Definitely Maybe

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Definitely Maybe
Definitely Maybe cover
Studio album by Oasis
Released August 29, 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 51:57
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 debut album by English band Oasis, released in 1994. It was an immediate commercial and critical success in the UK, having followed on the heels of singles "Supersonic", "Shakermaker" and particularly the popular "Live Forever".

Definitely Maybe went straight to number one and 7x platinum in the UK Album charts on initial release. It was the fastest selling debut album of all time in the UK when released. Definitely Maybe marked the beginning of Oasis' success in America, selling over 1 million copies there, although only reaching #58 on the Billboard 200. The album went on to sell over 7 million copies worldwide.

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. 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.

Contents

[edit] Album history

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 indulged in 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.

Many of the songs had originally appeared on Oasis' "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.

The album title, according to Noel Gallagher, comes from a poster he saw in a pub, although he cannot remember what the poster was advertising.

[edit] Track listing

  1. "Rock 'n' Roll Star" – 5:22
  2. "Shakermaker" – 5:08
  3. "Live Forever" – 4:36
  4. "Up in the Sky" – 4:28
  5. "Columbia" – 6:17
    • "Sad Song" - 4:27 (extra track on the UK LP version, and the original Japanese version of the album)
  6. "Supersonic" – 4:43
  7. "Bring It on Down" – 4:17
  8. "Cigarettes & Alcohol" – 4:49
  9. "Digsy's Dinner" – 2:32 *This was misspelt as "Digsy's Diner" upon its North American release.
  10. "Slide Away" – 6:32
  11. "Married with Children" – 3:11

[edit] Bonus tracks

  • "Cloudburst" (Japanese version, appears as a bonus track in position 4)

[edit] Bonus disc: Australia

  1. "Whatever"
  2. "(It's Good) to Be Free"
  3. "Half the World Away"

[edit] DVD

Music sample:

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.) Alternative 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 slightly 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"
  • Released: June 13, 1994
  • Writer: Noel Gallagher
  • Producers: Oasis, Mark Coyle & Owen Morris
  • Video Director: Nick Egan
  • Chart positions: # 11 (UK)
"Live Forever"
  • Released: August 8, 1994
  • Writer: Noel Gallagher
  • Producers: Oasis, Mark Coyle & Owen Morris
  • Video Directors: Carlos Grasso (UK) / Nick Egan (US)
  • Chart positions: # 10 (UK) # 2 (US Modern Rock)
"Cigarettes & Alcohol"
  • Released: October 10, 1994
  • Writer: Noel Gallagher
  • Producers: Oasis, Mark Coyle & Owen Morris
  • Video Director: Mark Szaszy
  • Chart positions: # 7 (UK)

[edit] Personnel

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

[edit] Album

Singles- UK Singles Chart

Year Chart Position
1994 UK Album Chart 1
Year Single Chart Position
1994 "Supersonic" UK Singles Chart 31
1994 "Shakermaker" UK Single Chart 11
1994 "Live Forever" UK Single Chart 10
1994 "Cigarettes and Alcohol" UK Single Chart 7


[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


Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
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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