Original Oasis 'Definitely Maybe' Producer Reflects On Why Sessions Were Abandoned

10-01-2024

Oasis are selling out venues with their recently announced reunion tour and the album that first made them superstars, 1994's "Definitely Maybe", was actually the group's second attempt at the record.

They originally went into the Monnow Valley Studio in Wales with Scottish producer Dave Batchelor and recorded almost an album's worth of material, but the tracks from those sessions were ultimately abandoned and the band started over to record what would be the official version of "Definitely Maybe".

Veteran music journalist Martin Kielty recently caught up with Batchelor for a lengthy discussion about those original recording sessions for Ultimate Classic Rock. As Batchelor looks back, he feels that they captured some great material in the studio, but they began recording prematurely and should have taken a little more time to perfect the arrangements. "As we worked through some arrangement changes to prepare for laying tracks, I felt we'd probably need another week, just to get things bedded in," he shared. "Instead, we ended up with just a couple of days. So we could have been better prepared going into the studio. And also, given that it was a relatively new experience for the band. Still, the material was so strong and the energy level so high, we were all buzzing to start recording."

He went on to explain that as they began recording, "The material was strong. The band were fired up and I thought we had cut some solid backing tracks, and Liam put down great vocal performances - it was feeling good.

"But there did come a point when I felt we were losing momentum, taking longer than it should have. And I could sense some frustration coming from the band. When we got to the mixing stage and did the first track, 'Bring It on Down,' this was the point where it felt like hard work. I'd become aware the recording engineer wasn't really giving me the vibe I wanted.

"An excellent engineer, but too clean and pristine in his approach to things. I knew the mixing stage was going to be a learning curve for both of us. It was early days from my perspective - the band's attitude and color was yet to be pinned down. But we were getting there."

"I thought we had some great performances in the can," Batchelor further explained, "but by the final mixing stage the band felt it wasn't working for them, so they decided to end things at that point."

He now says of the sessions and what ultimately became the album, "in hindsight, some of those early recordings may well have fallen short in delivering the full potential of the band. And in retrospect perhaps I was not quite suited to the project. Certainly, coming out of those sessions, I could not have seen where they arrived at with Definitely Maybe!"