Oasis take legal action to halt auction of rare unreleased recordings

Oasis has taken legal action to stop the planned auction of a large archive of previously unheard recordings associated with the band. The collection, known as The Desk Tapes, was assembled by Huw Richards, Oasis’s former front-of-house sound engineer, who worked with the group from 1994 until 2001. It was scheduled to be sold by Littleton Auctions on October 3, with a guide price of £1.2 million to £1.6 million. The archive reportedly included 63 concert recordings, more than 100 hours of rehearsal material, soundchecks, and candid conversations between Noel and Liam Gallagher. Following legal proceedings brought by Oasis, the Gallaghers, and Sony Music Entertainment U.K., the auction house withdrew the lot from the sale. Littleton Auctions’ managing director, Ben Homer, said the recordings had been removed in light of the legal action and expressed disappointment that the archive could not be offered as planned. Owain Richards, Huw Richards’s son, who had arranged the consignment, confirmed that Oasis had sued him and his father to prevent the auction. He said the parties had agreed to postpone the sale while the ownership and legal dispute is resolved, either through litigation or another orderly process. The case highlights unresolved questions over who controls rare recordings and archival material created during an artist’s career, even when those materials were made by a longtime collaborator. The withdrawal means collectors and fans will not be able to bid on the tapes for now, and the dispute remains pending.