As You Were (Liam Gallagher album)

As You Were (Liam Gallagher album)
As You Were is the debut solo studio album by English singer and songwriter Liam Gallagher. It was released on 6 October 2017 by Warner Bros. Records. A critical and commercial success, the album debuted at number one in the UK, outselling the rest of the top 10 of the UK Albums Chart combined and achieving gold certification in its first week. It has since been certified platinum in the UK. It also achieved the highest single-week vinyl sales in 20 years, with 16,000. In part for his work on the album, producer Greg Kurstin also won the 2018 Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical.
Background
The album was announced in June 2017 with the release of the single "Wall of Glass". Gallagher also revealed that he would launch his first solo tour of the United States and Canada to support the album's release. Once he completed the lyrics, Liam told NME that he cried his eyes out and thought 'I'm back'. The album's title comes from the sign-off Gallagher often used for his Twitter posts. Gallagher worked with producers Greg Kurstin, Andrew Wyatt and Dan Grech-Marguerat on the album, with Kurstin producing the tracks "Wall of Glass", "Paper Crown", "Come Back to Me", and "Doesn't Have to Be That Way", Wyatt producing "Chinatown", and Grech-Marguerat producing the remaining tracks.
Critical reception
As You Were received generally positive reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 71, based on 24 reviews.
Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic was highly positive about the record in his four-star review, saying, "As You Were doesn't sound retro even though it is, in essence, a throwback to a throwback -- a re-articulation of Liam's '90s obsession with the '60s. That production does Gallagher a favor but so does Kurstin's presence as a co-songwriter, helping to rein in Liam's wandering ear and sharpen his melodies. Ranging from the icy onslaught of "Wall of Glass" to the stark swirl of "Chinatown" this is his best record in nearly a decade, and they add up to an album that illustrates exactly who Liam Gallagher is as an artist. Now in his middle age, he's a richer, nuanced singer than he was during Oasis's heyday, yet he's retained his charisma and, unlike his brother, he favors color and fire in his records, elements that not only enhance this fine collection of songs but make this the best post-Oasis album from either Gallagher to date." Halina Watts from the Daily Mirror was also very positive towards the record, scoring the album five stars and saying, "'As You Were' is the legendary rocker at his very best" and that the album was "well worth the wait". She went on to describe "Chinatown" as a "catchy uplifting poem to the capital" and "For What It's Worth" and "Paper Crown" as "fantastic ballads". Watts rounded off the review by saying, "Bring on album two".
Accolades
Commercial performance
The album was released in numerous formats, from digital versions to vinyl, CD, and a "special box set" that includes a colorized vinyl record, an "exclusive seven-inch, hardback book and an art print by Klaus Voormann, the artist behind the Beatles' Revolver". The track listing was revealed by Gallagher with the release of the album's second single "Chinatown".
As You Were sold over 103,000 units in its first week in the United Kingdom. It is the ninth-fastest selling debut of the decade within the nation. In 2018, the album was certified Platinum with sales of over 300,000 units in the UK. In the United States, it opened at number 30 on the Billboard 200 with 15,000 album-equivalent units, including 14,000 traditional sales. This marked a successful comeback for Gallagher, as both Beady Eye albums had failed to reach number one in the UK, and their second album had failed to chart at all in the US.
Track listing
Notes
signifies original song production.
signifies original demo production.
Personnel
Credits adapted from liner notes.
Musicians
Liam Gallagher – lead vocals , acoustic guitar
Greg Kurstin – bass, drums, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, harmonica, percussion, mellotron, piano, organ, tanpura
Dan Grech-Marguerat – programming
Davey Badiuk – programming
Mike Moore – electric guitar , bass
Dan McDougall – drums, bass, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, keyboards
Martin Slattery – keyboards, saxophone
Ben Edwards – trumpet
Mark Brown – saxophone
Mike Kearsey – trombone
Sally Herbert – violin, string arrangement , brass arrangement
Ian Burdge – cello
Rachel Robson – viola
Tom Pigott Smith – violin
Andrew Wyatt – acoustic guitar , drum programming, piano, bass, synth, additional guitar, production , backing vocals
Drew McConnell – bass
Jay Mehler – acoustic guitar, electric guitar
Christian Madden – keyboards
Michael Tighe – acoustic guitar
Bridget Sarai – backing vocals
Vicky Akintola – backing vocals
Production
Greg Kurstin – production, engineering , mixing
Dan Grech-Marguerat – production, engineering , mixing
Andrew Wyatt – production
Iain Archer – original song production
Dan McDougall – original demo production
Alex Pasco – engineering
Julian Burg – engineering
Ben Mclusky – engineering , engineering assistance
Joseph Rogers – engineering
Joe Rodgers – engineering
Joel Davies – engineering assistance
Charles Haydon Hicks – engineering assistance
Matt Mysko – engineering assistance
Mark "Spike" Stent – mixing
Richard Woodcraft – brass section recording
Julian Simmons – brass section recording
Brian Lucey – mastering
Design
Hedi Slimane – cover shot, photography
Liam Gallagher – art direction, design
Richard Welland – art direction, design
Pixie Higson – photography commissioning
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
References
External links
2017 debut albums
Liam Gallagher albums
Albums produced by Greg Kurstin
Warner Records albums