How Ennio Morricone influenced Noel Gallagher
Although their later works get dismissed compared to the artistic heights of their first two records, Oasis deserve praise for how expansive they made their sound towards the end, regardless of its overblown nature. It saw the introduction of string sections, Sgt. Pepper-esque dynamics and the band’s deviation from the rabble-rousing anthems of their early days. Following this, it was no surprise that as their creative palette developed, so did the creative control of Noel Gallagher, who edged closer to realising his creative vision.
After the band imploded in 2009, there was a brief calm before the respective Gallagher brothers emerged with their new projects. Noel returned with The High Flying Birds and Liam, Beady Eye. Ironically, although Liam’s solo career is now considered the more successful of the two, Noel’s High Flying Birds were resoundingly classed as the superior at the time.
Stylistically, Beady Eye was much of the same from Liam, whereas, with The High Flying Birds, Noel had refined his craft and finally created the heady yet balanced sound he’d long teased. Duly, his first album, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, remains a highlight of his back catalogue, with the first duo of singles, ‘The Death of You and Me’ and ‘AKA… What a Life!’ sounding the arrival of the next chapter in his career in style.
Although he had sonically alluded to his influence towards the end of Oasis’s career, one thing was evident with the release of the debut High Flying Birds album: Ennio Morricone’s influence on Noel Gallagher.
Up until this point, Gallagher had drawn on Morricone over his career and even included ‘Svolta Definitiva’ on his playlist during his Radio 1 Legends Show. But now, he was exploring the Italian master’s work more than ever, with flecks of his soundtracks such as that of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly coursing through his new art. He allowed this element to take a more prominent role than ever before, with later Oasis cuts ranging from ‘D’You Know What I Mean?’ to ‘I’m Outta Time’, suggesting that this was always inevitable.
Arguably, the moment where Morricone’s influence is most evident on Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds is the opener, ‘Everybody’s On The Run’, which boasts a grandiose opening fitting of the spaghetti westerns that Gallagher loves dearly. Speaking to NME in the run-up to the record’s release in October 2011, he discussed the piece and how he wanted the string section to specifically sound like those found in the Italian master’s oeuvre.
Gallagher said: “It was always gonna be the opener on the album. It’s the kind of track that people would normally end a record on, but I’ve got three of those songs in ‘Everybody’s On The Run’, ‘Stop The Clocks’ and ‘…Record Machine’. So I was forced to split them up, and I thought this would be a great way to kick off, that’s like putting your fucking cards on the table and saying, ‘This is going to be a fucking good album.’ The whole album has got the narrative of escape, hope and love, and it sets the album up as somebody saying, ‘I’ve gotta get out of this situation, or out of this town, or out of this city.'”
Continuing: “When I was doing the strings, I said to the girl who does my string arrangements: ‘I want it to sound like Ennio Morricone, and all the string players have to be women,’ and she thought I was a bit of a perv. I was like, ‘No no, they play strings a lot sexier than men.’ She said it doesn’t make any difference, but I said, ‘I need to fucking know that it’s women playing it.’ So we did the strings and the choir in the same night at Abbey Road, which was a bit of a moment.”
Morricone’s impact on Gallagher has been definitive. During a Reddit AMA in 2014 before the release of the sophomore High Flying Birds record, Chasing Yesterday, he revealed the emotive response Morricone’s work has on him. When asked about his favourite composers, Gallagher said: “Ennio Morricone is the only one that springs to mind. I’ve seen ‘im twice in the last five years. And his music does bring a tear to my eye. I think he’s a genius. Like me.”
Even the eminent Johnny Marr, another prominent Morricone fan and collaborator of Gallagher’s, told Stereogum of their track ‘If Love Is the Law’: “This last one I played on, ‘If Love Is the Law.’ I’ve never played on a song like that before, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard a pop song like that before. It sounds like it’s Ennio Morricone. I don’t know what it sounds like. It certainly doesn’t sound like Oasis.”
