Album Review: Beady Eye - BE

He was once proclaiming he was Standing On The Shoulders Of Giants, but now it seems Liam Gallagher, his former Oasis bandmates and the other cohort known as Beady Eye are stuck in the shadows of past glories. The British five-piece's second record BE (meant to be as direct or ambiguous as you like) is a mess of grand ambition – a tepid pool of ideas that seems overlaboured and under-delivered.

Flick Of The Finger doesn't suggest this originally, though. The opening stand leads in with a punchy brass section, military drumming and Gallagher holding his strongest vocal tone of the record. Sadly, BE never eclipses that first burst of fantastic rock. The record goes on to reveal a lot of half-arsed balladeering, with songs stumbling for far longer than they need to. The soft guitar work barely rates a mention, the percussive rhythms are base and Gallagher's love-centric ramblings on tracks like Second Bite Of The Apple and I'm Just Saying drone on. He offers a bit of faux angst on Don't Brother Me, and it might be a punch in the guts for Noel were the song not so pissweak – you'd find a tougher steak at your local pub. Following that, the LP concludes like Liam's lucid dream of what a good album could sound like.

The Midas production touch of TV On The Radio's Dave Sitek can't even pull this up from being pedestrian, and through all the layered smokescreens it's still clear that BE doesn't offer any substance. By the end you're simply left wondering: will the Gallagher brother who can write songs please stand up? Because he sure ain't here.