Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds – Who Built The Moon?

Additional info about this C D version: Dynamic Range 5

Okay, so here is our third journey though the Flying Birds Record, which deserves this little humble review on a track by track basis. The tracks referenced with dates are Oasis or NHGB’s previous tracks. Some other artists may be mentioned too. So what Noel was up to in only a two year gap?

We start the record with “Fort Knox”, and I immediately am taken to the days of “F**king in the Bushes” (2000) with a strange feeling that a nightmare was ordered from The Amorphous Androgynous team. Fortunately, it’s not. It mixes the previous album psychedelic singings/instrumentation and the nice dancing drumming that comes along very well with a deep bass riff. It’s a mix between “F**king…” and “Shoot a Hole into the Sun” (2015).

The first single comes in. “Holy Mountain”, a very simple song with two or three chords; a catchy tune. But I think I am starting to miss the Stacey brothers from the previous record (Paul and Jeremy). The track is so over-produced that I can’t really understand what Noel and David Holmes tried to make out of this. Horns, brass, vocals so saturated that I can barely understand Noel’s diction. The drum is soaked in a mess of a brick wall of sound. Unfortunately, a good song that was completely ruined by the final mastering and the circus feeling to it. If Noel wanted to do anything different from everything before I think I might let him know I had enough of it. Let’s hope a future remix will save this. No, Noel, this is not the best you’ve done in your career by a 100 light-year travel. Get off that pedestal.

The cleaner and uptempo “Keep on Reaching”, follows and I can’t believe Chris Sharrock’s mediocrity on drums are making me miss the Stacey brothers more and more. Brass again. Actually, I have nothing to do with Noel’s picks on musicians, but to see him back with Sharrock and Archer, former band mates in Oasis and also band mates of his estranged brother is awkward, to say at the least – weren’t these guys the very witnesses of the entire set back before stage back in 2009, followed up with Noel leaving the band, without any of them doing anything but watch? I perhaps am wrong to think this but it looks to me that none of these guys (Andy Bell definitely) had done anything to stand Liam down before his outburst. Why back with them? I totally miss the point, Noel. Totally. Song ends with another thousand of layers of a brick wall that will destroy your ears.

“It’s a Beautiful World” is the first move to impress me really. Noel’s dirty trick of sucking out other’s stuff continues from “Chasing Yesterday” saga. This time I think it’s Peter Hook’s riffs (former New Order bassist) that have been borrowed. Noel shouts the chorus through a “megaphone” filter, there’s too much reverberation. This is where the production is messing things up. I was just saying I was having a hard time getting his diction properly heard: now I can barely hear any “S” from his mouth. An unforgivable sin from production, because it’s already a single with an excellent video and probably one of the best songs in the album.

Down we go with “She Taught Me How to Fly”. This is going to be a single for sure. The same receipt of a basic four chord catchy song turned into something enjoyable. But wait. Am I hearing New Order ™ again? Noel’s being naughty. He better watches out to not get a lawsuit from Peter Hook because the latter is in a bad mood for one decade, concerning copyrights. When I thought “The Dying of The Light” was a total lift from The Verve’s “Weeping Willow” (1997), this will get stamped by me as “almost” a New Order ™ track. The production must now have a new obsession on vocals reverberation and saturation. Let the media speak evil.

Before I think “Be Careful What You Wish For” is something related to the new Erasure “World Be Gone” (2017) album, this is the one which gets closer to a “Chasing Yesterday” (2015) album track, “The Right Stuff”. What I am thinking about this album is that the track durations are actually quite alright.

“Black & White Sunshine” is not only a cool name for a song, but a return to the good old rock and roll and perhaps a resemblance of Oasis days and their unbeatable (and unlistenably loud) b-sides. Very good track, very good riff. Top 3 in this album.

We are introduced to some experimentation which will repeat itself in “End Credits”. “Interlude” serves as a good breaker. Not too long. I get some relief from production from their decision on how loud this album is set to sound (very absurdly loud). Finally a quieter track.

“If Love Is the Law” is another good track which suffers from overproduction. Nothing that could destroy the record, but God. I am missing “Chasing Yesterday” a bit, even with its flaws. The horns and brass, vocals, and every sound explode into a wall of sound you can’t distinguish what thing is what.

“The Man Who Built the Moon”, the track that is incubated with something special, apart from incorporating the album’s title. A tremendous epic song, placed in the right time, placed in the right spot in the record. The overproduction tries again to kill it, but the writing is good enough to guarantee a 10 grade for this track. I am definitely can really tell you that Noel, now, here, did something different, adorable and haunting. I meant it. Damn good haunting. This leaves "The Ballad of the Might I" (2015) smashed on the floor.

“Endi Credits” ends the album leaving you wanting more. It's just another half for "Interlude".

I am convinced I will have to concede Noel some forgiveness for so many mistakes: Sharrock, Archer, Holmes, the overproduction that tries to ruin this album here and there, the absolutely horrible mastering which never has been good in any Oasis or any Noel records. And honestly the mastering has been always a piece of crap and perhaps I am starting to believe Noel suffers from a level of deafness to let these things go out unnoticed. Let’s just hope one of his kids starts talking about how loud this is and perhaps he will listen to them. Because he will "definitely maybe" NOT listen to any audiophile. And we're not asking for that much of dynamics...

The bonus track seen so far is just a bare acoustic song with no relevance to the record at all. (“Dead in the Water”). It’s not even mixed properly, in my opinion. Surely Noel can spawn at least 5 singles out of this album, no problem.

Both Liam and Noel have done alright in 2017. Liam finally matured with “As You Were”. Noel still some several steps ahead but, you Noel, you go and keep making the same mistakes over and over and Liam will catch up eventually.

What I really disliked about this album is that it is how unfortunate for a huge name like Noel’s not being able to get his s**t together and fix the loudness race fetish. I don’t have much hope for the LP being quieter since none of the previous NGHFB’s records on vinyl were – they just were normalized/reduced volume flat transfers to vinyl.

Update: I have struck some of the lines because I had written because I had a confusion on which drummer actually took participation in the recording process, by reading some pre-release interview. It turns out that Jeremy Stacey recorded drums for the most part of this album. However, the feeling of seeing Noel back with Gem Archer and Chris Sharrock as a live band, shocked me. I still stand up for those words that were not struck.