Dig Out Your Soul
Encyclopedia
Dig Out Your Soul is the seventh and final studio album by English rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 band Oasis
Oasis (band)
Oasis were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1991. Originally known as The Rain, the group was formed by Liam Gallagher , Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs , Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan and Tony McCarroll , who were soon joined by Liam's older brother Noel Gallagher...

. It was released in October 2008. The first single, "The Shock of the Lightning
The Shock of the Lightning
"The Shock of the Lightning" is a song by English rock band Oasis and is the fourth track from the band's seventh studio album, Dig Out Your Soul. The song was released as the first single from the album on 29 September 2008...

", was released on 29 September 2008. In promotion of the album, the band embarked on a world tour
Dig Out Your Soul Tour
The Dig Out Your Soul Tour was a world concert tour by English rock band Oasis, in support of their album Dig Out Your Soul. The tour started in Seattle, WA at the WaMu Theater and was planned to continue until 30 August, where they were scheduled to play their final show of the tour at the I-Day...

, debuting in Seattle, Washington at the WaMu Theater
Qwest Field
CenturyLink Field is a multi-purpose stadium in Seattle, Washington, United States. It serves as the home field for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League and Seattle Sounders FC of Major League Soccer...

, and continuing for eighteen months. In 2009, the tour concluded (due to Noel Gallagher quitting the band) with major dates at some of the UK's biggest stadiums, notably the new Wembley Stadium
Wembley Stadium
The original Wembley Stadium, officially known as the Empire Stadium, was a football stadium in Wembley, a suburb of north-west London, standing on the site now occupied by the new Wembley Stadium that opened in 2007...

, Sunderland's Stadium of Light
Stadium of Light
The Stadium of Light is an all-seater football stadium in Sunderland, England. With space for 49,000 spectators, the Stadium of Light has the fifth-largest capacity of any English football stadium. The stadium primarily hosts Sunderland A.F.C. matches...

 and Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

's Murrayfield
Murrayfield Stadium
Murrayfield Stadium is a sports stadium located in the west end of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Its all-seater capacity was recently reduced from 67,800 to 67,130 to incorporate the largest permanent "big screen" in the country though it still remains the largest stadium in Scotland and one...

 as well as Ireland's Slane Castle
Slane Concert
Slane Concert is a concert held most years since 1981 in the grounds of Slane Castle near Slane, County Meath, in Ireland. The castle is owned by Henry Conyngham, 8th Marquess Conyngham, who was the Earl of Mountcharles until 2009. Slane lies between Navan and Drogheda, about 45 km northwest...

. They also performed three hometown shows at Manchester's Heaton Park
Heaton Park
Heaton Park, covering an area variously reported as , 247 hectares, , over and is the biggest park in Greater Manchester, England and one of the biggest municipal parks in Europe. The park comprises the grounds of a Grade I listed, neoclassical 18th century country house, Heaton Hall...

. To date, Dig Out Your Soul has sold around 5 million copies worldwide.

Concept and sound

A January 2007 interview for NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...

, Noel Gallagher
Noel Gallagher
Noel Thomas David Gallagher is an English musician and singer-songwriter, formerly the lead guitarist, backing vocalist and principal songwriter of the English rock band Oasis. He is currently fronting his solo project, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds.Raised in Burnage, Manchester with his...

 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
Standing on the Shoulder of Giants is the fourth studio album by English rock band Oasis, released on 28 February 2000. The album is the 16th fastest selling album in UK chart history, selling over 310,000 copies in its first week...

 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
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 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
The Importance of Being Idle (song)
"The Importance of Being Idle" is a song by the English rock band Oasis from their sixth album, Don't Believe the Truth, written and sung by lead guitarist Noel Gallagher. It was the second single released from the album in the UK, on 22 August 2005, where it debuted at number one...

", "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
Reuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...

, singer Liam Gallagher
Liam Gallagher
William John Paul "Liam" Gallagher is an English musician and singer-songwriter, the former frontman of the English rock band Oasis and currently of the band Beady Eye. Gallagher's erratic behaviour, distinctive singing style, and abrasive attitude have been the subject of commentary in the press...

 revealed more details on how the record is going: "All the songs are wrote (sic), 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 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." In further interviews, Gallagher was also quick to challenge the belief that the album would be a continuation of the band's Britpop
Britpop
Britpop is a subgenre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom. Britpop emerged from the British independent music scene of the early 1990s and was characterised by bands influenced by British guitar pop music of the 1960s and 1970s...

 history, claiming "It's not Britpop... some of it sounds a bit glam. There's no pop singles on it."

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
Don't Believe the Truth is the sixth studio album by 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 U.S...

 producer Dave Sardy
Dave Sardy
David Sardy is a Brooklyn born-and-raised composer, musician, songwriter, and record producer- Biography :...

 at Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios is a recording studio located at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music company EMI, its present owner...

 in Westminster
City of Westminster
The City of Westminster is a London borough occupying much of the central area of London, England, including most of the West End. It is located to the west of and adjoining the ancient City of London, directly to the east of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, and its southern boundary...

. Sessions began in July/August 2007 and concluded around Christmas with a few intermitted breaks in-between. 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.

The album art was created by artist Julian House
Julian House
Julian House is a graphic designer, a musician, and the co-owner of the Ghost Box Music record label.-Graphic design:House is associated with Intro, a London-based design/production direction company who work in many media...

. Ralph Steadman
Ralph Steadman
Ralph Steadman is a British cartoonist and caricaturist who is perhaps best known for his work with American author Hunter S. Thompson.-Personal life:Steadman was born in Wallasey, Cheshire, and brought up in Towyn, North Wales...

 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 [Steadman] the 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
Reprise Records is an American record label, founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operated through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:...

 announced that it would distribute Dig Out Your Soul in North America.

The songs "I Want to Live in a Dream in My Record Machine" and "Come on It's Alright" 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.

Reception

Critical reception of the album was generally favourable. 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 the reviews have been positive though, Jody Rosen of Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

 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-flavored 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
Coldplay are a British alternative rock band formed in 1996 by lead vocalist Chris Martin and lead guitarist Jonny Buckland at University College London. After they formed Pectoralz, Guy Berryman joined the group as a bassist and they changed their name to Starfish. Will Champion joined as a...

's Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends
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 British rock band Coldplay, released on 11 June 2008 on Parlophone. The album was named after a Spanish phrase that translates in English as "long live life"...

. It debuted on the UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...

 at #1, with first week sales of 200,866 copies, making it the 51st fastest selling album ever in the UK. The album debuted at #5 on the Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...

 in the U.S., 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 #2, but fewer total opening week sales than Don't Believe the Truth
Don't Believe the Truth
Don't Believe the Truth is the sixth studio album by 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 U.S...

. It has so far spent a total of 30 weeks in the French Albums Chart, the most ever by any Oasis album.

Official advertising

The album was legitimately advertised through television advertising and the use of billboards throughout major cities in the UK. Advertising was also taken in national newspapers around the time of the albums release. The album was also advertisied for free on social networking website, Myspace. The comedian Russell Brand
Russell Brand
Russell Edward Brand is an English comedian, actor, columnist, singer, author and radio/television presenter.Brand achieved mainstream fame in the UK in 2004 for his role as host of Big Brother spin-off, Big Brother's Big Mouth. His first major film role was in the 2007 film St Trinians...

- a friend of Noel Gallagher
Noel Gallagher
Noel Thomas David Gallagher is an English musician and singer-songwriter, formerly the lead guitarist, backing vocalist and principal songwriter of the English rock band Oasis. He is currently fronting his solo project, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds.Raised in Burnage, Manchester with his...

, lent his voice to the albums TV campaign.

Guerilla marketing in various parts of UK

In London, Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...

, Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

, Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...

 and Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

, 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
Shepherd's Bush stations
Shepherd's Bush is an area of west London, United Kingdom, which has been served by a number of London Underground and commuter rail stations over past 150 years, many of which have had similar names...

.

Busking in New York

Sheet music and lyrics were given to several busking bands around the New York area
New York metropolitan area
The New York metropolitan area, also known as Greater New York, or the Tri-State area, is the region that composes of New York City and the surrounding region...

. 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
The Shock of the Lightning
"The Shock of the Lightning" is a song by English rock band Oasis and is the fourth track from the band's seventh studio album, Dig Out Your Soul. The song was released as the first single from the album on 29 September 2008...

") were performed by the bands on the streets of New York. It was reported by the New York Times 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. The songbook 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
Guitar Hero World Tour is a music video game developed by Neversoft and published by RedOctane and Activision. It is the fourth main entry in the Guitar Hero series...

. The rest of the album was made available on 29 January 2009.

Singles

"The Shock of the Lightning", "I'm Outta Time" and "Falling Down" were released as singles. "Falling Down" was first released as a free-download in August 2008, followed by an official release in March 2009.

Legacy

  • #38 in Spin magazine's "Best Albums Of 2008" list.
  • #32 in Q magazine's "Recordings Of 2008" list.
  • #22 in NME magazine's "Best Albums Of 2008" list.
  • In 2011 it was voted #207 in Q magazine's "250 Best Albums Of Q's Lifetime" list featuring albums from 1986 to 2011.

Track listing

Oasis

  • Liam Gallagher
    Liam Gallagher
    William John Paul "Liam" Gallagher is an English musician and singer-songwriter, the former frontman of the English rock band Oasis and currently of the band Beady Eye. Gallagher's erratic behaviour, distinctive singing style, and abrasive attitude have been the subject of commentary in the press...

     – vocals, tambourine
    Tambourine
    The tambourine or marine is a musical instrument of the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zils". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though some variants may not have a head at all....

  • Noel Gallagher
    Noel Gallagher
    Noel Thomas David Gallagher is an English musician and singer-songwriter, formerly the lead guitarist, backing vocalist and principal songwriter of the English rock band Oasis. He is currently fronting his solo project, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds.Raised in Burnage, Manchester with his...

     – vocals, electric guitar, keyboards, electronics, drums (tracks 1, 3 and 11)
  • Gem Archer
    Gem Archer
    Colin Murray "Gem" Archer is a member of the English rock band Beady Eye. He is, however, best known for his work with Heavy Stereo and Oasis. He joined Oasis as rhythm guitarist in November 1999, and handled lead guitarist for acoustics as well. He also contributed towards the writing of some of...

     – electric guitar, keyboards, bass
  • Andy Bell
    Andy Bell (musician)
    Andrew Piran "Andy" Bell is a Welsh musician, currently playing guitar in the band Beady Eye. He is a songwriter, singer, producer, DJ and former member of the early 1990s shoegazing band, Ride, and later, Hurricane #1...

     – bass, electric guitar, tamboura, keyboards.

Additional personnel

  • Zak Starkey
    Zak Starkey
    Zak Starkey is an English rock drummer. He is the son of Beatles drummer Ringo Starr and Starr's first wife Maureen Starkey Tigrett. He is also well known for his unofficial membership in the English rock band The Who, with whom he has performed and recorded since 1996. He is also the third...

     – drums (except track 11)
  • Jay Darlington
    Jay Darlington
    Jay Darlington is an English keyboardist who has played as a member of the band Kula Shaker and as a live member of Oasis.-Early life and Kula Shaker: 1968-1999:...

     – mellotron
    Mellotron
    The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical, polyphonic tape replay keyboard originally developed and built in Birmingham, England in the early 1960s. It superseded the Chamberlin Music Master, which was the world's first sample-playback keyboard intended for music...

     and electronics on "Falling Down"
  • The National In-Choir – backing vocals on "The Turning"
  • Dave Sardy
    Dave Sardy
    David Sardy is a Brooklyn born-and-raised composer, musician, songwriter, and record producer- Biography :...

     – production, mixing
    Audio mixing (recorded music)
    In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may...

  • Ryan Castle – engineering
    Audio engineering
    An audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...

  • Andy Brohard – Pro Tools
    Pro Tools
    Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation platform for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems, developed and manufactured by Avid Technology. It is widely used by professionals throughout the audio industries for recording and editing in music production, film scoring, film, and television...

     editing
  • Cameron Barton – engineering
  • Chris Bolster – engineering
  • Ghian Wright – engineering
  • Ian Cooper – mastering
    Audio mastering
    Mastering, a form of audio post-production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device ; the source from which all copies will be produced...

  • Alec Gomez/Lawrie Medina – Assistant

Chart position

Country Provider(s) Peak
position
Certification Sales
Italy FIMI 1 Platinum 80,000
United Kingdom BPI
British Phonographic Industry
The British Phonographic Industry is the British record industry's trade association.-Structure:Its membership comprises hundreds of music companies including all four "major" record companies , associate members such as manufacturers and distributors, and hundreds of independent music companies...

1 2x Platinum 800,000
Japan RIAJ
Recording Industry Association of Japan
The Recording Industry Association of Japan is an industry trade group composed of Japanese corporations involved the music industry...

2 Gold 200,000+
Switzerland IFPI
IFPI
The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry is the organisation that represents the interests of the recording industry worldwide. It is a not-for-profit members' organisation registered in Switzerland...

2 Gold 20,000
Ireland IRMA
Irish Recorded Music Association
Irish Recorded Music Association is the Irish record industry association. IRMA is a non-profit association set up to manage and control the music industry in the Republic of Ireland.-Goals and activities:...

2 2x Platinum 30,000+
Argentina CAPIF 3 - 10,000
Brazil POPROCK 1 Gold 50,000
France IFOP 4 Silver 75,000
United States RIAA
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...

5 - 116,000+
Australia ARIA
Australian Recording Industry Association
The Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956...

5 - 25,000
Canada CRIA
Cria
A cria is the name for a baby camelid such as a llama, alpaca, vicuña, or guanaco. It comes from the Spanish word cría, meaning "baby". Its false cognate in English, crya , was coined by British sailors who explored Chile in the 18th century and were quick to describe the camelids onomatopoeically...

5 20,000
New Zealand RIANZ 6 5,000
Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...

6 3,000
Germany GfK AG 8 95,000
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