Don't Believe the Truth

Untitled

Don't Believe the Truth is the sixth studio album by the English rock band Oasis, released on 30 May 2005. It reached number 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 US charts at number 12, with 65,000 copies sold in the first week, the highest any Oasis album had reached there since 1997's Be Here Now, although its chart stay was brief. Don't Believe the Truth went triple platinum in the UK in the first week of 2006 (900,000+ sales), and in the US has sold more than 200,000 copies.

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 from 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 3.2 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. To date the album has sold more than 7 million copies worldwide.

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 ten songs were worked on with Death in Vegas of which, according to Noel, six 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. Hot 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 instead of 30 May, 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 the dates confused.

Reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	(64/100)
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
Drowned in Sound	(3/10)
The Guardian
Mojo	June 2005 (p. 100)
NME	(6/10)
The Observer
Pitchfork Media	(4.7/10)
Q	June 2005
Rolling Stone
Spin	(9.1/10) June 2005 (p. 103)

Don't Believe the Truth received positive reviews and was considered a return to form for the band, with a metacritic score of 64 out of 100. 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.

It was the 13th biggest selling album in the UK in 2005 with sales of 848,000.

Legacy

The album has been placed on several ranking lists since its release, particularly from British rock and indie music magazines.

• In 2005 it was placed #4 in Q Magazines "Recordings of the Year".
• Also in 2005 it was placed #25 in Mojo Magazines "Recordings of the Year".
• In 2008, Don't Believe the Truth was voted the 14th best British album of all time by a poll conducted by Q Magazine and HMV.
• In 2010, the album was placed as #41 on "Top 100 Album's of the 21st Century" list by Q Magazine.
• In February 2011 it was voted #86 in "The 250 Best Album's of Q's Lifetime" featuring albums between 1986 and 2011.

In March 2011, NME retrospectively reviewed the album with a highly positive tone, stating the album "introduced a sharper, crisper and occasionally experimental band", and praising the tracks "The Importance of Being Idle" and "Part of the Queue" in particular.

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Turn Up the Sun"	Andy Bell	3:59
2.	"Mucky Fingers"	Noel Gallagher	3:55
3.	"Lyla"	Noel Gallagher	5:10
4.	"Love Like a Bomb"	Liam Gallagher, Gem Archer	2:52
5.	"The Importance of Being Idle"	Noel Gallagher	3:39
6.	"The Meaning of Soul"	Liam Gallagher	1:42
7.	"Guess God Thinks I'm Abel"	Liam Gallagher	3:24
8.	"Part of the Queue"	Noel Gallagher	3:48
9.	"Keep the Dream Alive"	Bell	5:45
10.	"A Bell Will Ring"	Archer	3:07
11.	"Let There Be Love"	Noel Gallagher	5:31

Bonus tracks

Japanese version

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
12.	"Can Y'See It Now? (I Can See It Now!!)"	Noel Gallagher	4:06
13.	"Sittin' Here in Silence (On My Own)" (B-side of "Let There Be Love")	Noel Gallagher	2:00

US iTunes version

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
12.	"Pass Me Down the Wine" (B-side of "The Importance of Being Idle")	Liam Gallagher	3:50

UK and Canadian iTunes version

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
12.	"Eyeball Tickler" (B-side of "Lyla")	Archer	2:47

Special editions

• A limited edition version of the album was released in the UK and Australia 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 US on the DualDisc edition of the album.

• As part of a promotional spot for Don't Believe the Truth, Best Buy stores released an exclusive, limited edition, free live 5-song CD enclosed in copies of the album. This features music from their Metro Club Show in Chicago, recorded on 15 October 1994. The track listing is as follows: 1. "Rock 'n' Roll Star", 2. "Columbia", 3. "Live Forever", 4. "Cigarettes & Alcohol", 5. "Supersonic".

Personnel

Oasis

• Liam Gallagher – lead vocals, tambourine
• Noel Gallagher – lead guitar, lead and backing vocals, bass guitar, producer (tracks 2, 3, 5, 8 & 11)
• Andy Bell – bass guitar, lead guitar, acoustic guitar
• Gem Archer – rhythm guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, harmonica, backing vocals (track 6)

Band members were not credited for performer or instrument credits.

Additional personnel

• Zak Starkey - drums, except on track 2
• Lenny Castro – percussion (track 7)
• Martin Duffy – piano (track 4)
• Terry Kirkbride – drums (track 2)
• Henry Phillpotts – mixing assistant (track 2)
• Paul 'Strangeboy' Stacey – mixing (track 2), piano and mellotron (track 11)