Reviews:

Looking back at the cultural wasteland of the ’90s, Oasis vs. Blur was one of the few highlights. The showdown was needlessly boiled down to pretense vs. proletariat, not taking into account that plenty of people liked both academic introversion and dumbass rock anthems. Even today, Oasis still inspire class warfare. Despite not actually talking s*it on the Brothers Gallagher, the highbrow likes of Radiohead have taken Blur’s place in the battle—at least in the mind of guitarist Tad Kubler of people’s champion the Hold Steady, who recently groused that the ’Head "lost" him on In Rainbows, while extolling Oasis’ virtues. That the Fab Five are still generating so much chatter after their middling late ’90s/early ’00s output is amazing, but new single "The Shock of the Lightning" is a pounding, buzzing Definitely Maybe throwback. Half the fun of Liam and Noel is when they lose the plot, but it would be nice if "Shock" were the norm rather than the exception this time.