Liam: As It Was

source: Liam Gallagher: As It Was

source: Liam: As It Was

This really made me fall in love with his and Oasis' music. Fantastic, biblical.

No doubt Liam is all the things talked about however this an is incredibly controlled and sanitised one sided publicity vehicle. I need all the fingers on both hands to count the subjects they were told to steer clear of. Even with that he still comes across as unlikable.

This documentary is a telling of the tale of Liam Gallagher's personal journey after the breakup of Oasis. This is about the rebirth of a musician finding his place in the world again after the end of a major part of his life - Lazarus emerging from the flames even stronger. It's an honest and raw look into his world tour between 2017-18. A must-see for any Oasis/Liam fan

If you're a fan of Oasis, Liam, music, or comeback stories you should find this worth your time. I've rented it twice. I've always been a fan of Oasis, but this made me realize I honestly didn't know much. I've been binging and learning their history the last 3 months since watching this. And congrats to Liam, his solo career is a great success.

Greetings again from the darkness. Co-directors Gavin Fitzgerald and Charlie Lightening could have ended this profile of singer Liam Gallagher by playing the theme song to "Family Feud" over the closing credits. While they do offer up an unflinching look at the talented singer of suspect character, we come away with the feeling that the entire project was designed to reunite Liam and his brother Noel. The two supposedly haven't spoken since they nearly brawled backstage at a scheduled Oasis concert: Paris 2009 Rock en Seine. A blend of clips from that final Oasis show and Liam's 2017 comeback concert in support of his solo album "As You Were" kick off the film. However, before the opening credits roll, we hear Liam spewing enough f-words to make any teenager blush. The assumption is that we are to be reminded of what a prig Liam was, and the reputation he earned as being a bad boy of rock. The filmmakers, along with Liam and his mum, then spend the rest of the run time trying to convince us that he's a changed man and is actually devoted to his family and to his craft. We do believe the latter, but the former is quite a stretch. We do see his sons accompany him on a later tour, but Liam's numerous affairs and broken marriages are glossed over. To his credit, Liam faces the camera with some candid self-assessment. It's unclear whether this is his own personal therapy or whether he's choosing to come clean for his fans. Others with featured input here include former Oasis guitarist Bonehead Arthurs, Liam's brother Paul, and Liam's mother Peggy (who is very proud of her boy). Also offering up praise is Debbie Gwyther, Liam's former assistant, who is now his lover and manager. He credits her with getting him back on track in life and back on stage in music. Although the film features very little music, we do get enough concert clips to recognize Liam's stage presence; however, it's the camera time in the studio that is most fascinating - and leaves us feeling a bit short-changed. Seeing Liam work through songs at historic Abbey Road Studios could have made for an entire film. He is admittedly not a true songwriter, so being forced to collaborate due to the absence of Noel, probably displays the most personal growth for Liam (even if it's out of necessity). Liam and Noel supposedly haven't spoken in the 10 years since that backstage fight killed off a superband and a brotherhood. The reconciliation evades the filmmakers, but they salvage the project as Liam's solo career takes off, and he travels with sons Gene (born to singer Nicole Appleton) and Lennon (born to actress Patsy Kensit). I chuckled when it's mentioned that Liam is 'the greatest rock front man' ... a line easily contradicted by mentioning Mick Jagger, Bono, or Bruce Springsteen. We are told "he is who he is", and can't help but wonder if that's a good thing. Having others say that he is grateful for a second chance is not the same as him stating it for himself.

This sorry mess of a documentary throws everything but the kitchen sink at attempting to portray Liam Gallagher as a tortured artist who lost everything due to his evil brother Noel splitting up the band and ruining his life. Admittedly it is not without a sense of self reflection and regret but this is a disingenuously one-sided propaganda flick for die hard Liam fans.

Liam (& Noel) are some of the most entertaining people in the rock business - they have a lot of attitude and humor, and even if they're often unlikeable, they're still very funny. They're also of course famous for being hotel-room-trashing rock stars with a lot of conflict between them. In this movie we see Liam trying to get his act together and move on with his career after the split of Oasis, but it's just done in a very uinteresting and uninformative way. There's a lot of interviews with people calling the music "great" and Liam a "genius", but there's very little of the actual music in the film, let alone the process behind it. The interviews with Liam are filled with variations on "yeah, you just gotta keep on going, know what i mean?", and not a lot of reflections on himself, Noel, his life or his career. I'm not really sure what the audience for this movie is - I guess it's supposed to portray Liam's new music as something worthwhile and great, and while it is certainly quite nice (especially his latest album), it's just not on a level of "genius" that the film would like to have you believe (without ever really playing much of the music for you, or letting us see more than a 15-second continuous clip from a concert). Overall, very dull and uinteresting (unlike the Supersonic documentary, which really captures the madness and chaos of Oasis).

Liam bares his soul, shows some depth and insight. It was interesting and much better than expected. He is a legend like it or not