The Good Will Out is the debut studio album by British rock band Embrace, released on 8 June 1998, by Hut, Mobetta and Virgin Records.

Produced by the band, Dave Creffield and Martin "Youth" Glover, sessions for their debut were held at the Hook End, Whitfield Street and Metropolis studios.

Keyboardist Mickey Dale, who would join the band during the album's touring cycle, contributed to the recordings, alongside Wil Malone and Craig Armstrong, all three of whom helped with the string sections.

The Good Will Out received generally favourable reviews from critics, some of whom praised the high-quality songwriting and noted comparisons to the work of Oasis and the Verve.

[4][5] Following a handful of live shows, one of which earned an unfavourable piece in Melody Maker, the band took a break from performing to focus on writing material.

[7] Over the next two years, they stayed in a rehearsal room, prior to Richard McNamara finding a recording of "Retread" in Danny's set of demos.

[4] Leading up to an appearance at the 1996 Sound City festival in Leeds, they compiled 30 copies of a demo tape that was sent out to potential labels, receiving replies from 18 of them.

Three showcases were held at the Duchess of York in Leeds; the band eventually signed to major label Virgin imprint Hut Records in September 1996.

[8] Perrin said he knew people at Geffen Records, who owned DGC; A&R staff member Tony Berg signed the band to the label.

[4][10] The band attempted unsuccessfully to draft Steve Albini as producer, and had turned down Butch Vig previously.

[12] Danny McNamara explained: "Everyone says we write songs like we're on our third or fourth album, but the early tracks still had the sound of a fledgling band so I wanted more definitive versions.

[17] McNamara thought the orchestra warming up "sound[ed] incredible", and ran into the studio's control room to have it recorded as the intro piece.

[19] On the second occasion the band worked with an orchestra, they had the tape rolling; the conductor can be heard filling out Musicians' Union forms.

[26] Wil Malone served as the conductor for a string section of the album, and Mickey Dale added keyboards to the recordings.

[34] McNamara said an earlier version of "One Big Family" was "a lot more chaotic", influenced by "Naked Cousin (1996) by PJ Harvey.

[27][12] In its original form, the song sounded closer to the Jesus and Mary Chain; Richard McNamara attempted emulating Tim Burgess of the Charlatans.

[55][56][57] With "Now You're Nobody", Dale said the band took a "very Pet Sounds approach", like quieting the drum and bass parts, and adding a lot of reverb.

[67] In the music video for "One Big Family", footage of the band performing the track is cut with shots of them at an amusement park.

[68] The band promoted it with appearances at Glastonbury, T in the Park, Phoenix, V and the Reading Festivals, as well as a three-date residency at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London.

[73] The music video for "Come Back to What You Know", which was directed by Olly Blackburn, features people in different locations that meet up by its end, interspersed with clips of the band performing.

[78] It was promoted with an in-store performance and signing session at HMV's flagship store on Oxford Street in London.

[75] The music video for "My Weakness Is None of Your Business" consists of stop-motion movement of McNamara being assaulted in a club and thrown in the back of a car.

When asked if the studio version would be reissued, he explained that as they had large debts with their former labels, they had no financial incentive to do so: "it'd just be a vanity project really.

James Oldham of NME saw the album as a collection of "uplifting optimism that substitutes vulnerability for bravado, and heartfelt sentiment for boisterous thrills".

His only complaint was the band's "not so confident [...] crazed hedonism", concluding the release was "one of the great debut albums of the past decade".

[41] AllMusic reviewer Stephen Thomas Erlewine said the album had a lot of expectation on release; it was viewed as the "heir apparent to the lad-rock throne", and one listen of the album "illustrates why -- the group ingeniously combines the anthemic hooks and monolithic roar of Oasis with the sweeping aural majesty of the Verve".

[92] The staff at Dotmusic said the album "challenges The Verve and Oasis out to compare the size of their anthems and the sweetness of their ballads".

[37] In a review for The Times, Mike Pattenden wrote that when the band "put the bluster to one side they hit a genuinely soulful note", but "when they try and rock their impact is diminished".

[12] PopMatters editor Sarah Zupko said the tracks "don't quite possess the instant hooks" that Oasis member Noel Gallagher "is a master" of.

[98][103] The Good Will Out went gold on its first day of release, and was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) by the end of the year.