Pitchfork

Ryan Adams, a man whose long list of famous friends and infamous enemies (whether real or imagined) has overshadowed-and, more recently, outshone-his music, can now add Oasis' Noel Gallagher to his growing list of admirers/drinking buddies/bloated celebrities. As New Musical Express reports, the appearance of a stripped-down solo acoustic guitar version of "Wonderwall" in Ryan Adams' recent tour of the U.K. caught the fancy of the elder, uglier Gallagher. Adams' version impressed Noel enough to prompt him to gather Oasis at a London studio to record an updated, Adams-inspired version of the popular sing-along song that ranks just behind Oasis' inclusion in the VH-1 Behind the Music series as the band's finest moment to date (musical or otherwise). A noted concert junkie on both sides of the Atlantic, Noel, in his usual incoherent and blustery mutter, has openly acknowledged his admiration for Adam's version: "Ahnevaguh muh ed roon thassong \x94 - aw, screw it, here's the English translation: \x93I never got my head 'round this song until I went to see Ryan Adams play and he did an amazing cover of it. So now I'm going to cover one of my own songs in the style of Ryan Adams." How Noel could praise Adams' rather plaintive and unoriginal (okay, sucky) version, while overlooking Cat Power/Chan Marshall's haunting version of "Wonderwall" for BBC Radio from 2000, is inexplicable. Actually, it makes a whole lot of sense.

In addition to wanting to secretly be Ryan Adams (a younger, drunker, more arrogant, fitter, happier, more productive version of himself), the decision to sing the new version of "Wonderwall" himself is part of the larger process of an Oasis renaissance taking place solely in Noel Gallagher's own thick skull. According to an "insider's" remarks to NME: "Since he saw Ryan Adams playing his song in a completely different way, it's rejuvenated his interest in it. It's given Noel a way to make it his own again." Yes, nothing reclaims a song for its author like ripping off someone else's arrangement. The as yet unreleased (new) "Wonderwall," is all the more significant given Noel's limited singing/garbling abilities, which was the occasion for Oasis' third finest moment in which the elder Gallagher sang uncomfortably for MTV's Unplugged as petulant Liam did his best to sabotage the performance, from the audience.

For 2003 Oasis will do their best to rejuvenate the mania that once made the Gallagher brothers the poster boys of Engerland's rock and roll fantasies with the release of their latest single, "Songbird," off the universally panned and commercially forgotten Heathen Chemistry album. "Songbird" has the dubious distinction of being the first Oasis single penned by Liam.

Meanwhile, Ryan Adams' 2003 resolutions include looking for new feuds, drinking buddies, and celebrity hookups. On March 25th, Lost Highway will release Adams' blatant attempt to be invited to the Matt Groening-curated All Tomorrow's Parties, Love Is Hell, a full studio album produced by Scott Litt. Litt is best known for his work with R.E.M. and for incurring the wrath of Steve Albini and his legion by re-mixing two "radio friendly, unit shifting" tracks for Nirvana's In Utero. As also reported on NME, following the obligatory press schedule for Love Is Hell, Adams will head to London to begin recording a new album at Abbey Road Studios with the on Doves on board to serve as his backing band. Then he'll pick a fight with, oh say, the Eagles' Timothy B. Schmidt. You had it comix92, Schmidt!

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