01: Bag It Up
02: The Turning
03: Waiting For The Rapture
04: The Shock Of The Lightning
05: I'm Outta Time
06: (Get Off Your) High Horse
07: Falling Down
08: To Be Where There's Life
09: Ain't Got Nothin
10: The Nature Of Reality
11: Soldier On
Bonus tracks
Japanese version & Limited Korea Tour Edition
12: I Believe In All
13: The Turning (Alt. version No. 4)
Box set bonus CD
01: Lord Don't Slow Me Down
02: The Turning (The Jagz Kooner Remix)
03: Boy With The Blues
04: Falling Down (The Chemical Brothers Remix)
05: The Shock Of The Lightning (The Jagz Kooner Remix)
06: I Believe in All
07: To Be Where There's Life
08: The Turning
09: Waiting For The Rapture
10: The Shock Of The Lightning (Primal Scream Remix (Italian Version Only)
Box set bonus DVD
01: Gold & Silver & Sunshine (The Making Of Dig Out Your Soul)
02: The Making Of The Shock Of The Lightning
03: The Shock Of The Lightning
Release Date: October 6th 2008
Highest UK Chart Position: Number 1
02: The Turning
03: Waiting For The Rapture
04: The Shock Of The Lightning
05: I'm Outta Time
06: (Get Off Your) High Horse
07: Falling Down
08: To Be Where There's Life
09: Ain't Got Nothin
10: The Nature Of Reality
11: Soldier On
Bonus tracks
Japanese version & Limited Korea Tour Edition
12: I Believe In All
13: The Turning (Alt. version No. 4)
Box set bonus CD
01: Lord Don't Slow Me Down
02: The Turning (The Jagz Kooner Remix)
03: Boy With The Blues
04: Falling Down (The Chemical Brothers Remix)
05: The Shock Of The Lightning (The Jagz Kooner Remix)
06: I Believe in All
07: To Be Where There's Life
08: The Turning
09: Waiting For The Rapture
10: The Shock Of The Lightning (Primal Scream Remix (Italian Version Only)
Box set bonus DVD
01: Gold & Silver & Sunshine (The Making Of Dig Out Your Soul)
02: The Making Of The Shock Of The Lightning
03: The Shock Of The Lightning
Release Date: October 6th 2008
Highest UK Chart Position: Number 1
Oasis
Liam Gallagher – vocals (1–2, 4–5, 8–11)
Noel Gallagher – electric and acoustic guitars, keyboards, electronics, drums (1, 3, 11), melodica (11), lead vocals (3, 6, 7), backing vocals
Gem Archer – electric and acoustic guitars, keyboards, bass guitar
Andy Bell – bass guitar, electric guitar, keyboards, tamboura
Additional personnel
Zak Starkey – drums (1–10)
Jay Darlington – mellotron, electronics (7)
The National In-Choir – backing vocals (2)
Dave Sardy – production, mixing
Ryan Castle – engineering
Andy Brohard – Pro Tools editing
Cameron Barton – engineering
Chris Bolster – engineering
Ghian Wright – engineering
Ian Cooper – mastering
Alec Gomez/Lawrie Medina – assistant
Design
Artwork [Album Art] – Julian House
Dig Out Your Soul is the seventh and final studio album by Oasis. It was released on October 6th 2008.
The first single The Shock Of The Lightning was released on September 29th 2008. In promotion of the album, the band embarked on a world tour, debuting in Seattle, Washington at the WaMu Theater.
Dig Out Your Soul received positive reviews from critics for its harder rock and psychedelic rock sound that the band created. it and was a commercial success. The album was supported by a world tour, debuting in Seattle at the WaMu Theater, and continuing for eighteen months. In 2009, the tour concluded (due to Noel Gallagher quitting the band) with a summer of major dates at some of the UK's biggest stadiums, Wembley Stadium, Cardiff's Millennium Stadium, and Edinburgh's Murrayfield, along with three hometown shows at Manchester's Heaton Park.
Concept and sound
In a January 2007 interview with the NME, Noel Gallagher gave new details on his vision for the album: "All the tunes I've written recently have been on the kind of acoustic side, you know? But for the next record I really fancy doing a record where we just completely throw the kitchen stink at it," he explained. "We haven't done that since Be Here Now. I'd like to get, like, a one hundred piece orchestra and choirs and all that stuff. I think since Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants we've been trying to prove a point of just bass, drums, guitar and vocals and nothing fancy. But I kind of like fancy! I'd like to make an absolutely f**king colossal album. You know? Like literally two orchestras, stuff like that."
In October 2007 Noel spoke about the album to BBC 6 Music: "Funnily enough, we all write separately, but for some reason all the songs sound like they've got a common thread. We've been focusing round the grooves more this time, the last album was quite 'songy,' if that makes any sense, I don't know. But it was quite 'songy:' The Importance Of Being Idle, Let There Be Love - it was quite a British, retro, 60s sounding album. This is kinda focusing round the grooves more. Saying that, we've only done two tracks but all the demos that we've done are great." Noel also revealed details about his lyrics for his new songs: "I've literally got nothing left to write about: I've wrote about being a youth, and I've wrote about being a rock star, and I've wrote about living life in the big city. I've been re-visiting some of my more psychedelic trips of a younger man, because I remember them all you see...putting them to music."
In a November 2007 interview with Reuters, Liam Gallagher revealed more details on how the record is going: "All the songs are wrote, this record's gonna be f*cking rocking. There's no acoustic on it, man. We rehearsed about ten tunes before coming in. Three are mine. Some are Noel's, some are Gem's, some are Andy's. We're there for a long time, so we just keep picking em off the tree, man. Some are sounding really f*cking heavy, and then we're picking some out, and you go, 'Well that doesn't sit with that, right.' So we just keep moving about. We've got plenty of songs. We're not gonna go bored." Gallagher also revealed that the record,"Will have everything thrown at it. Let's just hope that Noel's learnt his lesson in the studio this time!"
In an interview on June 15th 2008 with talkSPORT, Noel said the album was "colossal", "rocking'" and added "It's gonna sound great live, which is the most important thing." In further interviews, Gallagher was also quick to challenge the belief that the album would be a continuation of the band's Britpop history, claiming "It's not Britpop... some of it sounds a bit glam. There's no pop singles on it."
Recording
Sessions were due to begin in July 2007, but it is believed proper band sessions did not begin until the start of August, during which Noel and Liam were photographed outside Abbey Road Studios with fans.
Sessions were halted in September 2007 due to the birth of Noel Gallagher's second child, he told BBC 6 Music: "We done a few tracks in Abbey Road about six weeks ago. Then we've taken some time off for me to get acquainted with my new son and then we start back in Abbey Road on November 5th. - we'll probably work through a couple of months there, have Christmas off, then go and mix it and see where we're at."
On November 8, 2007, the band's official website confirmed that they returned to the studio on November 5th, and they were working with Don't Believe the Truth producer Dave Sardy.
In Liam Gallagher's Reuters interview on November 13th 2007, he revealed more about the expected timespan of the recording sessions: "We've got six weeks there, seven weeks. We'll have it done by then, without a doubt. It'll be done by Christmas. It'll be done by the 15th of December, if everything goes well. Then we'll have Christmas off, and we'll go to L.A., mix it and maybe do a bit more over there. But not too much."
Oasis announced, through its website on February 5th 2008, that the band was in Los Angeles to finish off recording the album and to mix the record.
In a February 28th 2008 radio interview for LA radio station Indie 103.1 with former Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones, Liam, Noel and Gem said mixing had been slowed down by the equipment constantly breaking, but that they hoped to be finished in a couple of weeks.
In an appearance on Russell Brand's BBC Radio 2 show on March 8th 2008, Noel declared he would be going home on March 12th, suggesting that work was finished in LA and, subsequently, on the record, although this wasn't confirmed. Oasis had also booked tour dates; a further indication the album was finished. Also in the interview Noel said that the album title came from one of Gem's lyrics on his song To Be Where There's Life.
In February 2008, Liam Gallagher left LA and returned to the UK to marry his girlfriend, Nicole Appleton. He did so without notifying any other members of the band and as a result, according to Noel Gallagher, two songs were left incomplete - I Wanna Live In A Dream (In My Record Machine) and Come On (It's Alright) - due to Liam's absence, as he was unavailable to record vocals. These songs were intended for inclusion on the album, but instead were scrapped and two other songs - Ain't Got Nothin' and (Get Off Your) High Horse Lady - which were originally slated as b-sides, were included instead. However, Noel has stated that these two unfinished songs will most likely be included on the next Oasis album.
On April 14th 2008 Noel Gallagher announced in an interview that the album was indeed completed and the band were in discussions with several record companies with which to release it. In August 2008, Reprise Records announced that it would distribute Dig Out Your Soul in North America.
Critical reactions for the album were mostly positive. In an article for the July edition of Clash, BBC Radio 1 DJ Edith Bowman said she thought the band were "back on total firing form", adding that the songs were "huge", that the first single would "hit you like a tonne weight and just really reminded me of when I heard stuff like "Rock 'n' Roll Star" and "Supersonic" for the first time", and to "get excited 'cos it will blow you away, and also that Liam had "properly acquired the title of 'great songwriter'."
In Noel Gallagher's June 15th 2008 talkSPORT interview, presenter Andy Goldstein said he had heard a few tracks and that he thought it was some of the best work the band had ever done.
Reception
BBC Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe announced the release dates of the album and the first single on his show on June 24th 2008. When doing so, he briefly spoke about the album saying that a few people at Radio 1 had heard a few of the tracks - he declared, "Oh yes! Oasis are officially back and in rocking form."
In an interview with Noel Gallagher from NME magazine dated August 6th 2008, the article claimed that the forthcoming album is "really great" and "a huge step forward from Don't Believe the Truth.
Jonathan Cohen of Billboard says that with Dig Out Your Soul, the group "[Gets] back to its stripped-down rock roots" and that the opening song, Bag It Up harks back to Definitely Maybe's Columbia.
Luke Bainbridge of The Observer gave the album 4 stars out of 5, saying "You could say that if Definitely Maybe was their Stone Roses, Dig Out Your Soul is their Second Coming. It won't win them any new fans, but those that believed the truth last time will dig this."
On September 11th 2008, 45 second previews of every song on the album were made available on the Sony Japan website, but were quickly taken down again. Whether this was intentional or not is unknown. The album was uploaded in its entirety on the official Oasis MySpace page on October 1st, and was also made to Oasis community members on the band's official site's Radio Supernova.
Alan McGee, Oasis' former manager has recently hailed the album as the "true follow-up to (What's The Story) Morning Glory?, completing the elusive and perfect rock'n'roll trilogy that began with Definitely Maybe." in his column in the Observer, McGee compared the album to The Beatles' Revolver and The Rolling Stones Beggars Banquet, McGee also wrote Dig Out Your Soul works because Noel has returned to the original inspiration of his youth for his songwriting. Definitely Maybe was about their dreams of rock'n'roll stardom, Morning Glory was about achieving the dream, Be Here Now was the coked-up aftermath, now Dig Out Your Soul is a glance to a psychedelic yesterday, again. For me, the past four post-Morning Glory albums never captured the magic of the first two. Songs from the past five albums had moments of pop reverberations and incredible songwriting, but were never complete statements. With Dig Out Your Soul, the notorious Oasis brothers have found their mojo. It's back, without a doubt."
Ryan Adams compared the album to Kid A, claiming "The first time I heard Kid A I went ‘OK, I have no fucking idea what kind of music this is but it's moving me. It sounds like a revelation.’ That's what the new Oasis stuff sounds like, it sounds like they have entered into some strange uncanny spiritual crazy door and have just lost themselves completely to it and it is marvellous."
The album also received more great reviews after several days from its official release, with critics arguing that Dig Out Your Soul is "Oasis sounding as pumped and as hard as they've ever been" and that "it seems Oasis have made something that can happily play along side Morning Glory."
Not all the reviews have been positive though, Jody Rosen of Rolling Stone magazine gave the album a 2 1/2 out of 5 stars. Rosen said of the new album that, "Oasis' latest is heavier on groove than normal, and there are a couple of gripping moments, especially Liam's stately, Lennonesque ballad I'm Outta Time. But for the most part, Dig Out Your Soul is an almost comically generic Oasis release, from its preponderance of plodding midtempo rockers (Bag It Up, Waiting For The Rapture) to the vaguely Indian raga-flavored psychedelic anthems (To Be Where There's Life). Then there's the issue of Liam's "philosophising" — he's entered the Maharishi phase of his Beatles worship, clogging songs with beatitudes like "Space and time and here and now/Are only in your mind."
In the UK, the album sold 90,000 copies on its first day of release, making it the second fastest selling album of 2008, behind Coldplay's Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends. It debuted on the UK album chart number one, with first week sales of 200,866 copies. The album debuted at number five on the US Billboard 200 with 53,000 copies sold. It is the highest chart position of any Oasis album in the US since 1997's Be Here Now which debuted at number two but fewer total opening week sales than Don't Believe The Truth.
Liam Gallagher – vocals (1–2, 4–5, 8–11)
Noel Gallagher – electric and acoustic guitars, keyboards, electronics, drums (1, 3, 11), melodica (11), lead vocals (3, 6, 7), backing vocals
Gem Archer – electric and acoustic guitars, keyboards, bass guitar
Andy Bell – bass guitar, electric guitar, keyboards, tamboura
Additional personnel
Zak Starkey – drums (1–10)
Jay Darlington – mellotron, electronics (7)
The National In-Choir – backing vocals (2)
Dave Sardy – production, mixing
Ryan Castle – engineering
Andy Brohard – Pro Tools editing
Cameron Barton – engineering
Chris Bolster – engineering
Ghian Wright – engineering
Ian Cooper – mastering
Alec Gomez/Lawrie Medina – assistant
Design
Artwork [Album Art] – Julian House
Dig Out Your Soul is the seventh and final studio album by Oasis. It was released on October 6th 2008.
The first single The Shock Of The Lightning was released on September 29th 2008. In promotion of the album, the band embarked on a world tour, debuting in Seattle, Washington at the WaMu Theater.
Dig Out Your Soul received positive reviews from critics for its harder rock and psychedelic rock sound that the band created. it and was a commercial success. The album was supported by a world tour, debuting in Seattle at the WaMu Theater, and continuing for eighteen months. In 2009, the tour concluded (due to Noel Gallagher quitting the band) with a summer of major dates at some of the UK's biggest stadiums, Wembley Stadium, Cardiff's Millennium Stadium, and Edinburgh's Murrayfield, along with three hometown shows at Manchester's Heaton Park.
Concept and sound
In a January 2007 interview with the NME, Noel Gallagher gave new details on his vision for the album: "All the tunes I've written recently have been on the kind of acoustic side, you know? But for the next record I really fancy doing a record where we just completely throw the kitchen stink at it," he explained. "We haven't done that since Be Here Now. I'd like to get, like, a one hundred piece orchestra and choirs and all that stuff. I think since Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants we've been trying to prove a point of just bass, drums, guitar and vocals and nothing fancy. But I kind of like fancy! I'd like to make an absolutely f**king colossal album. You know? Like literally two orchestras, stuff like that."
In October 2007 Noel spoke about the album to BBC 6 Music: "Funnily enough, we all write separately, but for some reason all the songs sound like they've got a common thread. We've been focusing round the grooves more this time, the last album was quite 'songy,' if that makes any sense, I don't know. But it was quite 'songy:' The Importance Of Being Idle, Let There Be Love - it was quite a British, retro, 60s sounding album. This is kinda focusing round the grooves more. Saying that, we've only done two tracks but all the demos that we've done are great." Noel also revealed details about his lyrics for his new songs: "I've literally got nothing left to write about: I've wrote about being a youth, and I've wrote about being a rock star, and I've wrote about living life in the big city. I've been re-visiting some of my more psychedelic trips of a younger man, because I remember them all you see...putting them to music."
In a November 2007 interview with Reuters, Liam Gallagher revealed more details on how the record is going: "All the songs are wrote, this record's gonna be f*cking rocking. There's no acoustic on it, man. We rehearsed about ten tunes before coming in. Three are mine. Some are Noel's, some are Gem's, some are Andy's. We're there for a long time, so we just keep picking em off the tree, man. Some are sounding really f*cking heavy, and then we're picking some out, and you go, 'Well that doesn't sit with that, right.' So we just keep moving about. We've got plenty of songs. We're not gonna go bored." Gallagher also revealed that the record,"Will have everything thrown at it. Let's just hope that Noel's learnt his lesson in the studio this time!"
In an interview on June 15th 2008 with talkSPORT, Noel said the album was "colossal", "rocking'" and added "It's gonna sound great live, which is the most important thing." In further interviews, Gallagher was also quick to challenge the belief that the album would be a continuation of the band's Britpop history, claiming "It's not Britpop... some of it sounds a bit glam. There's no pop singles on it."
Recording
Sessions were due to begin in July 2007, but it is believed proper band sessions did not begin until the start of August, during which Noel and Liam were photographed outside Abbey Road Studios with fans.
Sessions were halted in September 2007 due to the birth of Noel Gallagher's second child, he told BBC 6 Music: "We done a few tracks in Abbey Road about six weeks ago. Then we've taken some time off for me to get acquainted with my new son and then we start back in Abbey Road on November 5th. - we'll probably work through a couple of months there, have Christmas off, then go and mix it and see where we're at."
On November 8, 2007, the band's official website confirmed that they returned to the studio on November 5th, and they were working with Don't Believe the Truth producer Dave Sardy.
In Liam Gallagher's Reuters interview on November 13th 2007, he revealed more about the expected timespan of the recording sessions: "We've got six weeks there, seven weeks. We'll have it done by then, without a doubt. It'll be done by Christmas. It'll be done by the 15th of December, if everything goes well. Then we'll have Christmas off, and we'll go to L.A., mix it and maybe do a bit more over there. But not too much."
Oasis announced, through its website on February 5th 2008, that the band was in Los Angeles to finish off recording the album and to mix the record.
In a February 28th 2008 radio interview for LA radio station Indie 103.1 with former Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones, Liam, Noel and Gem said mixing had been slowed down by the equipment constantly breaking, but that they hoped to be finished in a couple of weeks.
In an appearance on Russell Brand's BBC Radio 2 show on March 8th 2008, Noel declared he would be going home on March 12th, suggesting that work was finished in LA and, subsequently, on the record, although this wasn't confirmed. Oasis had also booked tour dates; a further indication the album was finished. Also in the interview Noel said that the album title came from one of Gem's lyrics on his song To Be Where There's Life.
In February 2008, Liam Gallagher left LA and returned to the UK to marry his girlfriend, Nicole Appleton. He did so without notifying any other members of the band and as a result, according to Noel Gallagher, two songs were left incomplete - I Wanna Live In A Dream (In My Record Machine) and Come On (It's Alright) - due to Liam's absence, as he was unavailable to record vocals. These songs were intended for inclusion on the album, but instead were scrapped and two other songs - Ain't Got Nothin' and (Get Off Your) High Horse Lady - which were originally slated as b-sides, were included instead. However, Noel has stated that these two unfinished songs will most likely be included on the next Oasis album.
On April 14th 2008 Noel Gallagher announced in an interview that the album was indeed completed and the band were in discussions with several record companies with which to release it. In August 2008, Reprise Records announced that it would distribute Dig Out Your Soul in North America.
Critical reactions for the album were mostly positive. In an article for the July edition of Clash, BBC Radio 1 DJ Edith Bowman said she thought the band were "back on total firing form", adding that the songs were "huge", that the first single would "hit you like a tonne weight and just really reminded me of when I heard stuff like "Rock 'n' Roll Star" and "Supersonic" for the first time", and to "get excited 'cos it will blow you away, and also that Liam had "properly acquired the title of 'great songwriter'."
In Noel Gallagher's June 15th 2008 talkSPORT interview, presenter Andy Goldstein said he had heard a few tracks and that he thought it was some of the best work the band had ever done.
Reception
BBC Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe announced the release dates of the album and the first single on his show on June 24th 2008. When doing so, he briefly spoke about the album saying that a few people at Radio 1 had heard a few of the tracks - he declared, "Oh yes! Oasis are officially back and in rocking form."
In an interview with Noel Gallagher from NME magazine dated August 6th 2008, the article claimed that the forthcoming album is "really great" and "a huge step forward from Don't Believe the Truth.
Jonathan Cohen of Billboard says that with Dig Out Your Soul, the group "[Gets] back to its stripped-down rock roots" and that the opening song, Bag It Up harks back to Definitely Maybe's Columbia.
Luke Bainbridge of The Observer gave the album 4 stars out of 5, saying "You could say that if Definitely Maybe was their Stone Roses, Dig Out Your Soul is their Second Coming. It won't win them any new fans, but those that believed the truth last time will dig this."
On September 11th 2008, 45 second previews of every song on the album were made available on the Sony Japan website, but were quickly taken down again. Whether this was intentional or not is unknown. The album was uploaded in its entirety on the official Oasis MySpace page on October 1st, and was also made to Oasis community members on the band's official site's Radio Supernova.
Alan McGee, Oasis' former manager has recently hailed the album as the "true follow-up to (What's The Story) Morning Glory?, completing the elusive and perfect rock'n'roll trilogy that began with Definitely Maybe." in his column in the Observer, McGee compared the album to The Beatles' Revolver and The Rolling Stones Beggars Banquet, McGee also wrote Dig Out Your Soul works because Noel has returned to the original inspiration of his youth for his songwriting. Definitely Maybe was about their dreams of rock'n'roll stardom, Morning Glory was about achieving the dream, Be Here Now was the coked-up aftermath, now Dig Out Your Soul is a glance to a psychedelic yesterday, again. For me, the past four post-Morning Glory albums never captured the magic of the first two. Songs from the past five albums had moments of pop reverberations and incredible songwriting, but were never complete statements. With Dig Out Your Soul, the notorious Oasis brothers have found their mojo. It's back, without a doubt."
Ryan Adams compared the album to Kid A, claiming "The first time I heard Kid A I went ‘OK, I have no fucking idea what kind of music this is but it's moving me. It sounds like a revelation.’ That's what the new Oasis stuff sounds like, it sounds like they have entered into some strange uncanny spiritual crazy door and have just lost themselves completely to it and it is marvellous."
The album also received more great reviews after several days from its official release, with critics arguing that Dig Out Your Soul is "Oasis sounding as pumped and as hard as they've ever been" and that "it seems Oasis have made something that can happily play along side Morning Glory."
Not all the reviews have been positive though, Jody Rosen of Rolling Stone magazine gave the album a 2 1/2 out of 5 stars. Rosen said of the new album that, "Oasis' latest is heavier on groove than normal, and there are a couple of gripping moments, especially Liam's stately, Lennonesque ballad I'm Outta Time. But for the most part, Dig Out Your Soul is an almost comically generic Oasis release, from its preponderance of plodding midtempo rockers (Bag It Up, Waiting For The Rapture) to the vaguely Indian raga-flavored psychedelic anthems (To Be Where There's Life). Then there's the issue of Liam's "philosophising" — he's entered the Maharishi phase of his Beatles worship, clogging songs with beatitudes like "Space and time and here and now/Are only in your mind."
In the UK, the album sold 90,000 copies on its first day of release, making it the second fastest selling album of 2008, behind Coldplay's Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends. It debuted on the UK album chart number one, with first week sales of 200,866 copies. The album debuted at number five on the US Billboard 200 with 53,000 copies sold. It is the highest chart position of any Oasis album in the US since 1997's Be Here Now which debuted at number two but fewer total opening week sales than Don't Believe The Truth.