As far as the UK and Ireland are concerned, Oasis Summer is almost at an end. This weekend, the Britpop icons will play the final dates of this run at Dublin’s Croke Park and, with only two more Wembley Stadium shows remaining at the end of September, that could well be that. It remains to be seen if Liam and Noel Gallagher can resist the pull of commemorating the 30th anniversary of their era-defining Knebworth shows next summer – I, for one, think it’s too good an opportunity to pass up, especially when they sound so thrillingly vital right now. But what is sure if that when they come off stage at São Paulo’s Estadio MorumBIS, Oasis fans round the world will be feeling a little bereft that Live ’25 is over. But as the saying sort of goes, don’t cry because it’s over, smile because this writer is about to give you a nice juicy list of Liam and Noel-affiliated music to dive into for when you have exhausted your Oasis listening. Both have been happy to lend their talents to other artist’s songs over the years. Here’s 10 of their finest guest spots…
The Verve – History (1995)
The Verve frontman Richard Ashcroft has been tight with the Gallagher brothers from the off, their fledgling friendship in the mid-90s prompting Noel to write the Oasis classic Cast No Shadow about him. Ashcroft (sort of) returned the favour by having Liam Gallagher add handclaps to this stirring, softly epic ballad. You may think this song would still be magical without Liam’s handclaps, but you’d be underestimating Liam’s handclap ability. He’s got very soulful palms, listen closely and you can hear it, or at least pretend to.
Paul Weller – I Walk On Gilded Splinters (1995)
The ex-Jam frontman was enjoying a career resurgence at the same time Oasis arrived. Stanley Road sealed the deal for Weller as a solo artist, making him huge in his own right and the Modfather was more than happy to take Noel under his wing, and by under his wing, we mean to the pub. Maybe that’s where the idea for Noel to play acoustic on this groovy cover of Dr. John’s I Walk On Gilded Splinters came up.
The Chemical Brothers – Setting Sun (1995)
Dance dons The Chemical Brothers, aka Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons, had already established their indie credentials with a DJ residency at London’s Heavenly club and by roping in The Charlatan’s Tim Burgess for a vocal on their kaleidoscopic 1995 debut Exit Planet Dust. But they ramped everything up a notch on the psychedelic big beat of Setting Sun, Noel Gallagher providing its Beatles-at-a-rave vocal. Oasis were at the height of their fame as it was released, and the soon-to-be world-conquering Chems weren’t far behind.
Echo And The Bunnymen – Nothing Lasts Forever (1997)
Some collaborations are down to fine planning and artistic meeting of minds, and some happen because the person happens to be in the room next door. It was the latter case when Liam provided a few la la la’s, yeah yeah yeah’s and handclaps for Ian McCulloch & co.’s soaring 1997 comeback tune, a meeting of generational rascals. “Oasis were in the studio next door doing Be Here Now,” the Bunnymen singer told Uncut. “Liam came in and listened to “Nothing Lasts Forever”, and he had ideas for tambourine and a backing vocal, and we thought, yeah, we’re having that. He was spot on, it really made that song great. With the lineage of frontmen through the years, having him on it made sense for me.
Death In Vegas – Scorpio Rising (2002)
Liam took centre-stage on the title track to London electronic duo Death In Vegas’s third album. His voice is on top form, too, restrained and raspy on a song that sounds like a baggy anthem on an acid trip.
The Prodigy – Shoot Down (2004)
The Prodge’s 2004 album Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned came at a mixed time for the Essex rave-punk titans. They had struggled to work out how to follow-up the gargantuan Fat Of The Land and eventually Liam Howlett decided to hunker down and go it alone rather than try and replicate what had gone before. Whilst it made for a hit and miss record, there are some absolute crackers on Always Outnumbered. This Liam-led knuckleduster of a song is one of them – even if it is hard not to think at what a great collision it would’ve been if he’d duetted with the late, great Keith Flint.
Ian Brown – Keep What Ya Got (2004)
A song that sounds like a moodier cousin of Oasis’s D’ You Know What I Mean? and is actually quite a bit better than a lot of what Oasis were doing at the time, Keep What Ya Got was released as the first single from former Stone Roses frontman Brown’s fourth solo album Solarized. Co-written by Noel Gallagher, it also features the Oasis man on guitar.
David Brent – Freelove Freeway
I feel sorry for the songs coming after this one, they might as well not bother. After debuting a stripped-down version of this song during a training session at Wernham Hogg, Slough-based singer-songwriter Brent went all-out with the studio version. Noel joined him in the studio to add some melody-rich backing vocals.
Coldplay – Up & Up (2016)
Coldplay went berserka with guests on the euphoric closer to their 2016 album A Head Full Of Dreams, the thinking behind Up & Up tying in with the album title: what would be our dream line-up of players on this song? Accordingly, Chris Martin & co. roped in Beyoncé, Brian Eno, Merry Clayton to perform backing vocals and got Noel Gallagher to do a guitar solo.
Gorillaz – We Got The Power (2017)
Long before the image of Liam and Noel walking onstage hand-in-hand was the reunion that made everyone feel warm and fuzzy, there was Damon Albarn and Noel to warm the Britpop cockles. The Blur frontman and Oasis leader put an end to their tit-for-tat-for-tabloid feud and became fast friends in the years following Oasis’s split, culminating in a few live guest spots together and then this, the surging closer on Gorillaz’s 2017 album Humanz. Noel joined the band on the road to support the record, and on The Graham Norton Show too…
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