I was fairly obsessed with the British rock band, Oasis, in their heyday.  It started with Wonderwall, the quirky, mysterious and haunting song about… well, I don’t know what it’s about.  But it started me down a path with the two mercurial brothers, Liam and Noel.  Conventional wisdom held that Liam was “the voice” and Noel was all the rest, including brains, musical talent, songwriter and heart and soul of the band.  Conventional wisdom.

The pair, along with interchangeable part bandmates, released a string of records that burned a hole on my turntable (even though none of them ever actually saw a turntable… I just like the expression).  Liam sang most of the songs, except the occasional few by Noel, including one of my favorites, “Don’t Look Back in Anger.”  The lyrics of this particular song are, per Noel, largely nonsensical.  But they weirdly spoke to me nevertheless and I know I’m not alone in feeling that way.

Part of the Oasis charm and mystique was that both brothers embodied the rock star lifestyle and persona completely.  And they fought with each other.  A lot.  Viciously.  It was hard to watch but, as is often the case, you couldn’t look away.  I recall anticipating with great excitement the MTV live special when Liam decided not to go on stage at the very last minute.  Noel opened with something along the lines of: “You’re stuck with the four ugly ones…” and then proceeded to belt out every Oasis hit without missing a step.  All the while, Liam sat up in the audience jeering and taunting Noel.  It was gruesome.  It was spectacular.

Eventually, both had enough and that was that.  Too bad as their later Oasis releases were still exceptional.

Back to conventional wisdom.  The line of thinking was that Noel, as the heart, soul and brains of the group, would one day find solo artist success while Liam would wither away in alcohol and obscurity.  But not so fast.

Liam has recently released an album entitled “Why me? Why not.”.  And wouldn’t you know…

Above is a live rendition of a song called “Now that I’ve found you” which relates to his new relationship with previously estranged daughter, Molly.  It’s catchy, it’s lovely, and it’s Oasis.

Kind of.