The vocal performance that proves Noel Gallagher is a better singer than Liam: “One of the greatest moments of my life”
Many signal the moment Noel Gallagher started taking the lead microphone as the downfall of Oasis.
It was the moment when his younger brother felt somewhat elbowed out of frame, and Noel slowly began to realise that there was a future in his songwriting that didn’t rely on the fractious relationship with his vocalist brother.
But it didn’t always have to be that way. At their very best, the Gallagher brothers brought balance to the Oasis discography and made them a more rounded outfit. While Liam had delicacy, best shown on ‘Married With Children’ from their debut album Definitely Maybe, you could argue that songs like ‘Half The World Away’ and ‘Talk Tonight’ were too pared back, and better suited to the introverted hush of Noel’s voice.
Conversely, Noel simply couldn’t sing some of the band’s most ferocious hits. The gravelly angst of a young Liam Gallagher was truly a force to be reckoned with, somewhere in between John Lydon and John Lennon, spearheading the new wave of punk music forward.
His brother put it best, in fact, when he said Liam’s voice has “got something else,” adding, “If songs were drinks – Liam’s is a shot of tequila, and mine’s half a Guinness… Mine’s half a Guinness on a Tuesday… Liam’s is ten shots of tequila on a fucking Friday night.”
He continued, “I can’t sing ‘Slide Away’, ‘Cigarettes And Alcohol’, ‘Rock N’ Roll Star’ and ‘Columbia’ and all that,” he notes, “I mean, I could do it, but it’s not the same, it’s the delivery and the tone of his voice, and the attitude… I don’t have the same attitude as him… It’s difficult to explain… When I would sing a song, it would sound good, when he would sing it, it would sound great.”
Noel’s analysis is certainly true for some of the aforementioned Oasis songs, because the grit of Liam was simply unmatched, and so his voice sounded great in comparison to Noel’s, but outside the remit of their own band, Noel was putting in performances that showcased his own personal greatness, collaborating with icons of yesteryear to prove that he is more than just a humble songwriter.
One fateful night in the 1990s, while Oasis were on tour in America, Noel ended up drunkenly bumping into one of his idols, Burt Bacharach, and during their conversation, Bacharach persuaded Noel to perform with him at an upcoming show in London, held at the Royal Festival Hall in 1996.
Noel recalled it as “by far, the most stressful day of my entire life,” even going as far as to say, “I still rank it as more stressful than the birth of children and all that or heavy lawyers’ meetings… If I can get through that day, I can get through anything.”
Together, the pair performed ‘The Guy’s In Love With You’, one of Bacharach’s original songs, best known for its performance by Herb Alpert and The Tijuana Brass, and during that performance, Noel showcased his ability to understand melodies outside of rock and roll, harnessing the delicacy of his voice to deliver something much more tender and goddamn heartfelt.
Naturally, like all good music, it shouldn’t be compared to the individual performances of his brother, but at the very least, it should serve as a reminder that Noel was more than just a backup player, he was a brilliant vocalist in his own right.
