevitable Oasis reunion to materialize. Your boy Noel Gallagher remains busy with his High Flying Birds side project. He’s just announced a new EP called Black Star Dancing, which follows up the 2017 album Who Built The Moon? The new EP will be out next month, and it’ll feature three new songs and a couple of remixes. Along with that announcement, Gallagher has shared the title track, which suggests a bit of a new direction for him.

(more…)

Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – Back The Way We Came: Vol. 1 (2011 – 2021) (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 02:22:48 minutes | 2,98 GB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sour Mash Records Ltd

Back The Way We Came: Vol 1 (2011-2021) is a Best Of celebrating the first decade of Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds.

This double album, curated and compiled entirely by Noel, includes tracks from the three Number One albums (‘Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds’, ‘Chasing Yesterday’ and ‘Who Built The Moon?’) and the three acclaimed EPs (‘Black Star Dancing’, ‘This Is The Place’ and ‘Blue Moon Rising’) – plus 2 previously unreleased tracks including the brand new single ‘We’re On Our Way Now’.

(more…)

Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – Council Skies (Deluxe) (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:49:12 minutes | 1,26 GB | Genre: Alternative Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sour Mash Records Ltd

‘Council Skies’ is the highly anticipated fourth studio album from Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds released on 2nd June 2023.

The album includes the new singles ‘Pretty Boy’ and ‘Easy Now’ plus an album version of the previously released demo ‘We’re Gonna Get There In The End’ as a bonus track.

This deluxe format includes a bonus disc featuring previously unreleased live sessions, instrumentals, and remixes from The Cure’s Robert Smith, Pet Shop Boys, and David Holmes.

(more…)