There’s been much talk of this being his experimental album, yet surely that chance passed when the sessions with Amorphous Androgynous were aborted – although two of those songs are retained here. The point is, if you’re listening to a Noel Gallagher album, you’re not expecting the equivalent of Christopher Nolan in film terms; rather the familiar, British feel of Coronation Street.

The opener “Riverman” starts off like “Wonderwall”, a two chord motif with a Beatles reference of course, “There’s something in the way she moves me”, replete with a saxophone and the requisite big chorus. The first single “In The Heat Of The Moment” has a vocal refrain that sounds like the theme tune to The Banana Splits and features some undeniably banal lyrics like “The more that you want it, the more that you need it.” It’s incredibly catchy though. He’s always excelled at delivering an Everyman chorus and you can’t help but wonder, if this was the Oasis comeback song, with Liam singing, it could have been really special.

“The Dying Of The Light” is another mellow strumalong and contains the albums best line in “I tried my best to get there, but I can’t afford the bus fare”. “The Right Stuff” flirts outrageously with the bassline from The Beatles “Come Together”. The tempo suits his voice, more tremulous than Liam’s rasp and with the free form saxophone playing, and while it’s not a jazz odyssey, musically he’s at least stretching his wings.

“You Know We Can't Go Back” is a cheeky reference to the ‘Will they, won’t they?’ Oasis reunion. It starts like “Rock N Roll Star”, yet instead of an opening line of “I live my life in the city” we get “There was a time where I found I lost my way”, but it’s a touching acceptance of things breaking down and moving on. “Ballad Of The Mighty I” is the most interesting thing here by a country mile, with its Chic-like bassline and an appearance from Johnny Marr, it’s a step away from big ballads into panic attack territory and all the better for it.

There are a few duffers though. The long lost Oasis song, “Lock All The Doors” - apparently 25 years in the writing - should have stayed, well, lost. A poor man’s version of Definitely Maybe’s “Bring It On Down”, it screeches and snarls but doesn’t quite get out of second gear. Ironically Beady Eye recreated that moment in time infinitely better with their lost gem “Four Letter Word.” “The Mexican”, from the Amorphous Androgynous sessions, is a straight down the line T-Rex boogie reminiscent of Primal Screams “Rocks”. It’s certainly feel-good, but you’re itching for a “Higher Than The Sun”, or in Noel’s case the light touch of a “Live Forever” instead.

Chasing Yesterday doesn’t break new ground for its author, despite adding saxophones and a healthy dose of funk, but when he plays to his strengths he continues to be a masterful tunesmith, if not a genius lyricist. It’s summed up with the song title “While The Song Remains The Same" - the mantra is “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” With Chasing Yesterday it certainly ain’t broke; it may not be as wacky as he imagined it, but it does its job rather well.