Photo Credit: A small portion of “The Desk Tapes” by Littleton Auctions
The lot of tapes of never-before-heard Oasis recordings, dubbed The Desk Tapes, has been suspended from auction following an injunction filed by the band to block their sale. The tapes were collected by Oasis sound engineer Huw Richards, who worked with the band from their debut in 1994 until 2001.
“Littleton Auctions confirms that the Oasis recordings known as The Desk Tapes have been withdrawn from our October 3 auction in light of legal proceedings,” said Managing Director Ben Homer. “We are very disappointed that we cannot offer this significant archive as planned.”
The recordings were brought to auction by Owain Richards, Huw’s son, who confirmed that Oasis had “sued me and my father to try to prevent the auction of the tapes.”
“We have agreed to postpone the auction to enable the legal dispute to be resolved either by litigation or otherwise in an orderly way.”
“We respect the legal process and will make no further comment on the proceedings at this stage,” he added.
Littleton Auctions had called the sale a “once-in-a-generation opportunity for fans and collectors alike,” but even when the sale was announced, the auction house confirmed the band was opposed.
The archive, which contains over 100 hours of early Oasis recordings and session outtakes, was priced at between £1.2 million and £1.6 million. The collection features what is believed to be the only recording of Oasis’ 1996 concert on the banks of Loch Lomond in Scotland. It reportedly includes 63 live shows across 209 DAT tapes, 73 analog cassettes, and three MiniDiscs of content.
“It really is a piece of history,” said Owain Richards, a sound engineer himself, whose father had meticulously preserved the recordings during his tenure working with the band.
The younger Richards added that he had been in discussions with Oasis’ management previously, when the band sought to acquire some of the recordings.
