Watching Oasis' precipitous decline from Brit-pop superstardom has sort of been like watching the Yankees blow it last October: You knew they had it coming, but it was still kind of sad to see. Don't Believe the Truth, their seventh album, isn't the comeback fans have long been praying for, but it's the first Oasis album in years that doesn't sound like pale self-imitation. The bigger presence of guitarist Gem Archer as well as an increased emphasis on texture — including plenty of subdued psych-rock atmosphere — rescue confidently rockin' winners such as "The Meaning of Soul" from the kind of dunderheaded grand gestures Oasis had gotten increasingly worse at writing, and tracks like "The Importance of Being Idle" channel laid-back Sixties-pop cool. So: Now that they've fought off complacency and cocaine, can we get that Behind the Music episode?

“The A Team”

This debut track from the then-20-year-old British singer-songwriter has a dark story behind it. Sheeran says he culls songwriting inspiration from "viewing other people's situations," which, for the heroine in "The A Team," involves drug addiction and prostitution that began as a teen. Sheeran paints the woman's trials with haunting imagery such as "But lately her face seems/Slowly sinking, wasting/Crumbling like pastries." "I did a gig at a homeless shelter, [and the song] is about one of the women there. It's her story," he said.