Noel Gallagher On The Saxophone In Riverman

Taken from a interview with Dutch magazine 'OOR' that is on sale now, thanks to General Dread for the translation.

If you live outside the Netherlands you can buy the magazine from here.

Interviewer: Baker Street or Careless Whisper

Noel: Ah, the saxophone. Baker Street, I guess. Proper tune. I've got it in my collection, but I never put it on not to even speak of Careless Whisper, but I do get it. The saxophone is a powerful instrument and that comes to the surface full on in those tunes. On this record I've got a sax and bass clarinet. That comes from some old 50’s rock ‘n roll which I enjoy, it’s more frequent in that era. And of course Pink Floyd. Dick Parry was the name of their sax player and he did lots of interesting things.

Listen to Dark Side Of The Moon. Pink Floyd to that moment, and still don’t make music in which you would expect such an instrument to show up and still it’s just there. Great really. It’s a risky move, breaking though all the rules and boundaries. When it became clear that it would fit Riverman, I directly thought fuck it, bring in the sax! Not in the line of expectations for a Noel Gallagher album, but it paid off immensely. Riverman just asked for it, it’s a tune that I'm very proud of, it’s a song that really hits home.

I'm really proud of it, putting aside that I can blow myself away with my own tunes. I already thought it is one of my best. Then the lad came in to play the sax and I thought: now it’s the greatest thing ever. And that it happens now, even after all those years. The guitar solo is ace. The vibe is grand. Throw in the sax and it’s beyond belief. Pink Floyd meets fucking Santana in a weird funk atmosphere. Fucking amazing.

Check out the current collection and offers from Pretty Green here.