Hey everyone! Tonight, the Dial invites you to check out a tune which hails from jolly old Manchester England. A tune that barely got noticed upon its release almost two years ago in either Europe, or the States, though it damn well deserved to garner a lot of notice and tons of airplay. Tonight let’s join Noel Gallagher and his High Flying Birds as he explains what can happen “If Love is the Law”.
Noel is notoriously remembered as being one half of the troubled Gallagher brother team (Liam was the other Gallagher… not the Sledge-O-Matic comedian!) that fronted ‘90s alt-rockers Oasis, who charted big in 1996 stateside with “Wonderwall”, “Don’t Look Back in Anger”, and “Champagne Supernova”. They also had other hits in the UK beyond this brief American chart success period.
Following the fiery collapse of Oasis, Noel formed the creatively titled Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds in 2010, featuring many former Oasis bandmates (Gem Archer on guitar, Mike Rowe on piano, drummer Chris Sharrock), along with bassist Russell Pritchard, formerly of The Zutons. And what of that crazy band name? Turns out it draws inspiration from the band name structure of Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac, and the song “High Flying Birds” by Jefferson Airplane.
Taking inspiration from an obscure early track from Genesis, 1969’s "The Conqueror", Noel has admitted that he was obsessed with the classic tune while writing and recording If Love is the Law. Indeed, the overall instrumentation and cadence of the verses are very similar to the Genesis tune, though Noel has capped it off with a beautiful Phil Spector “wall of sound” style which was not present in the earlier tune.
An upbeat, poetic song about heartbreak and the confrontation of an ex-lover, Noel expertly taps into the pain, isolation and confusion felt due to the betrayal from his former flame. And here’s a crazy fact… the guitar and harmonica here is handled by none other than Johnny Marr of The Smiths!
Also, maybe it’s just me, but I also detect more than a passing similarity in vocal rhythm to Limahl’s 1984 movie theme “The Never Ending Story” whenever Noel begins a verse.
Culled from 2017’s “Who Built the Moon” album, the High Flying Birds have remained significantly more “underground” when compared to Noel’s high profile former group with brother Liam, and they’ve only earned four UK Top 20 singles since 2011. Shockingly, “If Love is the Law” was not one of those four. Of course, none of Noel’s work has made inroads in America, because we are too busy worshipping at the feet of Flo Rida, Ed Sheeran, and Taylor Swift. (to be fair, I like one of those artists, but can’t stand the other two… I’ll leave it to you to figure out which is which.)
So give If Love is the Law a spin below and see if you agree that it deserved a spot on our airwaves here in the U.S. And be sure to keep your ears and receivers tuned to the Dial, as I spotlight more recent overlooked tunes that deserve a second chance – I think the next one I plan to do may really surprise you.
“I didn’t come here to make up your mind… I do believe that you were wasting my time… There’s no more tears left to cry myself blind… If love is the law… then this is a crime.”
