Definitely Maybe
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| Definitely Maybe | ||
| ||
| Studio album by Oasis | ||
| Released | August 30 1994 | |
| Recorded | 1993-1994 at: Sawmills Studios, Cornwall The Pink Museum, Liverpool Out Of The Blue, Manchester Monnow Valley, Monmouth Loco Studios, Caerleon Eden Studios, Chiswick | |
| Genre | Britpop | |
| Length | 51:54 56:21 (UK Vinyl) | |
| Label | Creation Records | |
| Producer(s) | Oasis, Mark Coyle, Owen Morris, Dave Batchelor | |
| Professional reviews | ||
|---|---|---|
| Oasis chronology | ||
| Definitely Maybe (1994) | (What's the Story) Morning Glory? (1995)
| |
Definitely Maybe is the highly acclaimed debut album of English band Oasis, first released in 1994 on Creation Records.
In 1994 Oasis were seen as a distant echo of the moribund 'Madchester' scene which had exploded in the early 1990s; unlike other Madchester bands who eschewed experiments with funk, dance or hip-hop, Oasis presented themselves as a relatively straightforward rock and roll band. Along with bands like Blur and The Verve they seemed to encapsulate a new wave, one which did not yet have a name. By the end of the year the media coined the term Britpop, of which Definitely Maybe retrospectively became one of the pivotal albums.
Definitely Maybe went straight to number one in the UK Album charts on the week of release. It went 7x platinum in the UK and rather surprisingly, the album sold over 1 million copies in America; on the American Billboard magazine charts Definitely Maybe hit #1 on the Heatseekers chart and #58 on the Billboard 200. The album went on to sell over 7 million copies worldwide.
It was an immediate commercial and critical success, having followed on the heels of singles "Columbia" (which only saw a limited radio-only release), "Supersonic", "Shakermaker" and particularly the popular "Live Forever". The album title, according to Noel, comes from a poster he saw in a pub, although he cannot remember what the poster was advertising. Though the title is seemingly oxymoronic, it, in actuality, is not — it implies a certain possibility, depending on context.
The album was followed the next year by (What's The Story) Morning Glory?, which propelled the group to even greater fame, dominating the music press throughout 1995.
In 1997 Definitely Maybe was named the 14th greatest album of all time in a 'Music of the Millennium' poll conducted by HMV, Channel 4, The Guardian and Classic FM. It achieved the same placing in a 1998 Q magazine readers' poll. In 2000 Q placed it at number 24 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. In 2005 Channel 4's '100 Greatest Albums' countdown placed the album at number 6. In a recent British poll, run by NME and the book of British Hit Singles and Albums, Definitely Maybe was voted the best album of all time with The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band finishing second and Revolver third. Nearly 40,000 people took part in the survey which was organised to commerate 50 years of the UK Album Chart.
Contents |
[edit] Recording
Many of the songs had originally appeared on their "Live Demonstration" demo recorded in Liverpool the year before with Chris and Tony Griffiths of The Real People. The main recording sessions took longer than expected, with the bulk of the album having to be recorded three different times with Mark Coyle producing, before Owen Morris came up with a mix that everyone was satisfied with. The album cost nearly £85,000 to produce, a huge amount of money for a debut album at the time.
[edit] Track listing
- All tracks written by Noel Gallagher.
- "Rock 'N' Roll Star" – 5:22
- "Shakermaker" – 5:08
- "Live Forever" – 4:36
- "Up in the Sky" – 4:28
- "Columbia" – 6:17
- "Sad Song" - 4:27 (extra track on the UK LP-version, and the original Japanese version of the album)
- "Supersonic" – 4:43
- "Bring It on Down" – 4:17
- "Cigarettes & Alcohol" – 4:49
- "Digsy's Dinner" – 2:32
- "Slide Away" – 6:32
- "Married with Children" – 3:11
[edit] Bonus tracks
- "Cloudburst" (Japanese version, appears as a bonus track in position 4)
[edit] Bonus disc: Australia
- "Whatever"
- "(It's Good) To Be Free"
- "Half the World Away"
[edit] DVD
- "Live Forever" (file info) — play in browser (beta)
- 26 second sample of "Live Forever"
- Problems listening to the file? See media help.
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Definitely Maybe was released on DVD in September 2004 to mark the tenth anniversary of its original release. It went triple platinum in the UK. The DVD featured an hour-long documentary about the recording of the album featuring rare and contemporary interviews with the band and its associates. Also included was the album in its entirety, which included Sad Song, which was originally only released on the UK vinyl version of the album and also on the Japanese CD edition. Other content included live and TV performances of the albums twelve tracks, and the promo videos to Supersonic (UK & US versions), Shakermaker, Live Forever (UK & US versions), Cigarettes & Alcohol and Rock 'n' Roll Star.
A limited-edition release in the UK and Ireland included a bonus DVD containing more live footage and anecdotes.
There was also an accompanying made-for-TV documentary, entitled There We Were, Now Here We Are...: The Making Of Oasis. This was broadcast on Channel 4 in the UK at 11:30pm on Friday, September 3, three days before the release of the Definitely Maybe DVD. The programme combined existing and unused interview footage from the DVD documentary and focused on the origins of the band, and the four singles from Definitely Maybe. It also included a very rare clip of All Around The World performed live at a rehearsal session in the Boardwalk in 1992, five years before it was eventually recorded and released on Be Here Now.
The DVD received the NME award for Best DVD, beating Nirvana’s With the Lights Out, Pixies’ Pixies, Scissor Sisters’ We Are Scissor Sisters And So Are You and The White Stripes’ Under Blackpool Lights.
[edit] Extra Content
Hidden Story Segments
Accessed by playing album's audio on Disc 1 and pressing 'Down' on the following tracks:
Rock 'n' Roll Star - A story about Liam wanting all sorts of strange instruments on the recording.
Live Forever - About the choice of Live Forever as the vital 3rd track on the album. Includes a surprise revelation about who sung the vocals on a certain part of the song...
Supersonic - A segment called Musical Theory - an anecdote by Noel.
Cigarettes & Alcohol - About Noel's neighbour who was sick of hearing the song.
Slide Away - A segment called Definitely Maybe?? - revealing the inspiration behind the title.
Married With Children - A short piece about Guigsy.
Directors commentaries
Heard by pressing 'Audio' on the US versions of Supersonic and Live Forever and the regular UK versions of Shakermaker and Cigarettes & Alcohol promo videos. Some of the commentaries don't start until about a minute into the song so don't be concerned if all you hear is the song and no talking.
Alternatve promo videos
By default, the DVD plays the US versions of Supersonic and Live Forever. To see the UK versions, press 'Angle' once the videos start.
Other stuff
Wibbling Rivalry - When Married With Children ends, the screen will go black for a few seconds. At this time, (and before Sad Song starts), press 'down' on your remote, and you'll hear extracts from the infamous Wibbling Rivalry interview.
Sad Song - The version of the song on the DVD is slighly different to the original version released in 1994. When Noel sings, "Throwing it all away / don't throw it all away", the vocal is double-tracked. No-one outside of the Oasis camp knows why this was done for the DVD release, but if you want to have the original version, you'll have to get the UK vinyl or the Japanese CD edition of Definitely Maybe, or the Japanese CD edition of the Don't Go Away single.
[edit] Singles
| Cover | |
|---|---|
 | Supersonic
|
 | Shakermaker
|
 | Live Forever
|
 | Cigarettes & Alcohol
|
[edit] Personnel
- Liam Gallagher - Vocals
- Noel Gallagher - Lead Guitar, Vocals
- Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs - Rhythm Guitar
- Paul McGuigan - Bass Guitar
- Tony McCarroll - Drums
- Oasis - Producer
with
- Anthony Griffiths - Vocals
- David Batchelor - Producer
- Mark Coyle - Producer, Engineer, Mixing
- Anjali Dutt - Engineer
- Owen Morris - Producer, Mastering, Mixing, Production Concept
- David Scott - Engineer
- Roy Sping - Engineer
- Roy Spong - Engineer
- Dave Scott - Engineer
- Brian Cannon - Art Direction, Design, Concept, Cover Design
- Michael Spencer Jones - Photography
[edit] Charting singles
Album - Billboard (USA)
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Heatseekers | 1 |
| 1995 | The Billboard 200 | 58 |
Singles - Billboard (USA)
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | "Supersonic" | Modern Rock Tracks | 11 |
| 1995 | "Live Forever" | Mainstream Rock Tracks | 10 |
| 1995 | "Live Forever" | Modern Rock Tracks | 2 |
| 1995 | "Rock 'N' Roll Star" | Modern Rock Tracks | 36 |
[edit] Release details
| Country | Date | Label | Format | Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | August 30 1994 | Creation Records | LP | CRELP169 |
| CD | CRECD169 | |||
| Cassette | CCRE169 | |||
| Minidisc | CREMD169 | |||
| August 14 2000 | Big Brother | LP | RKIDLP006 | |
| CD | RKIDCD006 | |||
| Cassette | RKIDMC006 | |||
| Minidisc | RKIDMD006 | |||
| September 6 2004 | DVD | RKIDDVD06 | ||
| 2DVD | RKIDDVD06X | |||
| United States | August 30 2005 | Epic Records | CD | EK66431 |
| May 17 2005 | DualDisc | EN94573 | ||
| Japan | November 15 2005 | Sony Music Japan | CD | EICP690 |
| Oasis |
| Liam Gallagher | Noel Gallagher | Gem Archer | Andy Bell | Zak Starkey |
| Tony McCarroll | Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs | Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan | Alan White |
| Discography |
|---|
| Studio albums: Definitely Maybe | (What's the Story) Morning Glory? | Be Here Now | Standing on the Shoulder of Giants | Heathen Chemistry | Don't Believe the Truth |
| Compilations: The Masterplan | Stop the Clocks |
| DVDs: Live by the Sea | …There and Then | Familiar to Millions | Definitely Maybe – The DVD |
| Films: Lord Don't Slow Me Down |
| Related articles |
| The Rain | Britpop | Owen Morris | Creation Records | Big Brother | Awards and nominations |
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