Oasis

It's sadly appropriate that Oasis named its new record Don't Believe the Truth. For the last decade, the group has been living in a state of denial: While publicly maintaining the swagger and arrogance of its mid-'90s heyday, the Liams and crew have been dribbling out the meekest music of their career. Don't Believe is being touted, predictably, as yet another installment of Oasis's greatness, only it's more bland than a baloney sandwich with the crusts cut off. Besides falling back on rote Beatles appropriation -- including getting Zak Starkey, Ringo's son, to play drums -- the band unconvincingly reanimates the Velvet Underground's "I'm Waiting for the Man" ("Mucky Fingers") and the Kinks' "Dead End Street" ("The Importance of Being Idle"), succeeding only in making such limp-dick simulacrums seem even lamer by contrast. There's no denying the occasional wisp of magnificence that drifts aimlessly across these songs, but it only underlines the fact that, six albums on, Oasis has clearly run dry. Believe the truth: This disc is crap.