On This Day In Oasis History
By
Stop Crying Your Heart Out
on
May 30, 2009
Don't Believe the Truth is the sixth studio album by Oasis, released on 30 May 2005. It reached #1 in the UK Albums Chart with first week sales of just under 238,000, and is the 32nd fastest selling album ever in the UK. The album entered the U.S. charts at #12, with 65,000 copies sold in the first week, the highest any Oasis album has reached there since 1997's Be Here Now, although its chart stay was brief. Don't Believe the Truth went triple platinum in the U.K. in the first week of 2006 (900,000+ sales), and in the U.S. has sold more than 200,000 copies. As of November 2008, Don't Believe the Truth has sold around 5 million copies worldwide.
Every member of the band contributed to the writing of tracks for the album, and the album is the first where all duties were divided between the band members. On some of the tracks regular bass player Andy Bell handled guitar, while Gem Archer and Noel Gallagher contributed bass to other songs. Don't Believe the Truth is the first Oasis record to feature the drumming of Zak Starkey, who replaced Oasis' longtime drummer Alan White.
Liam Gallagher also had a larger impact on the album by his developing songwriting. Noel has said that this album is his favourite of Oasis' last four, because all members have contributed to it. This, he claims, has given it a different feel to a typically Noel-written Oasis album.
The band embarked on a massive worldwide tour that started off at the London Astoria for their Don't Believe the Truth Tour, visiting 26 countries and playing to 2 million people at a total of 113 concerts. This resulted in the making of Lord Don't Slow Me Down, a film later released on DVD.
Recording
The recording process for Don't Believe the Truth was prolonged. The album was originally supposed to be released around summer/autumn 2004, with an initial 3-4 week session produced by Death in Vegas. The recording finally began after Alan White's departure in January 2004 at Sawmills Studios in Cornwall, though the group wasn't satisfied with the results, as Noel said "Unfortunately, after the recording process we decided we didn't like anything we had played/recorded during those three weeks, and because of commitments with Death In Vegas, Richard Fearless and Tim Holmes couldn't find any more time to give to the project."
Noel has commented since on numerous occasions that there was no problem with the work done by Death In Vegas, but he felt the songs they were working on were simply not good enough to form a record, and felt a break was needed in which new material would have to be written. In Noel's words: "We were trying to polish a turd". Around 10 songs were worked on with Death In Vegas of which, according to Noel, 6 were "not even good enough to make the b-sides". Four of the tracks which eventually appeared on the album were worked on with Death In Vegas, those songs being: "Turn Up the Sun", "Mucky Fingers", "A Bell Will Ring" and "The Meaning of Soul", although all of these had extra work done to them or were re-recorded before being released.
After a short break in which many new songs, including "Let There Be Love", "Lyla" and "Part of The Queue" were written, the band reconvened at their Wheeler End Studios with Noel as producer. The band were joined on these sessions by The Who's drummer Zak Starkey. In June 2004, Oasis debuted two new songs from these sessions, the Liam-written "The Meaning of Soul" and the Gem-written "A Bell Will Ring" at two live shows in Poole and at the Glastonbury Festival.
After hearing of the band's production problems from Oasis manager Marcus Russell, American producer Dave Sardy expressed interest in taking over production duties. Sardy was given tapes of existing recording sessions to mix, and after his work was praised by the band, he arrived in the UK to oversee new recording sessions at Olympic Studios in London. These sessions did not last long before he asked the band to travel to Los Angeles and re-record most of the album there, as he felt more comfortable working in a studio closer to home. With the band eventually agreeing to this, recording sessions began at Capitol Studios in October 2004 with the band spending around 9 weeks there.
Release
The decision to have the lead-off single, "Lyla", on the album was a controversial one, prompted by the label's feeling that there wasn't a suitable lead single among the tracks originally presented. As a result, the decision was taken to record "Lyla", a song which Noel had written and demoed a year previously, but which wasn't recorded by the band during the previous recording sessions. It was decided that Dave Sardy would remix Noel's original demo with Liam recording a set of lead vocals and Zak adding a fresh drum track. "Lyla" reached number one on the UK Singles Chart and number nineteen on the U.S. Modern Rock Tracks chart. After having initial reservations about the choice of the first single being taken out of the hands of the band, Noel, who initially wanted "Mucky Fingers" to be the first single, has now reluctantly conceded that the song has indeed "done the business".
In April 2005, four tracks from a promo disc leaked: "The Meaning of Soul", "Mucky Fingers", "Keep the Dream Alive", and "Let There Be Love". The full album found its way onto the Internet on 3 May 2005, when Apple Inc. accidentally put the album up early for sale on their iTunes Music Store service in Germany. While there was no official comment by Apple or by Oasis management, it was speculated that Apple simply got "May 30" confused with "May 03" or "May 3".
Reception
Considered a rebirth for the band, Don't Believe The Truth received extremely positive reviews. The album won two Q Awards: a special People's Choice Award and Best Album. Critics praised the new sound and the straightforwardness of the drumming of Zak Starkey after a decade of the drumming presence of Alan White.
During interviews, the band has commented very positively on the album about the creation of it, have complimented Archer and Bell on their creativity and contribution of their multiple tracks making the record sound, described by Noel as "Fresh and a Breath Of New Life for Us all." Noel Gallagher said to NME: "The finished album is my favourite one of the last four. Because we're all contributing to the songwriting there's a different feel to it. In fact, the only songs that sound like Oasis are Andy Bell's funnily enough." On 'Rock Profiles' Interviews, both Gallagher and Bell had commented that during their hiatus in 2004, that they had to make a record for their fans and to inspire the people who had become interested in them in the first place. Stating that they had nothing to lose since most of their fans and critics had been displeased since the release of Be Here Now, they could make a new and defining record.
In 2008, Don't Believe the Truth was voted the 14th best British album of the last 50 years by a poll conducted by Q Magazine and HMV.
Track listing
"Turn Up the Sun" (Andy Bell) – 3:59
"Mucky Fingers" (Noel Gallagher) – 3:56
"Lyla" (N. Gallagher) – 5:10
"Love Like a Bomb" (Liam Gallagher, Gem Archer) – 2:53
"The Importance of Being Idle" (N. Gallagher) – 3:40
"The Meaning of Soul" (L. Gallagher) – 1:43
"Guess God Thinks I'm Abel" (L. Gallagher) – 3:25
"Part of the Queue" (N. Gallagher) – 3:48
"Keep the Dream Alive" (Bell) – 5:46
"A Bell Will Ring" (Archer) – 3:08
"Let There Be Love" (N. Gallagher) – 5:29
Bonus tracks
"Can Y'see It Now? (I Can See It Now!!)" – 4:19 (Japanese CD release)
"Sittin' Here in Silence (On My Own)" – 2:00 (N. Gallagher) (Japanese CD release, and available as a b-side on the "Let There Be Love" single)
"Pass Me Down the Wine" – 3:50 (L. Gallagher) (U.S. iTunes release, and available as a b-side on the "The Importance of Being Idle" single)
"Eyeball Tickler" – 2:47 (Archer) (UK and Canadian iTunes release, and available as a b-side on the "Lyla" single)
Special editions
A limited edition version of the album was released in the UK which included a 30 minute DVD featuring interviews with the band and other staff who worked on the album, the promo video for "Lyla" and additional cover artwork. These features were released in the U.S. on the DualDisc edition of the album.
As part of a promotional spot for Oasis' latest lp "Dont Believe The Truth" Best Buy stores released an exclusive, limited edition, free live 5-song cd enclosed in copies of D.B.T.T. This features music from their 1994 Metro Club Show in Chicago Il. USA. Track listing includes: 1. Rock and Roll Star 2. Columbia 3. Live Forever 4. Cigarettes and Alcohol 5. Supersonic.
Music Videos
Lyla
The Importance Of Being Idle
Let There Be Love
Tickets are still available for a number shows on Oasis' largest-ever UK Stadium tour, click here for availability of tickets.