Oasis (2) – Definitely Maybe

I bought this 2CD while waiting for the box set to come. Poor information in the package regarding recording dates. Track list only on rear of slip sleeve. Lots of space for them in the pages I might add. Disc 2 is great, I love the Monnow Valley stuff, the songs have little touches that are absent on the master recording. Tony McCarroll's drumming is great too and he got the boot after this album. Regarding "brick-walling" which seems to be a hot topic when it comes to this album, I think a lot of people don't know what they're on a bout. This sounds fine on my 1988 Technics SL-P550 CD player (top of the range back then) with Pioneer DJ headphones. I don't know what people are listening to CD albums on but if this sounded "bad" or "brick-walling" my ears would be offended after a few tracks. While I do own original Damount vinyl pressings this album and WTSMG I've no issues with the sound and CD is still a superior format than vinyl especially the vinyl today, which is highly overpriced. Yes, I have a huge collection of vinyl and CD as I've been collecting nearly 40 years! Enjoy the music and forget the physics of the format, it kills the buzz!
If they had the 11 album tracks from Monnow Valley I'm sure we'd see a "Definitely Mightbe" pressing with alternative artwork!
Anyway WTSMG 30th Anniversary looms next year!

I always find strange when I see comments referring to fidelity and brick walling with regards to albums like this. It’s Oasis, these albums are renowned for their wall of noise in your face sound. Noel Gallagher used to turn all his setting up to max when performing these tracks live back in the day. Subtleties and dynamics are not the goal here. It’s a turn it up to 11 and get out of the way kind of album.

I agree that the style of mastering on these albums isn’t for everyone, but that’s what we’ve got.

So moving on, I think it’s fair to say we all know what disc 1 contains. An excellent and iconic debut album - yes it is the 2014 remaster that only remixing would ‘fix’ for audiophile purposes, but Oasis probably wouldn’t suit such treatment. Disc 2 offers a fresh look at most of the album presenting us with the first attempts at recording the album. These versions of the songs are less dense and layered and IMO they make Oasis sound a little weak. I probably wouldn’t listen to these outtakes over the final album versions on a regular basis, but they are still enjoyable and worthwhile to fans. The spirit of the music is still there, just not quite as big and bold as what we’re used to and a little less polished it’s certainly an interesting and entertaining listen. I personally enjoyed Liams vocals on these early recordings.

All true fans are going to buy this on top of the versions they already own and I think it is a worthy reissue.

Obviously a fantastic, once-in-a-generation album but the 2014 remaster (used here for the second time) and bonus material are for the most part completely brick walled. I was hoping some of the bonus material might have retained a bit of fidelity about it, but it's just a wall of sound. Except for the quieter tracks like Married With Children or the Sad Song demo.

I combined disc 2 of this with disc 2 and 3 of the 2014 deluxe plus the slightly gentler sounding 1994 master of the main album, which makes for a pretty good "Super Deluxe Edition" with everything in one place.

I wonder what will the 40th anniversary bring... an AI disco version?

I have this cataloguenumber (RKIDCD125X), but no Sad Song on disc 1. Is this a special limited edition with Sad Song as extra track?