studio album
An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...
by English
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...
band
Oasis
In ecology, an oasis (; : oases ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environmentBig Brother Recordings. The album was recorded between August and December 2007 at
Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a music recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, London, Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of ...
in London, and mixed in January and March 2008 at The Village Recorder in Los Angeles. Production was handled by
Dave Sardy
David Stuart Sardy (born 1967), more commonly known as D. Sardy, is an American composer, musician, songwriter, and multiple Grammy winning record producer. He came to prominence as the leader of 1990s noise rock band Barkmarket before turning ...
, who had previously produced much of the group's sixth studio album, ''
Don't Believe the Truth
''Don't Believe the Truth'' is the sixth studio album by English rock band Oasis. It was released on 30 May 2005 by Big Brother Recordings. It reached number one in the UK Albums Chart with first week sales of 237,865, and is the 32nd fastest s ...
'' (2005). Lead guitarist
Noel Gallagher
Noel Thomas David Gallagher (born 29 May 1967) is an English musician, singer and songwriter. Gallagher is the primary songwriter, lead guitarist and a co-lead vocalist of the rock band Oasis (band), Oasis. After leaving Oasis, he formed Noel ...
wrote a majority of the songs, while three were written by
Liam Gallagher
William John Paul Gallagher (born 21 September 1972) is an English singer and songwriter. He is the lead singer and co-founder of the rock band Oasis (band), Oasis and fronted the rock band Beady Eye from 2010 to 2014, before starting a succes ...
as well as one contribution each from
Gem Archer
Colin Murray "Gem" Archer ( '; born 7 December 1966) is an English guitarist and singer. He is best known as a member of the rock bands Oasis, Beady Eye and Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, making him and Chris Sharrock the only members ...
and Andy Bell.
The album was supported by three singles. The first single, " The Shock of the Lightning", was released shortly before the release of the album, on 29 September 2008. In addition to the standard release, there was also a limited edition boxset containing the album on CD, a bonus disc containing extra material and remixes, a DVD with a documentary of the making of the album, four 12" vinyl discs that contained all the music from the CDs cut in high-quality 45rpm and a hardback book of album artwork.
''Dig Out Your Soul'' received positive reviews from critics for its harder rock and psychedelic rock sound that the band created, and it was a commercial success. The album was supported by the
Dig Out Your Soul Tour
The Dig Out Your Soul Tour was a concert tour by English rock band Oasis to support their album ''Dig Out Your Soul''. The tour started in Seattle, Washington, at the WaMu Theater on 26 August 2008 and was planned to continue until 30 August 200 ...
, debuting in
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...
at the
WaMu Theater
Lumen Field is a multi-purpose stadium in Seattle, Washington, United States. Located in the city's SoDo neighborhood, it is the home field for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL), Seattle Sounders FC of Major League So ...
, and continuing for eighteen months. In August 2009, after nearly completing the British part of the tour, (they also cancelled their appearance at the second leg of the V festival in Chelmsford being replaced by Snow Patrol), the brothers argued backstage at the
Rock en Seine
Rock en Seine () is a multiple-day rock music festival, held at Domaine National de Saint-Cloud, the Château de Saint-Cloud's park, west of Paris, inside the garden designed by André Le Nôtre.
Name
The name is a pun, based on exactly the ...
festival near
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
, cancelling their appearance and the rest of the tour, with Noel Gallagher later announcing that he had left the band.
Concept and sound
In a January 2007 interview for ''
NME
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...
'',
Noel Gallagher
Noel Thomas David Gallagher (born 29 May 1967) is an English musician, singer and songwriter. Gallagher is the primary songwriter, lead guitarist and a co-lead vocalist of the rock band Oasis (band), Oasis. After leaving Oasis, he formed Noel ...
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 sink at it", he explained. "We haven't done that since '' Be Here Now''. I'd like to get, like, a 100-piece orchestra and choirs and all that stuff. I think since ''
Standing on the Shoulder of Giants
''Standing on the Shoulder of Giants'' is the fourth studio album by English rock band Oasis, released on 28 February 2000. It was the band's first album under their new record label Big Brother Recordings. In the year preceding the album's re ...
'' 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 fucking colossal album. You know? Like literally two orchestras, stuff like that."
In October 2007, Noel revealed more about the record to
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
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
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.
The agency ...
, singer
Liam Gallagher
William John Paul Gallagher (born 21 September 1972) is an English singer and songwriter. He is the lead singer and co-founder of the rock band Oasis (band), Oasis and fronted the rock band Beady Eye from 2010 to 2014, before starting a succes ...
revealed more details on how the record was going: "All the songs are wrote, this record's gonna be fuckin' rockin'. There's no acoustic on it, man. We rehearsed about 10 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 pickin' em off the tree, man. Some are sounding really fucking 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 a 15 June 2008 interview with talkSPORT, Noel said the album was "colossal", "rockin'" and added "it's gonna sound great live, which is the most important thing." Between various songs on the album are several interludes (such as the sound of someone walking down a beach). Oasis have described these as "bits inbetween".
Recording
For the recording of ''Dig Out Your Soul'', Oasis reunited with ''
Don't Believe the Truth
''Don't Believe the Truth'' is the sixth studio album by English rock band Oasis. It was released on 30 May 2005 by Big Brother Recordings. It reached number one in the UK Albums Chart with first week sales of 237,865, and is the 32nd fastest s ...
'' producer
Dave Sardy
David Stuart Sardy (born 1967), more commonly known as D. Sardy, is an American composer, musician, songwriter, and multiple Grammy winning record producer. He came to prominence as the leader of 1990s noise rock band Barkmarket before turning ...
at
Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a music recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, London, Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of ...
in
Westminster
Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...
. Sessions began in July/August 2007 and concluded around Christmas with intermittent breaks. There was a brief period of confusion in which it seemed that Oasis would have had to forgo recording at Abbey Road due to U2 having reserved the recording areas that Oasis wished to use far in advance. The issue was resolved when Noel bought U2's spot in cash without the band's knowledge; this was possible due to the fact that the studios gave preference to cash payments over credit, which U2 had been booked with.Bosso, Joe "Oasis Booted U2 from Abbey Road – With Cash" . ''Music Radar''. 23 July 2008 Zak Starkey was made an official member during the sessions.
The album art was created by artist Julian House.
Ralph Steadman
Ralph Idris Steadman (born 15 May 1936) is a British illustrator and collaborator with the American writer Hunter S. Thompson. Steadman draws satirical political cartoons, social caricatures, and picture books.
Early life
Steadman was born in ...
suggested the phrase "Dig Out Your Soul" for the album's title, a line in the song "To Be Where There's Life". According to Noel, "We gave him teadmanthe album, he listened to it and we gave him the lyrics… He came back with a list of titles and one of them was ''Dig Out Your Soul''. Noel's only instruction was "As long as we don't call it ''Oasis'' I don't give a fuck". Mixing took place in Los Angeles, and was slowed by constant equipment failure. After the album was completed and the band began discussions with several record companies with which to release it. In August 2008,
Reprise Records
Reprise Records is an American record label founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operates through Warner Records, one of its flagship labels.
Artists currently signed to Reprise Records include Green Day, En ...
announced that it would distribute ''Dig Out Your Soul'' in North America. The songs "(I Wanna Live in a Dream in My) Record Machine" and "Come on Outside" were planned to be on ''Dig Out Your Soul'', but were ultimately left off as according to Noel, Liam "ran out of time" to record them.Graff, Gary "Oasis Feeling Thematic, Kinks-y on New Songs" . billboard.com. 27 Oct 2008.
Promotion
Official advertising, guerrilla marketing in the UK
British creative agency Intro was responsible for the ''Dig Out Your Soul'' promotion. Initially they were approached only for the album cover, for which the band chose Intro's creative partner Julian House, who became the campaign's art director. Promotion in the United Kingdom included
television advertising
A television advertisement (also called a commercial, spot, break, advert, or ad) is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization. It conveys a message promoting, and aiming to market, a product, service or idea. ...
and the use of
billboards
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large out-of-home advertising, outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboard ...
throughout major cities in the UK. Advertising was also taken in national newspapers around the time of the album's release. The album was also advertised for free on social networking website, Myspace. The comedian
Russell Brand
Russell Edward Brand (born 4 June 1975) is an English comedian, actor, podcaster and media personality. He established himself as a stand-up comedian and radio host before becoming a film actor. After beginning his career as a comedian and la ...
, a friend of
Noel Gallagher
Noel Thomas David Gallagher (born 29 May 1967) is an English musician, singer and songwriter. Gallagher is the primary songwriter, lead guitarist and a co-lead vocalist of the rock band Oasis (band), Oasis. After leaving Oasis, he formed Noel ...
, lent his voice to the album's TV campaign.
In London, Leeds, Glasgow, Brighton and Liverpool, coinciding with the launch of the album, the logo of the album appeared as a spray tag on pavements, including on the forecourt of the just newly opened Shepherd's Bush station.
Busking in New York
Sheet music and lyrics were given to several busking bands around the New York area. It was reported through the band's official website that four songs ("The Turning", "(Get Off Your) High Horse Lady", "Bag It Up" and " The Shock of the Lightning") were performed by the bands on the streets of New York. It was reported by ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' that these buskers were selected after applying online through the band's official website. An official video from the band's website shows Gem Archer, Andy Bell and Liam Gallagher present during the rehearsals of the new songs.
Songbook
To coincide with an "Oasis extravaganza" issue of ''NME'' magazine on 16 September 2008, a free songbook was included which featured chords and lyrics to three songs: "Bag It Up", "The Turning" and "(Get Off Your) High Horse Lady". There are also various album and band images in the booklet. Also included is a CD-ROM with interviews from all band members, wallpapers, various competitions and a two-part video tutorial on how to play "Supersonic".
Other media
"Bag It Up", "The Shock of the Lightning" and "Waiting for the Rapture" is featured as downloadable content in the Oasis Track Pack for ''
Guitar Hero World Tour
''Guitar Hero World Tour'' is a 2008 rhythm game developed by Neversoft and published by Activision. It is the fourth main installment and the sixth overall installment in the Guitar Hero, ''Guitar Hero'' series. The game was launched in North A ...
''. The rest of the album was made available on 29 January 2009. Additionally, "Falling Down" was featured as the opening theme song to the
anime
is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...
series
Eden of the East
is a Japanese anime television series, which was broadcast on Fuji TV's Noitamina timeslot from April to June 2009. Created, directed and written by Kenji Kamiyama, it features character designs by Chica Umino and animation productio ...
.
"The Shock of the Lightning", "I'm Outta Time" and "Falling Down" were released as singles. A remix version of "Falling Down" by
the Chemical Brothers
The Chemical Brothers are an English electronic music duo formed by Ed Simons and Tom Rowlands in Manchester in 1992. They were pioneers in bringing the big beat genre to the forefront of pop culture.
Originally known as The Dust Brothers, th ...
was first released as a free-download in August 2008, followed by an official release in March 2009.
An instrumental version of the album consisting of just the backing tracks was released by Big Brother Recordings on 21 December 2011.
Reception
Critical reception of the album was very positive and received critical acclaim, with a
score SCORE may refer to:
*SCORE (software), a music scorewriter program
* SCORE (television), a weekend sports service of the defunct Financial News Network
*SCORE! Educational Centers
*SCORE International, an offroad racing organization
*Sarawak Corrido ...
of 66/100 on
Metacritic
Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
. Many critics lauded ''Dig Out Your Soul'' as one of the strongest albums ever recorded by the band, and noted that "it seems Oasis have made something that can happily play alongside ''Morning Glory''." 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 Maybes "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."
Not all reviews have been positive, however; Jody Rosen of ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason.
The magazine was first known fo ...
'' magazine gave the album a 2½ out of 5 stars. Rosen said of the new album that, "''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-flavoured psychedelic anthems ("To Be Where There's Life")."
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
Coldplay are a British Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1997. They consist of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer and percussionist Will Champion, and manager Phil Harvey (band m ...
's ''
Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends
''Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends'', often referred to as simply ''Viva la Vida'', is the fourth studio album by the British Rock music, rock band Coldplay, released on 12 June 2008 by Parlophone in the United Kingdom. "Viva la vida" ...
''. It debuted on the
UK Albums Chart
The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...
at number 1, with first week sales of 200,866 copies, making it the 51st fastest selling album ever in the UK. The album debuted at number 5 on the ''Billboard'' 200 in the US, with 53,000 copies sold.Hasty, Katie "T.I. Begins Second Week Atop Billboard 200" . billboard.com. 15 Oct 2008. It is the highest chart position of any Oasis album in the US since 1997's '' Be Here Now'' which debuted at number 2, but fewer total opening week sales than ''
Don't Believe the Truth
''Don't Believe the Truth'' is the sixth studio album by English rock band Oasis. It was released on 30 May 2005 by Big Brother Recordings. It reached number one in the UK Albums Chart with first week sales of 237,865, and is the 32nd fastest s ...
''. It has spent a total of 32 weeks in the French Albums Chart, the most ever by any Oasis album.
Legacy
* Number 38 in ''Spin'' magazine's "Best Albums of 2008" list.
* Number 32 in ''Q'' magazine's "Recordings of 2008" list.
* Number 22 in ''NME'' magazine's "Best Albums of 2008" list.
* In 2011 it was voted number 207 in ''Q'' magazine's "250 Best Albums of Q's Lifetime" list featuring albums from 1986 to 2011.
Track listing
Bonus Tracks
Personnel
Oasis
*
Liam Gallagher
William John Paul Gallagher (born 21 September 1972) is an English singer and songwriter. He is the lead singer and co-founder of the rock band Oasis (band), Oasis and fronted the rock band Beady Eye from 2010 to 2014, before starting a succes ...
– vocals (1–2, 4–5, 8–11), acoustic guitar (5)
*
Noel Gallagher
Noel Thomas David Gallagher (born 29 May 1967) is an English musician, singer and songwriter. Gallagher is the primary songwriter, lead guitarist and a co-lead vocalist of the rock band Oasis (band), Oasis. After leaving Oasis, he formed Noel ...
– electric and acoustic guitars, keyboards, electronics, drums (1, 3, 11), melodica (11), lead vocals (3, 6, 7), backing vocals
*
Gem Archer
Colin Murray "Gem" Archer ( '; born 7 December 1966) is an English guitarist and singer. He is best known as a member of the rock bands Oasis, Beady Eye and Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, making him and Chris Sharrock the only members ...
– electric and acoustic guitars, keyboards, bass guitar
* Andy Bell – bass guitar, electric guitar, keyboards, tamboura
Additional personnel
*
Zak Starkey
Zak Richard Starkey (born 13 September 1965) is an English rock drummer who toured and recorded with the Who from 1996 to 2025. He is also the third drummer to have appeared with Oasis. Other musicians and bands he has worked with include Johnny ...
Mellotron
The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which causes a length of magnetic tape to contact a Capstan (tape recorder), capstan, which pulls i ...
, electronics (7)
* The National In-Choir – backing vocals (2)
*
Dave Sardy
David Stuart Sardy (born 1967), more commonly known as D. Sardy, is an American composer, musician, songwriter, and multiple Grammy winning record producer. He came to prominence as the leader of 1990s noise rock band Barkmarket before turning ...
engineering
Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...
* Andy Brohard –
Pro Tools
Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed and released by Avid Technology (formerly Digidesign) for Microsoft Windows and macOS. It is used for music creation and production, sound for picture (sound design, audio post-productio ...
editing
* Cameron Barton – engineering
* Chris Bolster – engineering
* Ghian Wright – engineering
* Ian Cooper – mastering
* Alec Gomez/Lawrie Medina – assistant