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Definitely Maybe is the highly acclaimed debut album of English band Oasis, first released on August 30th 1994 on Creation Records.

In 1994 Oasis were seen as a distant echo of the moribund 'Madchester' scene which had exploded in the early 1990s; unlike other Madchester bands they eschewed experiments with funk, dance or hip-hop, and presented themselves as a relatively straightforward rock and roll band. Along with bands like Blur and The Verve they seemed to encapsulate a new wave, one which did not yet have a name. The album folded in elements of jangle pop, shoegazing, New Wave, and indie; in the aftermath of their second album, (What's the Story) Morning Glory?, the media coined the term Britpop, of which Definitely Maybe retrospectively became the source.

Definitely Maybe went straight to number one in the UK Album charts on the week of release. It went 7x platinum in the UK and rather surprisingly, the album sold over 1 million copies in America; on the American Billboard magazine charts Definitely Maybe hit #1 on the Heatseekers chart and #58 on the Billboard 200. The album went on to sell over 7 million copies worldwide.

It was an immediate commercial and critical success, having followed on the heels of singles "Columbia" (which only saw a limited radio-only release), "Supersonic", "Shakermaker" and particularly the popular "Live Forever". The album title, according to Noel, comes from a poster he saw in a pub, although he cannot remember what the poster was advertising. Though the title is seemingly oxymoronic, it, in actuality, is not — it implies a certain possibility, depending on context, in the same way that "definitely not" is not oxymoronic.

The album was followed the next year by (What's The Story) Morning Glory?, which propelled the group to even greater fame, dominating the music press throughout 1995.

In 1997 Definitely Maybe was named the 14th greatest album of all time in a 'Music of the Millennium' poll conducted by HMV, Channel 4, The Guardian and Classic FM. It achieved the same placing in a 1998 Q magazine readers' poll. In 2005 Channel 4's '100 Greatest Albums' countdown placed the album at number 6. In a recent British poll, run by NME and the book of British Hit Singles and Albums, Definitely Maybe was voted the best album of all time with The Beatles Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band finishing second and Revolver third. Nearly 40,000 people took part in the survey which was organised to comemerate 50 years of the UK Album Chart.

Tracklisting
01. Rock 'N' Roll Star – 5:22
02. Shakermaker – 5:08
03. Live Forever – 4:36
04. Up in the Sky – 4:28
05. Columbia – 6:17
06. Supersonic – 4:43
07. Bring It on Down – 4:17
08. Cigarettes & Alcohol – 4:49
09. Digsy's Dinner" – 2:32
10. Slide Away – 6:32
11. Married with Children – 3:11

The vinyl version of the album features an extra track, "Sad Song" - this appears as track 6 on the album.

The original Australian release came with a bonus disc, containing the tracks "Whatever", "(It's Good) To Be Free", and "Half The World Away".

The original Japanese CD release came with 2 bonus tracks, "Cloudburst" at track 4, and "Sad Song" at track 6

All tracks written by Noel Gallagher.

Recording

Many of the songs had originally appeared on their "Live Demonstration" demo recorded in Liverpool the year before with Chris and Tony Griffiths of The Real People. The main recording sessions took longer than expected, with the bulk of the album having to be recorded three different times with Mark Coyle producing, before Owen Morris came up with a mix that everyone was satisfied with. The album cost nearly £85,000 to produce, a huge amount of money for an album at the time.

Singles



Supersonic

Released: April 11, 1994
Writer: Noel Gallagher
Producers: Oasis & Mark Coyle Video Director: Mark Szaszy (UK) / Nick Egan (US)
Chart position: # 31 (UK)



Shakermaker
Released: June 13, 1994
Writer: Noel Gallagher
Producers: Oasis, Mark Coyle & Owen Morris
Video Director: Nick Egan
Chart position: # 11 (UK)



Live Forever
Released: August 8, 1994
Writer: Noel Gallagher
Producers: Oasis, Mark Coyle & Owen Morris
Video Directors: Carlos Grasso (UK) / Nick Egan (US)
Chart position: # 10 (UK)



Cigarettes & Alcohol
Released: October 10, 1994
Writer: Noel Gallagher Producers: Oasis, Mark Coyle & Owen Morris
Video Director: Mark Szaszy
Chart position: # 7 (UK)

Source: Wikpedia

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