The Liam Gallagher performance Noel called “the best singing I’ve ever heard”
The Gallagher brothers have never exactly been known for having the nicest things to say about one another. As they dominated the charts as part of Oasis, Noel and Liam continued to throw abuse at each other at every opportunity, even arguing onstage in the middle of a performance so they could each say their piece. While Noel has been candid about how he feels about his frontman brother, the guitarist did admit that the song ‘Fade In-Out’ had one of the best vocals his sibling ever laid down.
When talking about the best moments of Liam’s vocal career, many fans usually go back further in the group’s timeline. From the start of their career, Liam wanted to emulate the heroes that he heard growing up, trying to maintain a balance between the melodic sound of John Lennon and the pure vocal venom of John Lydon.
Although the group would spend forever trying to get the songs on Definitely Maybe off the ground, Liam could always deliver the same amount of power every time he laid down a vocal. Despite only hearing the pieces a few minutes before doing a take, Liam would sing tracks like ‘Rock and Roll Star‘ or ‘Live Forever’ as if they were coming straight from his soul.
During the initial sessions for the band’s debut at Monnow Valley, though, Liam’s vocal for ‘Slide Away’ has often been held in high esteem by every single Oasis fan. Compared to every other vocal he has ever laid down, those few minutes in the recording studio gave fans a little bit of magic when Liam opened his mouth, singing with the kind of conviction of someone helplessly in love.
Although Noel would eventually take the reins and sing a handful of tracks during the sessions for What’s the Story Morning Glory, Liam was just getting stronger. Despite a few hangups at the sessions that resulted in the frontman being hit with a cricket bat by his brother, the finished vocals on songs like ‘Wonderwall’ and ‘Champagne Supernova’ would turn them into anthems for a new generation of rock fans.
Even though the goal may have been to do everything over again for Be Here Now, the legacy behind the album has been lukewarm, to say the least. Compared to the first two albums, the band’s third outing is either the worst thing they ever made or the best thing they ever made, based on what type of Oasis fan you talk to.
At the time, though, Noel admitted that Liam topped himself on ‘Fade In-Out’. Featuring a nasty drop-D guitar riff, the song is one of the moodiest tracks the band would make in the 1990s, especially with the slide guitar riffs courtesy of Johnny Depp.
When speaking with Q Magazine, Noel said that Liam’s vocals were far beyond the band’s previous albums, saying, “I like it because it’s the first blues song I’ve done, and Liam does the best singing I’ve ever heard from him. I pushed him to the limit on that. He’s not got very good rhythm and we made him stamp his foot all through it. He couldn’t sing for a week after.”
Compared to the optimistic Britpop anthems of their previous effort, this is the nasty side of Liam’s voice that never got that much exposure afterwards, especially once his voice began going through changes in the 2000s. We might never know what Oasis may have sounded like if they had gotten their momentum back after Be Here Now, but this is the kind of record they would have made if they spent their time ripping off Led Zeppelin instead of The Beatles.