Don't Believe the Truth

The recording process for Don't Believe the Truth was prolonged. The album was originally supposed to be released around summer/autumn 2004, with an initial three to four-week session produced by Death in Vegas.[5] The recording finally began after Alan White's departure in January 2004 at Sawmills Studios in Cornwall, though the group wasn't satisfied with the results, as Noel said "Unfortunately, after the recording process we decided we didn't like anything we had played/recorded during those three weeks, and because of commitments with Death in Vegas, Richard Fearless and Tim Holmes couldn't find any more time to give to the project."[5]

Noel has commented since on numerous occasions that there was no problem with the work done by Death in Vegas, but he felt the songs they were working on were simply not good enough to form a record, and felt a break was needed in which new material would have to be written. In Noel's words: "We were trying to polish a turd". Around ten songs were worked on with Death in Vegas[5] of which, according to Noel, six were "not even good enough to make the b-sides". Four of the tracks which eventually appeared on the album were worked on with Death in Vegas, those songs being: "Turn Up the Sun", "Mucky Fingers", "A Bell Will Ring" and "The Meaning of Soul", although all of these had extra work done to them or were re-recorded before being released.

After a short break in which many new songs, including "Let There Be Love," "Lyla" and "Part of The Queue" were written, the band reconvened at their Wheeler End Studios with Noel as producer. The band were joined on these sessions by The Who's drummer Zak Starkey. In June 2004, Oasis debuted two new songs from these sessions, the Liam-written "The Meaning of Soul" and the Gem-written "A Bell Will Ring" at two live shows in Poole and at the Glastonbury Festival.

After hearing of the band's production problems from Oasis manager Marcus Russell, American producer Dave Sardy expressed interest in taking over production duties. Sardy was given tapes of existing recording sessions to mix, and after his work was praised by the band, he arrived in the UK to oversee new recording sessions at Olympic Studios in London. These sessions did not last long before he asked the band to travel to Los Angeles and re-record most of the album there, as he felt more comfortable working in a studio closer to home. With the band eventually agreeing to this, recording sessions began at Capitol Studios in November 2004 with the band spending around nine weeks there.

The decision to have the lead-off single, "Lyla", on the album was a controversial one, prompted by the label's feeling that there wasn't a suitable lead single among the tracks originally presented. As a result, the decision was taken to record "Lyla", a song which Noel had written and demoed a year previously, but which wasn't recorded by the band during the previous recording sessions. It was decided that Dave Sardy would remix Noel's original demo with Liam recording a set of lead vocals and Zak adding a fresh drum track. "Lyla" reached number one on the UK Singles Chart and number nineteen on the US Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart. After having initial reservations about the choice of the first single being taken out of the hands of the band, Noel, who initially wanted "Mucky Fingers" to be the first single, has now reluctantly conceded that the song has indeed "done the business".

In April 2005, four tracks from a promo disc leaked: "The Meaning of Soul", "Mucky Fingers", "Keep the Dream Alive", and "Let There Be Love". The full album found its way onto the Internet on 3 May 2005 instead of 30 May, when Apple Inc. accidentally put the album up early for sale on their iTunes Music Store service in Germany. While there was no official comment by Apple or by Oasis management, it was speculated that Apple simply got the dates confused.

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	64/100[6]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[7]
Entertainment Weekly	B−[8]
The Guardian	[9]
The Independent	[10]
Mojo	[11]
NME	6/10[12]
Pitchfork	4.7/10[13]
Q	[14]
Rolling Stone	[15]
Spin	A−[16]

Don't Believe the Truth received generally positive reviews and was considered a return to form for Oasis, with a Metacritic score of 64 out of 100.[6] The album won two Q Awards: a special People's Choice Award and Best Album.[17]

The album has been placed on several ranking lists since its release, particularly from British rock and indie music magazines.

• In 2005 it was placed #4 in Q Magazines "Recordings of the Year".[18]
• Also in 2005 it was placed #25 in Mojo Magazines "Recordings of the Year".[19]
• In 2008, Don't Believe the Truth was voted the 14th best British album of all time by a poll conducted by Q Magazine and HMV.[20]
• In 2010, the album was placed as #41 on "Top 100 Album's of the 21st Century" list by Q Magazine.[21]
• In February 2011 it was voted #86 in "The 250 Best Album's of Q's Lifetime" featuring albums between 1986 and 2011.[22]

In March 2011, NME retrospectively reviewed the album with a highly positive tone, stating the album "introduced a sharper, crisper and occasionally experimental band", and praising the tracks "The Importance of Being Idle" and "Part of the Queue" in particular.[23]

Bonus tracks

Special editions

• A limited edition version of the album was released in the UK and Australia which included a 30-minute DVD featuring interviews with the band and other staff who worked on the album, the promo video for "Lyla" and additional cover artwork. These features were released in the US on the DualDisc edition of the album.
• As part of a promotional spot for Don't Believe the Truth, Best Buy stores released an exclusive, limited edition, free live 5-song CD enclosed in copies of the album. This features music from their Metro Club Show in Chicago, recorded on 15 October 1994. The track listing is as follows: 1. "Rock 'n' Roll Star", 2. "Columbia", 3. "Live Forever", 4. "Cigarettes & Alcohol", 5. "Supersonic".

Oasis

• Liam Gallagher – lead vocals, backing vocals, tambourine
• Noel Gallagher – lead guitar, backing vocals, lead vocals on tracks 2, 5, 8, co-lead vocals on 11, producer (tracks 2, 3, 5), drums (track 11)
• Andy Bell – bass guitar, rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar
• Gem Archer – rhythm guitar, lead guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, harmonica, backing vocals (track 6)

Additional personnel

• Zak Starkey – drums, percussion (except track 2), handclaps
• Dave Sardy - mixing (except track 2), producer (tracks 1, 4, 6-11), additional production (track 3)
• Lenny Castro – percussion (track 8)
• Martin Duffy – piano (track 4)
• Terry Kirkbride – drums and percussion (track 2)
• Henry Phillpotts – mixing assistant (track 2)
• Paul 'Strangeboy' Stacey – mixing (track 2), piano and mellotron (track 11)

• Don't Believe the Truth at YouTube (streamed copy where licensed)