Oasis' principal songwriter, Noel Gallagher scored with 'The Importance Of Being Idle' a second consecutive UK number one in 2005 from the band's sixth studio album ‘Don't Believe The Truth'. With brother Liam completely exempt from the song, Noel claimed vocal duties and wasn't 'looking back in anger' after securing his first sung chart-topper since the glory days. Titled after a book of the same name that surfaced from a garage clean, the Kinks-esque stomp lyrically sees Noel shamelessly enlightening us on his unabashed laziness. A fitting name, coupled with a suitably slothful staccato rhythm suggests that Gallagher's mentality has come full circle after Oasis' mid-90s supremacy plunging into the abyss had him asking "Where Did It All Go Wrong?" Fast-forward five years, however, and all is once again well in the Gallaghers' realms, to such an extent that Noel has delivered a gleeful homage to his soulful sixties predecessors in the shape of this track. You'd almost be tempted to grab a chimneysweeper and adopt your best Dick Van Dyke impression over the subsiding falsetto-tinged croon that serves as the verse. An aura of barefaced Britishness bleeds through every pore, as Noel reverts "I don't mind, as long as there's a bed beneath the stars that shine" uplifted by fluttering keyboard strokes and a brisk guitar solo. This is an infectious slice of midlife Oasis on top of their game: derivative yet as vividly genius as what they've become famous for. Recalling everything from 'Sunny Afternoon' to The La's, the blissful honesty and simplicity also brings about Noel's most unforced tunefulness since he was at the peak of his Mancunian powers. ~Daniel Robinson. (c) Shazam Entertainment Limited 2009. All rights reserved.

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