Oasis take legal action to stop sale of unheard recordings valued at more than £1m

A collection of unheard Oasis recordings, including 63 live shows, hours of rehearsals and candid conversations between Noel and Liam Gallagher, has been pulled from auction after legal action taken by the band.

In September Littleton Auctions in Worcestershire, England, listed the collection made by the band’s former sound engineer, Huw Richards, with a guide price of between £1.2m and £1.6m.

Richards worked with Oasis from the release of their 1994 debut Definitely, Maybe until 2001. The collection of 209 DAT tapes, 73 analogue cassettes and three MiniDiscs were being sold by the sound engineer’s son, Owain Richards.

“Littleton Auctions confirms that the Oasis recordings known as The Desk Tapes have been withdrawn from our October 3 auction in light of legal proceedings,” the auction house’s managing director, Ben Homer, told the BBC.

“We are very disappointed that we cannot offer this significant archive as planned.”

In an interview with the Times in September, Owain Richards, also a sound engineer, called the collection “a piece of history”. He said the audio remained in sufficiently good condition, but as Oasis retained the intellectual property rights, the recordings can’t be released by a potential new owner without the band’s cooperation.

“It is true that Oasis have sued me and my father to try to prevent the auction of the tapes made by my father many years ago,” Richards told the BBC on Wednesday.

“We have agreed to postpone the auction [of the tapes] to enable the legal dispute to be resolved either by litigation or otherwise in an orderly way.”

Littleton Auctions will continue with the auction on Saturday, with other music memorabilia up for sale including an original Kangol Oasis tour parka from Richards’ collection, plus signed Nirvana photographs, autographs of two of the Rolling Stones members, and a guitar signed by Brian May.

“The rest of the sale is unaffected and will take place as normal,” said Homer. “We respect the legal process and will make no further comment on the proceedings at this stage.”

Last month, Noel and Liam Gallagher attended the world premiere of documentary film Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger at Venice film festival followed by its UK premiere in London. The band also recently announced its Live ’27 world tour following their successful reunion tour in 2025.

Oasis have been approached for comment.