Album: Beady Eye, Beady Eye (Beady Eye)

"The battle's on, and so is the prize," sings Liam Gallagher with typical bullish assertiveness on "Four Letter Word" – now, who do you suppose he's talking to? And with its snarly wah-wah guitars there's a triumphalist stridency about this opening track which bears out his confidence.

Beady Eye may be just Oasis minus Noel, but this debut is rather better than the past few Oasis albums, if sadly no more innovative. The plonking piano and vocal reverb of "The Roller" mark it as merely the latest instalment of Liam's Lennon obsession, while the self-aggrand-ising nod in "Beatles and Stones" should also include The Kinks, judging by the riff. Else-where, the jangly 12-string and wheedling vocal of "Millionaire" find the band in Teenage Fanclub territory, while "Bring The Light" adds pounding Little Richard-style piano to their arsenal of classic-rock strategies.

DOWNLOAD THIS Four Letter Word; Bring the Light; Millionaire