Music

You Need to Hear this Song #7

Heavy Rotation — I’ve All I Need, Liam Gallagher (As You Were, 2017)

Heavy Rotation was a music industry term for songs that one way or another got a lot of airplay. It referred to the large amount of rotation that a particular record got on turntables at radio stations. Since, until the 1980s, this was the only way to get new music into the ears and brains of listeners, heavy rotation meant increased sales. These were good for the record company and artist alike.

Today, some of us still put records on at home and give them a spin. Most of us don’t. However, the term still applies, though in a different way. Streaming services like Spotify sell subscriptions to listeners and then pay artists based on listens. At least, that’s the way we think it works.

For me, heavy rotation means a song that is in my head for some reason. Maybe for a moment, maybe for a day, maybe for longer. It’s a song that you come back to from time to time and still feels just as good.

This series of articles is dedicated to these songs.

Here, I aim to highlight a particular song by a particular band or singer. We should know a bit about the band, a bit about where the song fits into its history and where the song fits into what was happening in music at that time. Then there’s the song itself. Who’s playing on it, what are the lyrics getting at and why is it so good? How does it still occupy sonic space in our lives?

I’ll (try to) keep it short. It shouldn’t take you any longer to read than the song itself. To that end, I’ll put a YouTube clip of the original recording at the top of the article so you can listen as you read. Or not. And because a song is often much different live than in the recording studio, I’ll stick a live clip on at the end.

What song is in your head right now? Here’s one that won’t leave mine today:

#7 — I’ve All I Need, Liam Gallagher (As You Were, 2017)

The first time I ever saw Oasis was in April 1996 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver, Canada. For some reason the crowd was in an inhospitable mood that night and convinced itself that it would be fun to pelt the lads with all manner of projectiles. A stern warning from Noel three songs in was not heeded and halfway through the 4th song, a bottle of water landed on the stage and that was it. Oasis walked off not to return.

It was pure rock and roll. I was hooked.

That tour was for their second album, “What’s the Story, Morning Glory”. It was huge and so was the press hype surrounding the antics and behaviours of the Brothers Gallagher and also their growing public hatred for one another.

I seized the opportunity to give them another go in Prague a year and a half later, in November 1997. The next album, “Be Here Now” was solid, but the cracks in the band’s until then impenetrable armour were starting to show. Still, they managed to finish the whole show and we all poured out into the Czech winter night happy and full of draft Staropramen.

Over the course of the next decade, they made 4 more fair to middling albums, each one more fair and more middling than its predecessor.

By now Noel and Liam were millionaires. They had completely changed the rest of the band lineup and their mid 90s glory days were a memory. They still hated each other though and by 2008, that was the end of Oasis.

But they did have talent, most people agreed. And if not talent, then supreme self confidence. Noel formed High Flying Birds as his solo project, while Liam fronted Beady Eye. It was more of the same. Both sounded like Oasis, but both were shadows of their former selves.

Liam has made 2 albums on his own since, “As You Were” (2017) and “Why Me, Why Not?” (2019). There is a 3rd release on the horizon this May.

He’s still the same. Same walk, same talk, same voice, same distinctive stage presence — hands behind his back, attacking the microphone like he hates it. It still comes from the middle of his throat. But he’s hovering around 50 now, so while he still belts it out, his music seems a bit more reflective and this is a welcome change from the sometimes / often inane vocals that Noel used to hand him to sing.

“I’ve All I Need” from “As You Were” is a great example of this. We get a delicate intro of soft drums, repeated bass note and melody on lead guitar and Liam’s voice comes in somewhat plaintively at 00:24. Telling us right off the hop that he can’t really ask for more than what life’s given him.

The first verse seems to be about his relationship partner, telling her, “If all I have is you / then darling please be true”. Things are good in the Liam Gallagher world.

Off we go into the first Oasis-like wall of sound at 00:59 and now he’s speaking to different people. My guess it’s his audience, when he tells us, “There’s no time for looking back, thanks for all your support”. It’s his way of giving thanks for everyone who got him this far, but not to hold their breath for an Oasis reunion any time soon.

There are the usual clichées included, “Tomorrow never knows / The winds of change must blow”. Yeah, we know Liam, nothing new here. Did Noel write this bit?

“Slow down / All things must pass / Take your time / know the score”. A bit of sage advice for us, from a man who’s surely seen it all. Is it possible that Liam cares about us? Is it possible that he’s just a good bloke and the ‘Ard Man he played in Oasis was all an act?

“It’s not goodbye / So dry your eyes”. He’s not done yet. The joy he shows in the video, both in the live performance shots and the interaction with his fans around the world mean, I think, that as he reaches the middle of middle age, he’s not ready to sit back yet. But he is ready to look around and remind us what it’s all about for him now.

I don’t know about the rest of the album, really. I missed that one. But this tune makes me want to give our Liam a go again.

Earlier, in this series:

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