#729: The Chemical Brothers – Let Forever Be

‘Let Forever Be’ was released as the second single from The Chemical Brothers’ 1999 album Surrender. After taking inspiration from the Beatles’ track ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ and collaborating with Oasis guitarist and songwriter Noel Gallagher on their previous track ‘Setting Sun’, a song that got to number one in the UK in ’96, the ‘brothers’ decided to do the same thing again here. It didn’t gained the same amount of commercial success but I believe it’s still one of the duo’s best singles.

While ‘Setting Sun’ relies on its pummeling drums to drive the track’s momentum ‘Let Forever Be’ relies on its bassline which mirrors Paul McCartney’s original bass from the aforementioned Beatles song, starting on the lower strings before reaching for those higher notes and carrying out some licks. Noel Gallagher continues his ‘faux-philosophical/actual nonsense’ lyricism style which, in that period of the 90s, was in its prime and worked tremendously well. His voice sounds great on here and, mixed with the psychedelic backdrop from Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons (The Chemical Brothers), it makes from some very easygoing listening.

Its music video (above), directed by Michel Gondry, gained a lot of media attention. I don’t think it’s too bad myself. I did see it a lot back in the day on the television screen though you can’t go wrong by listening to the song on its own.

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