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Peter: So we begin with “The Importance of Being Idle.” It is the band’s final chart-topper, hitting #1 in the UK way back on August 22, 2005!

Tyler: Noel stomping and starting through a cracking jam describing the weary ennui that he’s been writing about since “Going Nowhere,” a song I love. “Going Nowhere” is about pre-fame melancholy, though, while “Idle” takes on the exhaustion of a man whose financial success doesn’t salve all wounds. “Falling Down,” “Dream On,” “Dead To The World,” and so forth—those excellent tracks have roots here.

Peter: I like this one.

Tyler: Me too, a lot.

Peter: It’s another song from DBTT that stands comfortably alongside the classics from their first two albums. I think it’s as good as anything they’ve ever done.

Tyler: Noel’s falsetto!

I have an anecdote about this song.

Peter: Hit me.

Tyler: More than nine years ago, I was in Cincinnati city-street traffic on my way to work a dinner serving shift. I was in an especially roguish, obnoxious mood, and so I had my windows wide open as I blasted “The Importance Of Being Idle.”

Mired in a stream of cars two lanes over, heading in the opposite direction, a gentleman in shades caught my attention and, over the din of early-evening traffic around the University of Cincinnati, hollered “I DIG THAT JAM!”

He then gestured around at the cars and yelled “TOO MANY PEOPLE!”

I hope I never forget that.

Peter: That’s a nice one. Yeah, save it.

Tyler: He was right to dig the jam.

Peter: Went to number one. Can’t argue with the people.

Next up is “The Meaning of Soul.” This feels like filler, but it’s good filler.

Tyler: I wouldn’t drop it even that low. Add another minute or two and oh yeah, it’s not essential. But, as is, it’s this searing blast of acoustic confident sneer that picks up the slack after Noel’s indelible listlessness.

Peter: The production helps it along, and it’s a spirited performance. But, yeah, it would need something else were it any longer. It feels like it’s all chorus.

Tyler: A good chorus, I say! And it’s got a bit of Jaggery honk on the harmonica.

Peter: I’m not hating on it. I think it’s representative of the whole album, in that, even the lesser tracks are good. “The Meaning of Soul” is much better than something like Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants‘s “I Can See a Liar,” is what I’m saying.

Tyler: Carlos Santana and Rob Thomas’s “Smooth” might be better than “I Can See A Liar.”

Peter: It’s their nadir?

Tyler: “I Can See A Liar?” Oh, Lord, yes. That song smells like a washed-up body.

Peter: Really shocking they put it on an album. But we digress.

Next up?

Tyler: “Guess God Thinks I’m Abel.” Love this!

Peter: Yeah, great tune.

Who wrote this? Liam?

Tyler: Liam indeed. I believe it was on the DualDisc that an interviewed Noel commented that it might be illegal, making love to your brother, and if not it’s certainly frowned upon.

Peter: I have to go read the lyrics.

Tyler: It’s so strange and sweet. If “Acquiesce” can carry brother-to-brother implications, so too can “Guess God Thinks I’m Abel.” I buy it, the Gallagher love!

Peter: Oh, yes! I get it!

This is a great Liam tune. Good for him.

The ending is glorious.

I remember the first time I heard it, it gave me chills.

But, it’s so brief! I wish it would kick off a whole section like that!

Tyler: See, “Guess God Things I’m Abel” is a terrific achievement, and it makes me wish Liam didn’t these days employ songwriter upon songwriter to shape what he records.

Peter: Hmm… You’re right that he’s capable of doing it on his own. I like some of those collaborative efforts though.

Either way, even at his best, I don’t think Liam can touch our next song, another classic from Noel, “Part Of The Queue.”

Tyler: By this point in the band’s trajectory, Noel was keeping some especially good songs for himself. They seem more personal, the “Idle”s and “Queue”s, in that his frustrations with everyday life are expressly articulated. There’s a reason he gives Liam “Lyla” and keeps those two.

Peter: That’s true.

It’s hard to imagine Liam singing them. They do seem more personal.

This sounds a little like Badly Drawn Boy. Remember Badly Drawn Boy?

Tyler: Badly Drawn Boy! Of, wasn’t it, the About A Boy soundtrack?

Peter: Yes!

Tyler: Oh, man, does that movie kick its source novel to the curb. It’s a shame. There was an exceptional period piece, a less melodramatic one, in that book.

Peter: I’ve never read it, but I like the movie.

“Part Of The Queue” is great. I love it. It’s really fun to play on guitar, as well.

I think this is my third-favorite Oasis album. Did I say that already?

Tyler: That’s high praise right there!

Peter: It’s really strong. Not many weak spots. Even the next two, non-Gallagher penned, tunes are decent.

Full disclosure, I haven’t listened to them very much over the years! So, there’s that, as well.

Tyler: “Decent” is the word. They run together a little for me—we’re talking about, in order, “Keep The Dream Alive” and “A Bell Will Ring”—but the musicianship is strong and Liam is on top of his game. Good album tracks.

Peter: “Keep The Dream Alive” is better than I remembered. But, yeah, these are probably the weakest songs on the album. There’s a reason I hadn’t heard them in years.

Tyler: They serve as a bit of a double-duty lead-in to the big closer, “Let There Be Love.”

Peter: “Let There Be Love” is another classic. It’s the fifth and final Oasis track to feature Noel and Liam trading off on the vocals.

Tyler: Oh, lemme see if I can do this.

“Acquiesce,” “Put Yer Money Where Yer Mouth Is,” “Let There Be Love,” and two that I’m missing.

Wait. “Hello” doesn’t count, does it?

Peter: Apparently not. Wikipedia says “Born on a Different Cloud,” and their cover of “My Generation” (which should not count!).

Tyler: Noel in “Cloud” just repeats the chorus toward the end. I call nonsense!

Peter: Agreed. You’ve screwed me for the last time, Wikipedia!

From now on I’m just going with my gut.

Anyway, “Let There Be Love” is a pretty epic closer!

Tyler: It works. Smarter observers than me have made note of its restraint. If this song were recorded for Be Here Now, it’d be thirteen minutes long and feature an orchestra recorded on the moon.

Peter: Right, it’s quietly epic.

Tyler: An appropriate return to thoughtful form concluding one helluva comeback LP.

Peter: Agreed.