Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds - 'Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds' (Sour Mash) Released: 17/10/11

There was a band, one of the greatest British rock bands ever in fact, the two brothers hated one another, one sibling wrote – and arguably, carried – the other, they got big, a fight in Paris – and a plum – ended it all, and now they're seeing what they're capable of on their own. So now these post-Oasis days are upon us, where are the brothers at, musically speaking?

Well Liam didn't waste anytime in forming Beady Eye with the rest of the band, more or less the same night Noel handed in his resignation, and his debut was a collection of admirable, if predictable, Beatlesy chuggers.

But what of Noel Gallagher? The carrier. This was his opportunity to reinvent himself, do whatever the hell he wanted in fact, no arguing sibling in sight. Well, the answer is his eponymous debut is almost entirely what we'd expected it to be. An expensive, Abbey Road-esque sounding set of Rolls Royce ballads. All polished, crafted stuff, but nothing new – nothing too far away from where Oasis ended. Except this time he’s joined by Jeremy Stacey on drums, Mikey Rowe on keyboards and Mark Neary on double bass.

Opener 'Everybody's on the Run' has elements of Elbow with its beautiful orchestra and is a healthy departure from the laddish Mancunian rock we’re used to, but it’s not long before the old swagger is back. ‘Dream On’ has a passing resemblance to Oasis’ ‘The Importance of Being Idle,’ which isn’t a bad thing, of course, just not the drastic difference we were led to believe was coming. ‘(I Wanna Live in a Dream in My) Record Machine’ is an obvious future single with its addictive Kinks-style chorus, but you can almost hear Liam growling the words with more drama.

‘AKA… What a Life’ is about as experimental as it gets and it’s good, great even, with its pop chorus and catchy lyrics: ‘Someday you might find your hero, some say you might lose your mind.’  If only the debut had more experimental sides to it like this – but then look at Beady Eye’s commercial flop. Maybe Noel’s just a businessman at heart.

In truth, this could have been the next, more subtle – romantic even – Oasis record. Indeed, some of the songs are years old (YouTube footage of Noel playing them during Oasis sound checks can be unearthed online). Had that plum-chucking night in Paris in the summer of 2009 never happened, this may well have been the eighth Oasis offering.