Warner Records president Phil Christie has spoken to Music Week about his targets for Liam Gallagher's new album, Why Me? Why Not.
The record, which is Gallagher's second solo LP, comes out today (September 20) and has been met with a positive critical response.
"The initial reviews definitely indicate that people consider it a stronger collection of songs than album one and that's the message we want to get out there," noted Christie.
"I want people to recognise that this album is musically better than the last and that we've made a genuinely great record. I want there to be moments and songs on it that are touching people that previously hadn't engaged with Liam's solo stuff - and all those signs are there."
We're gearing up to have a big No.1 album and hope to have a presence in the Christmas market
Phil Christie
Warner Records
He added: “We’re gearing up to have a big No.1 album and hope to have a presence in the Christmas market. It’s a campaign that will run into the new year.”
The album was previewed by the lead single Shockwave, which peaked at No.22, along with three other tracks: The River, Once and One Of Us.
"Shockwave came back and it wasn't far off [Gallagher's debut solo single] Wall Of Glass in terms first-week consumption and chart position, so it definitely connected," said Christie. "We couldn't get away from the fact that we needed to kick the doors in with a rock'n'roll tune.
"The River was a tune that we wanted to play live at Glastonbury, so it made sense as an instant grat, but once we were able to put out Once and One Of Us, it started to show the quality of the record. We’ve got a track coming out called Now That I’ve Found You, which is a song for Liam’s daughter, Molly, and I think it’s the one to really take the campaign into the stratosphere."
Former Oasis frontman Gallagher, who turns 47 tomorrow (September 21), signed to Warner in 2016. Why Me? Why Not is the follow-up to his platinum-selling 2017 solo debut As You Were, which has racked up 397,329 UK sales to date, according to the Official Charts Company.
"The most pleasing thing was that it was a success," reflected Christie. "There's no guarantee when we signed Liam that the campaign was going to connect, that the music was going to be well received, and that he was going to come back with the force that he did, so that was the most pleasing element of it.
"The reason it worked [was that], together, we were able to remind people what a star he is. There was a huge gap in the market for his sort of rock'n'roll personality.
"The other reason it worked was because he's got an amazing aptitude for social media and we were able to tap into an audience that probably hadn't engaged with him for a long time."
Subscribers can click here to read more on the Why Me? Why Not campaign from Christie and UROK's Sam Eldridge, who manages the singer with Gallagher's partner, Debbie Gwyther.
