Liam Gallagher’s 10 best vocal performances
Half of the accolades that come with Oasis circle back to the Gallagher brothers. While the rest of the band may have contributed their fair share of iconic moments to the group, seeing both Liam and Noel working in tandem with each other whenever they took to the stage helped spark the revolution for many kids who wanted to play rock and roll. Although Noel could have taken the credit for writing the lion’s share of the songs, Liam Gallagher was every bit the rock star he claimed to be.
Throughout every iteration of the band, Liam’s vocals have been the trademark for every iconic tune, from the timeless classics in the 1990s to the hidden gems in their 2000s work. Although Noel would generally keep the sentimental songs for himself, his brother had a diverse range with his voice, able to sing a ballad and any snarling rock and roll song.
Fitting somewhere between John Lennon and John Lydon, Liam could always belt with the same amount of gusto, taking the basis of any song his brother brought to the table and turning it into something magical. Even when working on his solo material and with Beady Eye, his vocal range never faltered, gaining a healthy amount of depth over time in his low register.
While Liam may not have had the songwriting power as his older brother, his way of inhabiting every track he sings is unlike any other frontman today. From his golden years to the stellar pieces of his solo catalogue, nothing would come out of Liam’s mouth that wasn’t the epitome of rock and roll.
Liam Gallagher’s 10 best vocal performances:
10. ‘Rock n’ Roll Star’ – Definitely Maybe
Before they released an album, Oasis were already talking themselves up like one of the biggest bands that rock had ever seen. Though there were only a handful of demos initially, every member seemed to talk about their music like it would be the greatest cultural shift since the days of The Beatles. While most fans may have been sceptical, Liam roared out of the gate as the ultimate rock star frontman.
After the sound of Noel’s electric guitar lick, ‘Our Kid’ gave fans the punk rock answer to classic rock on ‘Rock n’ Roll Star’, singing about living life in Manchester and the day moving just too fast for him. Sprawling out across six minutes, Liam never sounded like he was struggling, taking fans on an odyssey before crashing out at the end with the round-robin finale in waltz time. While many would come to know songs like ‘Rock n’ Roll Star’ as fairly by-the-numbers by Oasis standards, no one ever forgets their first.
9. ‘Wall of Glass’ – As You Were
The ending of Beady Eye couldn’t have been easy for Liam to deal with. Outside of the fallout of Oasis, he was now coming to terms with the fact that his brother had become the clear winner in the breakup, with the rest of the group falling apart under the weight of their own hubris. Everyone loves a good comeback story, though, and ‘Wall of Glass’ gave fans the frontman they knew and loved from the 1990s.
With no frills, Liam worked with Greg Kurstin to reclaim his image as a rock and roll frontman, sticking to guitars and drums to fill out the sound for his album, As You Were. While every track had a personal axe to grind across the album, ‘Wall of Glass’ is practically the mission statement for what the album was supposed to be, as Liam shouts about stomping out any of his detractors who dared to call him washed up. While Noel may have been trying to create tapestries of sound with solo efforts, his brother reminded those hardened Oasis fans that he never lost that vocal magic over all these years.
8. ‘Don’t Go Away’ – Be Here Now
If there would be one word to describe Liam Gallagher, ‘tender’ certainly isn’t it. Throughout Oasis’ discography, the frontman was never known to mince words about what he thought of the biggest names in the industry, especially if they were trying to drag his band through the mud. In between the rock and roll classics, though, he did get in touch with his sensitive side on ‘Don’t Go Away’.
Reading the words as a tribute to his mother, Liam put every bit of himself into the final version of the song, practically crying out for her not to leave him at the most vulnerable time in his life. When cutting the track, the mood in the room was so intense that the frontman ended up breaking down in tears in between cutting takes of the song. Regardless of the amount of overdubs put into Be Here Now, the emotion behind Liam’s vocals can cut through any kind of sonic haze, as fans got to see the vulnerability behind those John Lennon sunglasses.
7. ‘Roll It Over’ – Standing on the Shoulder of Giants
Considering how far Oasis had come in just a few years, Standing on the Shoulder of Giants feels like the ultimate hangover. Since the last few years had been about making the best rock and roll known to man, the band’s fourth outing cost them most of the band, leaving the two brothers and drummer Alan White to put the pieces back together. While Noel may have written morbid material around this time, Liam wasn’t ready to count himself out just yet on ‘Roll It Over’.
Compared to the dour tracks across Standing on the Shoulder of Giants, the sweeping finale is far more tender, as Liam spits out lines about trying to make amends with a close friend that he has lost touch with over the years. Given how fans and critics turned on Oasis then, the lyrics could easily describe the band’s position in the world, not wanting to be left in the dust by their fans after the Britpop bubble burst. Most rock bands have a limited shelf life, but every rock fan knew Liam would never go quietly.
6. ‘Some Might Say’ – What’s the Story Morning Glory
Oasis had their work cut out for them after finishing Definitely Maybe. Although the group lived up to every expectation they had set for themselves, the sophomore album is where every band proves their fame isn’t a fluke, with the group venturing to Rockfield Studios to record their next masterpiece. Although fans waited with bated breath for the follow-up, ‘Some Might Say’ reminded everyone what Oasis was capable of at their best.
While Noel knew that the song would become a massive hit the minute that he wrote it, it took Liam’s vocals to send it to another place. Across five minutes, he is singing like he has nothing to lose, knowing that sunshine will follow any kind of thunder that he might encounter up ahead. Even though Liam might be known as the primary singer behind the band, this is one of the few songs that benefit from the close-knit harmonies, sounding like Lennon and McCartney reincarnate singing a rewritten version of ‘We Can Work It Out’.
5. ‘Start Anew’ – BE
By the mid-2010s, it was becoming clear that Beady Eye would not go the distance like Noel’s solo projects. Despite giving it their all in the press and interviews, the songs were never coming together on the record, sounding a few covers away from being a fairly decent Oasis tribute band. Although BE marked the final original album Beady Eye had to offer, the final track on the album was a good indication of where the band could have gone.
Rather than blast out the listener’s eardrums with standard rock and roll, ‘Start Anew’ shows Liam trying on his best singer-songwriter impression, with a backing track that sounds closer to songs by James Taylor or Carole King. Despite being one of the last songs Beady Eye would ever write, the optimistic ending about starting again hinted that the good times might not be over. The band may have fizzled out, but ‘Start Anew’ was practically a prophecy of the good times that lay ahead for Liam once his solo career kicked into high gear.
4. ‘I’m Outta Time’ – Dig Out Your Soul
Looking back, the road to Oasis’s breakup seemed like hell for the rest of the band. With the Gallaghers’ relationship starting to crumble one gig at a time, Noel’s decision to pull the plug on the band before a gig in Paris felt more like a mercy killing than any sudden ending. Although the brothers may not have been getting along for a long time, Liam may have seen the end coming on ‘I’m Outta Time’.
Being one of the first singles off of Dig Out Your Soul, Liam sings about how much his familial tension has brought him down in recent years, saying it’s getting harder to fly every time he steps up to the microphone. Even though the chorus hints at some hope for survival, ‘Our Kid’ sings the song like he knows the wounds from decades past will never truly heal.
3. ‘Live Forever’ – Definitely Maybe
At the beginning of Oasis, Noel was responsible for every phenomenal song that made it onto the track listing. Regardless of the other band members, the lyrics that Liam sang were always his interpretation of what his brother had already said first. While ‘The Chief’ may have written the lyrics, the attitude behind ‘Live Forever’ was made for Liam Gallagher before he had heard it.
With lyrics about taking on the world, these were lyrics the Oasis frontman was born to sing, even adopting falsetto for one of the only times on record as he talks about going forward with his best friend. Although he may have had stronger vocal performances across the Oasis discography, no other lyric sums up what Liam Gallagher is all about than this song, putting him on the same level as his heroes like John Lennon for the first time.
2. ‘Slide Away’ – Definitely Maybe
While Noel liked to talk about Oasis as one of the biggest bands in the world, they had little to show for it in the early days. After getting signed to Creation Records, the songs on Definitely Maybe had to be recorded three times before they got the desired results, with Owen Morris employing the now-famous brick-walled sound. Even though the rest of the band had to record time and time again, the magic in ‘Slide Away’ is something that could only be generated once.
Recorded at the aborted Monnow Valley sessions, Liam is at his vocal peak, singing a love song as only he knows how. Interpreting his brother’s words about a man who has found his other half, Liam sounds lovestruck throughout the song, knowing that he has someone that he can fight alongside throughout life. While he may like to put himself on the top tier of rock vocalists, this is the closest he has come to becoming truly “biblical”.
1. ‘I Hope I Think I Know’ – Be Here Now
The entire recording of Be Here Now has been a point of contention for every single Oasis fan since its release. Although the album was heralded with praise upon release, the massive overproduction has led some fans to turn their backs on one of their favourite bands for disappearing up their own ass. Even though they may have overindulged themselves in the studio, Liam was ready to soar higher than ever on ‘I Hope I Think I Know’.
While never released as a proper single, Liam croons his way through this power-pop rager with a searing register that no one else could top. Although there were still pieces of John Lydon in his delivery, the chorus strikes the perfect balance between the clean and dirty side of his range, reminding everyone why he matters to Oasis’s rise as much as his brother. Oasis would not see the same heights as they did in the 1990s, but vocal takes like this ensured that no one would forget Liam’s name for generations to come.
