But, after that first listen, I forced myself to listen again… and then I wanted to listen to it again… and then I was hooked.

The song hearkens back to the earlier days of Smashing Pumpkins, the Gish-era Smashing Pumpkins.  Shredding solos throughout the song, incomprehensible Billy Corgan lyrics, and loud, pounding drums.  This isn’t Mellie Collie and the Infinite Sadness or Adore Smashing Pumpkins.  This is Billy Corgan being loud and not trying to be a pop star.  (See Zwan and Billy Corgan solo project.)

Ironically, the harder Billy tried to be popular, the less popular he became.  There’s a life lesson, here.

But, back to Tarantula — when I first heard it, I thought to myself that it had a definite AC/DC pace to it.  James Iha’s trademark Digitech Whammy is missing, but Billy’s distorted guitars and Jimmy Chamberlain’s pounding beat are present.  The lack of James gives it a different feel than many Pumpkins songs, but in the end, Corgan is always was the main driving force — and I bet the crowds will pack the arenas to see them, with or without Iha.

As well they should, if the album sounds like Tarantula.  The song is strong throughout, once you get over the initial hit of the pounding sound and pulse (assuming, of course, you got used to later-era, softer Pumpkins).   The breakdown at 2:55 is an honest nod to Siamese Dream — the softly strummed, non-disorted electric guitar is an exact replica of the unmistakable Mayonaise sound.

I’m excited to hear the rest of this album, and I look forward to getting to a show on the reunion tour.  But I’ll be bringing my earplugs — it’s going to be loud.

I agree with that assessment in the case of Oasis. You can hear the increased influence of Gem Archer, and you can hear Oasis just begging to be relevant with this album. And a lot of the songs really aren’t bad.

It’s just that none of strike me as particularly good, either.

Oasis seems to have lost the abillity to put together a good, strong, catchy, fun rock tune. That’s where their strength lied on “Definitely Maybe” and “What’s the Story Morning Glory?” Even “Be Here Now” had some catchy songs, but “Don’t Believe the Truth” is just missing that edge.

The album opens with some intrigue — “Turn Up the Sun” intros with a dual-guitar chime that’s very un-Oasis-like. But right after the 30-second mark, Oasis gives up on the whole thought and brings back the droning, boring pounding guitar riff that have marked the last albums. Liam and Noel don’t spice it up much with their dual vocals (as usual, Liam in the foreground in a lower, raspy register with Noel picking up the high end) that drone on boringly, like the guitars. The guitar outro-solo harkens back to the introduction that Oasis seemingly forgot about for 2 and a half minutes, but it seems just tacked onto the end. As if someone in the studio said “Hey, remember that song we started out with? Let’s go back to that for a few seconds and call it a day.”

The next two tracks, “Mucky Fingers” and “Lyla” (the first single off the album) are more of the same — boring songs that wear out their welcome well before the 3:56 and 5:12 ending marks. My fast forward button is getting quite a workout.

“Love Like a Bomb” changes things up with a 3/4 meter and an acoustic guitar — and has the advantage of being a short 2:54. For the first time on the album, a song ended about when I felt it should have. Is it my imagination or has Liam Gallagher’s voice somehow gotten MORE nasal over time? Perhaps he has some residual cocaine lodged in his nose?

“The Importance of Being Idle,” while being a clunky sounding title, is the best song on the album. It’s also, probably not coincidentally, a Noel Gallagher lead vocal. A marching-type beat with interesting storytelling vocals that lasts a completely appropriate 3:41. The song sounds nothing like other Oasis works, and is a refreshing bit of creativity.

I keep noting the lengths of the songs — probably because of Oasis’ tendency to let their songs become that houseguest that refuses to leave, then leaves the guest room a mess. This may be more of a reflection on me than on this album, but I got distracted by an Apple iTunes ad about Weird Al Yankovic.

“The Meaning of Soul” is the “fun rock” song on the album, an interesting mix of a pounding drum track but an acoustic guitar lead track. Again, the guys don’t let the song overstay its welcome. Interestingly, tracks 5 through 8 all feature the acoustic guitar as the lead instrument — even though they all qualify as “rock” songs, with the possible exception of “The Importance of Being Idle.”

I’m debating myself whether the pun in the title of “Guess God Thinks I’m Abel” (Abel and able) is clever or not, and I lean toward it being an acceptable play. The song’s ending is notable — an acoustic-rock song turning to loud electric for the final 20 seconds — which is different, if ineffective as a changeup in this instance. Good try, though.

Noel takes the lead microphone back in “Part of the Queue,” another acoustic-rock song in 3/4. The electric guitar solo that morphs into a piano solo is a great touch in the middle. This song is my second favorite on the album, next to the other Noel track. I think Noel has done a great job of developing his voice, and I’m willing to take the controversial stance that I’m tired of Liam’s nasal rasp. Next time, put Noel on lead full time.

“Keep the Dream Alive” is the strongest Liam track on the album, an anthemic ode to doing your thing. The song is enjoyable, even though the gang does back to their old habit of a song overstaying its welcome — 5:46 long with nothing interesting happening after the 4:30 point. Don’t get me wrong — my diatribe isn’t against the longer song, but the longer song with no point to being long. If you have 6 minutes of interesting material, make a 6 minute song. But don’t stretch a 4 minute song into a 6 minute song. It drives me nuts and makes me so bored.

“A Bell Will Ring” features some strong rock guitar (Noel and Gem Archer work well together in this track) and finishes up a strong middle section of the album.

The album ends weakly, though, with “Let There Be Love” trying to sway but instead staggering. In “Acquiesce” style, Liam handles the verses while Noel handles the choruses. I prefer the Noel parts. I’ve decided for sure that I’m ready for Noel to set out on his own. The song pretends to end at a nice, appropriate spot after the 3:00 point, but instead chooses to restart and bore me for another minute and a half. Then the song pretends to end there, but decides to annoy me a little more by restarting again. After a really strong album middle section, “Let There Be Love” doesn’t add to the momentum.

“I Can See It Now” returns to early-album form, with droning guitars and a boring rock beat. It builds, adding layer after layer until the 3:00 point when Noel comes in with echo-y vocals buried in the mix. Would have been a decent album opener, in a shortened version, but doesn’t do an effective job as an album closer. It doesn’t make think, “Wow, what a great close to an amazing album!”

“Don’t Believe the Truth” is a decent album with some decent songs, but doesn’t have that toe-tapping rock song that made the world aware of Oasis. None of the songs are truly memorable or are songs that make you want to rush out and buy the album. It’s a better album than the last two Oasis has put out, for sure, and maybe their next album will be another step in the right direction.

Right now I think Oasis is still surviving off the enormous momentum of their first two albums (and their underrated B-sides collection) while still trying to redefine themselves as a band. All the members of the original band have been replaced, except for Noel and Liam, of course — and they do seem to be coming together as a unit. If this album is a transitional album before their return to prominence, I wouldn’t be at all surprised. On the other hand, I wouldn’t be surprised if Oasis is never able to quite regain their early success, either. Forced to predict, I do think Oasis will have another strong push in the future.

This album isn’t quite that strong push. It lacks that knockout-punch, trademark song that I do feel they’re capable of writing. Good songs, OK album, but nothing that will change rock’s landscape.

Buy it: [iTunes] [Amazon]

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Yahoo enters the market well-equipped to become the leader in subscription-based music. They have a well established, respected brand — if you’re worried that Napster and Rhapsody may be here today gone tomorrow, resulting in you losing all your music, that certainly isn’t a concern with Yahoo. Yahoo’s service is also cheaper — $7/month ($5 is paid yearly) vs. $15/month. And Yahoo already has a giant user base (I use them for Fantasy Sports and for their stock market services; pretty much everyone I know uses Yahoo for something); if they convince just a small fraction of those users to give their service a shot, they’ll have a lot of users. They’re already throwing out incentives — right now, the first 7 days are free to give the service a shot. And if you’ve used Launchcast, Yahoo has your music tastes already handy and can recommend more music for you.

I expect Yahoo to become the market leader in the subscription arena. But can the subscription arena, in the long run, overtake iTunes and Apple? Or at the very least, cause Apple to rethink its business model?

Subscription-based services certainly have their advantages. You can listen to an unlimited amount of music — and not 30-second snippets like on iTunes, but the entire song. Like the song a lot? You can buy a copy that’s burnable to CD for $0.79 on Yahoo (or $0.99 on Rhapsody and iTunes).

The biggest problem facing Yahoo is that Apple dominates the market on mp3 players — both Flash and hard drive based. And guess what? Their service isn’t compatible with iPods. Can Yahoo make a profitable service while not being able to reach a majority of the portable player market?

Of course, Apple would have it no other way. They’re probably chuckling at Apple headquarters, giggling at Yahoo as they try to do battle on Apple’s turf armed with a pointy stick. But rumors are floating that eventually, portable players will become a commodity and the music service is where the money will have to be made. There are already dozens of portable music players that aren’t Apple — and while none are nearly as popular as the iPod, together, they can eventually start to make a pretty big dent by forcing lower price points and adding feature competition. Many music players are already seen as “superior” to the iPod — hard drive players such as Creative’s Zen Micro that come shipped with FM tuners and voice recorders and Flash-based players that are crazy enough to include a screen.

I think Apple’s market share has hit its apex. Moving forward, the increased competition will slowly eat at Apple’s market share. And if you have a Creative Labs mp3 player, you’re not tied into iTunes like iPod owners are. More and more users will be allowed to make a choice, and as more users make a choice, more will choose subscription based services.

I’d like to see Apple adopt a subscription service will continuing to allow music purchasing. I’d like to be able to listen to a lot of music, and just keep my favorites to burn to CD or to use if I cancel my subscription. The fact that subscription music can’t be used if you cancel your subscription gives me the hebee-jeebies — there are things I just want to be able to keep.

Which is why, in the end, I still buy CDs. I understand the nature behind digital rights management and their required usage by the record companies — but I want to be able to do whatever I want with music I’ve bought. Is it totally legal to take a CD and have a copy of it on my computer and on my iPod? Probably not, but I believe it should be (incidentally, there are reasons I’m not a lawyer… we just stumbled on one. I have no idea exactly what the laws are). CDs allow me to have more flexibility with where I listen to my music.

In the end, a lot of users might think similarly. Whichever service is the most flexible stands a good chance of being the most popular. Unfortunately, flexibility is what the record labels hate. So the music providers become caught in the middle of an intense tug-o-war.

I still believe iTunes is positioned the best for long-term success — but it can’t remain stagnant. It has to keep improving and being cutting edge. If not, Apple risks losing its market dominance both in music delivery and in portable players. And Yahoo and dozens of device makers are waiting for it to happen.

That having been said, I’m not a huge Coldplay fan. I dig some of their songs, (“In My Place,” “Clocks,” and “Yellow” are great tunes) but as an overall body of work, my Coldplay attention span tends to wane.

The release of “Speed of Sound,” the first single off their upcoming album X&Y, had me intrigued. Was it going to be more of the usual Coldplay, or was it going to be a re-engineered Coldplay sound?

The answer is a resounding “more of the usual,” but that’s not entirely bad. “Speed of Sound” is catchy, pleasant to listen to, and harmless. It’ll probably be popular, and Coldplay fans will certainly groove to it. In fact, I rather enjoy it — but it’s far from groundbreaking.

“Speed of Sound” is most remarkable in its similarity to another Coldplay hit single, “Clocks,” off of A Rush of Blood to the Head. The main descending-note piano riff is more than reminiscent of the main descending-note piano riff of “Clocks.” I’d go as far as to call it a rip-off, but I don’t think you can rip-off your own work — just repeat it.

My initial reaction to the lyrics is that there’s some pseduo-intellectual whining going on. “How long do I have to climb / up on the side of this mountain of mine,” Chris Martin asks at the end of the first verse. He seems awfully bummed out for a guy that’s rich, famous, and goes home to Gwenyth Paltrow every night.

Surprisingly, though, I feel that the lyrics really pick up after a non-descript first verse. The second verse begins with “Look up, I look up at night / Planets are moving at the speed of light / Climb up, up in the trees / Every chance you get / Is a chance you seize.” — a well-put statement of time flying by and needing to seize every opportunity.

I particularly enjoy the choruses — especially the overlayed chiming guitar riff from Jonny Buckland that increases with volume each chorus until it almost drowns out Martin by end. The riff reminds of U2’s the Edge, with “Beautiful Day” coming to mind first. Martin’s lyrics in the chorus are interesting, if not easily decipherable:

“All that noise, and all that sound,
All those places I got found.
And birds go flying at the speed of sound,
to show you how it all began.
Birds came flying from the underground,
If you could see it then you’d understand,
Ah when you see it then you’ll understand…”

The message isn’t clear, but the imagery is interesting. A definite improvement, in my view, from the first verse’s more understable but less inspiring moaning.

All in all, “Speed of Sound” is nothing particularly earth-moving or ground-breaking. If it’s a reflection of the rest of the album, X&Y will be an enjoyable experience, even if it is Rush of Blood part II. Casual Coldplay fans will likely get about what they’re expecting, and that’s certainly not all bad.

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