Heathen Chemistry

Untitled

Heathen Chemistry is the fifth studio album by English rock band Oasis, released in 2002.

The album was written and recorded with a back-to-basics sound with a more rock feel to it; the more crude and simple sound differs from the musical grandiosity of their previous records, Be Here Now and Standing on the Shoulder of Giants, being more comparable to their early work.

Heathen Chemistry would prove to be last album to feature the band's longtime drummer, Alan White, who left in early 2004, with Noel Gallagher claiming White's commitment to the band was not adequate. He was effectively replaced with Ringo Starr's son, Zak Starkey.

The name Heathen Chemistry was taken from a second hand T-shirt that Noel had stumbled across.

Recording

Heathen Chemistry was recorded during 2001–early 2002 and is the first Oasis album to have significant writing contributions from members other than chief songwriter Noel Gallagher. Front man Liam Gallagher contributed three songs, and new bassist Andy Bell and rhythm guitarist Gem Archer contributed one song each as well.

Although most of the song's instrumentation was complete by mid-to-late 2001, Noel indicated that the release date of the album was being needlessly delayed by Liam's apparent reluctance to lay down his vocal parts at recording sessions, and went on to state that he was "livid" at the lack of work being done:

"I was really happy with (the album) until recently, but I'm fucking livid now. I finished my bits three-and-a-half months ago, and then we handed it over to Liam, and in three-and-a-half months he's done nothing. Just concentrated on his drinking habit again. It's just drifting at the moment.

All the backing tracks are done and it's a fantastic album of instrumentals. Hand it over to the singer and it just slows down and becomes this one really long, drawn-out, painful process. So, to be honest with you, I don't know when it'll come out now. It's down to him."

Despite the setbacks during the recording process, when the album was finally complete Noel was confident that it was the group's second best album to date, behind their debut Definitely Maybe.

The title of the album, according to Noel, came from a t-shirt he bought in Ibiza which featured a logo reading, "The Society of Heathen Chemists". Similarly, the name of the first single, "The Hindu Times", originated from a logo on a t-shirt that read the same thing, which Noel saw during a photo shoot for GQ's 100 Greatest Guitarists edition. The name was given to the track when it was just an instrumental, as all the instrumentals of this album were given actual titles as opposed to "Instrumental 1", etc., and the name stuck once the track was finished.

Release

The release of the album was overshadowed by an Internet leak of all 11 songs almost three months prior to release, which was evident at a Las Vegas show the group performed where fans knew the words to several new songs before the album's release. However, listeners of the commercially released album heard slight differences to two tracks, "Little by Little" and "Better Man."

The length of track 11 is 38:03, this is because of a hidden track called "The Cage", which begins after 30 minutes of silence.

The album has sold around one million copies in the UK, being certified triple platinum, and 154,000 copies in the US. Upon release, Heathen Chemistry went straight to number one in the UK, though it fared rather poorly in the US, only entering at number 23.

It was the 11th biggest selling album of 2002 in the UK with just over 800,000 copies sold.

It spawned four singles, each of which made the top three in the UK charts: "The Hindu Times", their sixth number one single in the UK, "Stop Crying Your Heart Out","Little By Little/She Is Love", the double A-side sung by Noel Gallagher, and "Songbird", the first single written by Liam.

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	link
Blender	link
Entertainment.ie	link
The Guardian	link
NME	link
Pitchfork Media	(1.2/10) link
Rolling Stone	link
Stylus Magazine	(D) link

Reception for the album was generally positive, many noting that it was better than the last effort, Standing on the Shoulder of Giants. A review on Sputnik Music quoted "Give it a try with unprejudiced mind and I'm sure you'll at least 'like it' if not 'love it'. The album may not be very successful commercially, but if the songs are nice, who cares about being a commercial success?", and gave the album 3.5/5 stars [1]. The same review also listed "Songbird" as one of the album's highlights.

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"The Hindu Times"	Noel Gallagher	3:47
2.	"Force of Nature"	N. Gallagher	4:50
3.	"Hung in a Bad Place"	Gem Archer	3:27
4.	"Stop Crying Your Heart Out"	N. Gallagher	5:03
5.	"Songbird"	Liam Gallagher	2:07
6.	"Little by Little"	N. Gallagher	4:55
7.	"A Quick Peep" (Instrumental)	Andy Bell	1:19
8.	"(Probably) All in the Mind"	N. Gallagher	4:04
9.	"She Is Love"	N. Gallagher	3:11
10.	"Born on a Different Cloud"	L. Gallagher	6:11
11.	"Better Man"	L. Gallagher	4:19

Hidden track

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
12.	"The Cage" (Instrumental)	N. Gallagher	4:43

Japanese bonus track

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
13.	"You've Got The Heart of a Star"	N. Gallagher	5:24

Personnel

Oasis

• Liam Gallagher – lead vocals
• Noel Gallagher – guitars, vocals
• Gem Archer – guitars
• Andy Bell – bass
• Alan White – drums

Additional musicians

• Paul Stacey – mellotron on track 1, piano on tracks 2, 3 and 11, hammond organ on track 6
• Mike Rowe – piano on tracks 4 and 10, pump organ on track 9, hammond organ on tracks 8, 9 and 10
• Johnny Marr – guitar solo on track 8, slide guitar on track 10, guitars on track 11, backing vocals on track 11
• London Session Orchestra – strings on track 4

Charts

Country	Peak position	Certifications
United Kingdom	1	3x Platinum
Australia	4	Gold
Canada	5	Gold
France	8
Germany	4
Ireland	1
Netherlands	32
New Zealand	16
Sweden	2
United States	23