Definitely Maybe (1994) is one of the great debut albums in pop music. With majestic Britpop classics like Shakermaker, Live Forever, Supersonic and Cigarettes And Alcohol it is a statement, a milestone and all those superlatives you can shout about an album.
Contrary to what you might suspect, the creation of the album was far from easy. In the autumn of 1993, the band entered the Monnow Valley Studios in Rockfield with producer David Batchelor. Dissatisfied with the result, Oasis then went to work on their own in the Sawmills studio in Cornwall. Noel Gallagher took on the production there himself, assisted by Mark Coyle, the roadie of Inspiral Carpets.
Those recordings would eventually be released, but only after they had been remixed by Owen Morris. The anniversary edition of the album features recordings from both sessions, remixed for the occasion by Noel Gallagher himself. It is striking how little the sessions were different. In other words: with a different sound mix, Oasis could have saved themselves the second session. The final versions sound a little more pronounced, but the outtakes also burst from the speakers.
And if that’s not reason enough to buy the anniversary edition, there’s the demo of Sad Song at the end, a beautiful song that was completely wrongly hidden away on a promo single. Oasis had a lot of good songs in 1994 and was bursting with self-confidence. And you can hear it.
