As one of Liam Gallagher’s former bandmates, it’s fair to say that Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs, rhythm guitarist and co-founder of Oasis, is perhaps a bit partial when it comes to offering opinions about the music made by the Gallagher brothers. But even taking it with a grain of salt, it’s good news to hear that Bonehead has heard the new collaboration between Liam and John Squire of the Stone Roses and has declared it to be “very good.”
The review, such as it was, came about during Bonehead’s Christmas Day show with Toby Tarrant on Radio X, although Bonehead actively went out of his way throughout the proceedings to avoid offering any sort of specific details about what to expect from the album.
Bonehead goes out of his way to avoid saying much of anything about the new Gallagher / Squires album, except that it's "very good."
When Tarrant brought up the album, quoting a tweet from Gallagher where he said it was going to be "the best album since Revolver," he then asked Bonehead if he was involved in any way or, if he wasn't, if he'd at least heard it.
To this, Bonehead replied, “I’m not involved in anyway whatsoever, no. But I’ve heard it."
"How's it sounding?" asked Tarrant.
"I’m not going to tell you anything," replied Bonehead. "I’m going to keep you all in suspense. I’m not gonna say it’s this, that or whatever, but I’ve heard it from start to finish and I’ll keep you all going ‘Go on, tell us, tell us, tell us.' But it's not for me to say. I shall leave it for the man himself."
"Fair enough, fair enough," sighed Tarrant. "Well, we gave it a go."
Unable to resist, Bonehead finally let slip, "It's very good." But he would say no more.
“I’m not going to tell you anything, I’m going to keep you all in suspense," Bonehead said of the Gallagher/Squire collaboration before finally conceding, "It's very good."
As noted previously on Q, the announcement about the forthcoming collaboration between the former members of Oasis and the Stone Roses came via social media and a press release on December 21. Squire and Gallagher both uploaded identical videos to their Instagram pages, showing vintage clips of each of them, followed by a short burst of the new single, "Just Another Rainbow," scheduled for release on January 5.
“I got a call from John saying that he was writing songs again and would I like to get involved,” says Liam on the video. “I said as long as there’s lots of guitars on it, I’m in. I was planning on taking a year out after Knebworth, but when rock ‘n’ roll calls, you gotta pick up the phone.”
In a press release accompanying the song, Gallagher and Squire did talk up one another, with Gallagher saying of Squire: “Everyone always bangs on about him as a guitarist, but he’s a top songwriter too, man, no two ways about it as far as I’m concerned,” said Gallagher. “There’s not enough of his music out there, whether it’s with the Roses or himself. It’s good to see him back writing songs and f***ing good ones.
For his part, Squire added: “I don’t like to explain songs, I think that’s the privilege of the listener, it’s whatever you want it to be. To me, the most obvious take on ‘Just Another Rainbow’ is that it’s about disappointment, and the sentiment is that you never get what you really want… [but] it’s also one of the most uplifting tracks we’ve made together.”
