mvm.

R Kid delivers a no-nonsense third album with plenty of anthems ahead of Knebworth reunion.

__________

After Gallagher’s follow-up Why Me? Why not in 2019, the result was was often a quiet and relaxing period without the Gallagher brothers causing a stir in the local. Then, when Gallagher appeared on something of a London barge recording a live set rendition, Down By The River Thames in late 2020, we knew that it was that time again.

_____________

Shortly after, R Kid released his most outlandish and stoic single to date. With the assistance of Foos frontman Dave Grohl to write this one – aswell as play on it – Everything’s Electric reached the Top 20 in the UK, resulting in his highest-charting single to date. Mighty rambunctious and F*cking in the Bushes anthemic-esque through-and-through for our former Oasis fiend, Everything’s Electric was a precedent for not only his third album, C’MON YOU KNOW but a cathartic reunion for the traditional artist. For many many Oasis fans, it was set to be a reunion like no other: Knebworth.

While the announcement featured little presence regarding his older brother, the excitement around it all swelled like a balloon, ready to burst at a moments’ notice..

..The balloon finally popped when C’MON YOU KNOW came, his third album in 5 years. Hosting a barrage of R Kid staples with little to prove from his working rock ‘n’ roll formula – from raucous build-up C’mon You Know to trippy rocker Better Days that channels inner-Beatles – it does exactly what it says on the tin. Nothing to it, nothing about it; this is Liam’s comeback to the world of rock ‘n’ roll. A wonderful pretext to Knebworth next weekend, it instills nothing presumptuous or moderately overthinks unlike his brother. No tequila drinking on the moon here, it harnesses the refined bravado and skillset of a traditional rockstar from the 90s who never felt the need to change. And with good reason, too.

While the familiars indulge us with straight-edged Liam who is never too far away from his maracas and green-fledged parka, the familiars also squeeze in-between the latter half of the album where we see Liam at his most experimental yet. Despite the darkened pan-flute exterior of Moscow Rules to the skewering of old-Stooges punk, I’m Free, the album doesn’t drift too far from the next Beatles-influence, reminding us that we taking a short interlude for now before we’re hit with the stalwart sneer of Liam’s brazen lyrical storytelling and thumping instrumentals yet again.

Despite it following a far too similar pattern compared to the two predecessors for my liking, the traditional rock ‘n’ roll escapades make me excited for Liam to returning to Oasis’s old stomping ground – and I’m not even going.