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The Verve: A Storm in Heaven

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: Hut Records
Released: 1993.06.21
Time:
 46:59
Category: Progressive Rock
Producer(s): John Leckie
Rating: ******.... (6/10)
Media type: CD
Web address: www.theverve.co.uk
Appears with: Richard Ashcroft
Purchase date: 2002.02.18
Price in €: 13,99



 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] Star Sail (Ashcroft/Jones/McCabe/Salisbury) - 3:59
[2] Slide Away (Ashcroft/Jones/McCabe/Salisbury) - 4:03
[3] Already There (Ashcroft/Jones/McCabe/Salisbury) - 5:38
[4] Beautiful Mind (Ashcroft/Jones/McCabe/Salisbury) - 5:27
[5] Sun, the Sea (Ashcroft/Jones/McCabe/Salisbury) - 5:16
[6] Virtual World (Ashcroft/Jones/McCabe/Salisbury) - 6:20
[7] Make It Till Monday (Ashcroft/Jones/McCabe/Salisbury) - 3:05
[8] Blue (Ashcroft/Jones/McCabe/Salisbury) - 3:25
[9] Butterfly (Ashcroft/Jones/McCabe/Salisbury) - 6:39
[10] See You in the Next One [Have a Good Time] (Ashcroft/Jones/McCabe/Salisbury) - 3:07

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


SIMON JONES - Bass, Background Vocals
RICHARD ASHCROFT - Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Percussion
NICK MCCABE - Guitar, Piano, Accordion, Keyboards
PETER SALISBURY - Percussion, Drums

RODDY LORIMER - Horn Arrangements
TIM SANDERS - Horn Arrangements
SIMON CLARKE - Flute, Horn Arrangements
KICK HORNS - Horn
YVETTE LACEY - Flute

JOHN LECKIE - Mixing, Producer
JOHN CORNFIELD - Programming, Engineer
BRIAN CANNON - Art Direction, Design
MICHAEL SPENCER JONES - Photography

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


1993 CD Vernon Yard 87950
1993 CD Virgin 87950
1993 CS Virgin 87950

1998 Japanese reissue on Virgin of the band's acclaimed 1993album for the label with three early B-sides added as hiddenbonus tracks: 'No Come Down', 'Where The Geese Go' and 'Endless Life'. 13 tracks total, also featuring 'Star Sail' & 'Slide Away'. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.



Whereas future Verve masterpieces A Northern Soul and Urban Hymns would feature succinct song structures (for the most part) and instantly memorable verses and choruses, the group's 1993 full-length debut, A Storm in Heaven, was based on buoyant, extended psychedelic passages. Looking back today, it was an interesting and original musical direction, since at the time, angst-ridden Seattle bands (and their many copycats) were all the rage. While a few songs hint at the Verve's future penchant for composing pop gems ("Make It Till Monday," "Blue," "Butterfly"), many of the longer tracks are just as strong, especially the album's best track, the hauntingly beautiful "Already There." Also featured was the album-opening space rocker "Star Sail," the shifting moods of "Slide Away," the misty "Beautiful Mind," and the stark closer, "See You in the Next One (Have a Good Time)." A fine debut, A Storm in Heaven proved to be the important connection between the Verve's expansive early work (1992's self-titled EP) and their later worldwide pop hits.

Greg Prato, All-Music Guide, © 1992 - 2001 AEC One Stop Group, Inc.



Five years before the group's Urban Hymns broke the band into the mainstream, The Verve's first full-length effort, A Storm in Heaven, gave incredible insight into the band's ability to mesmerize it's audience. Hypnotic vocals courtesy of vocalist Richard Ashcroft and layered musical textures from the band make for an incredible, memorable album. This is not the stuff of background music but instead best suited to provide the soundtrack for a candlelit, incense-filled Saturday night. Perhaps the band's best effort to date.

Denise Sheppard, Amazon.com



What the Critics Say...

Spin (8/93, p.88) - Highly Recommended - "...this is the pure essence of prog rock, but in the best possible sense--stargazing, not shoegazing..."

Melody Maker (1/1/94, p.77) - Ranked #29 in Melody Maker's list of the `Albums Of The Year' for 1993 - "...A STORM IN HEAVEN was the perfect title for the turbulent transendence Verve achieved here...."

Melody Maker (6/19/93, p.33) - "...Heave all that trad-rock back in the cultural dustbin it crawled out of and get into this. It's raining manna. Get wet, kids...."

New Musical Express (6/19/93, p.33) - 8 - Excellent - "...some of the prettiest noises to ever escape from amplifiers....At best, you'll believe a man can fly..."

New Musical Express (12/25/93, p.67) - Ranked #34 in New Musical Express' list of `The Top 50 LPs Of 1993' - "...Simultaneously freaked and focused, it's so high it gulps for air. Still, it's a great view from up here...."

Alternative Press (7/93, p.59) - "...vast, cavernous, explosive, reverb-drenched psychedelia that scrambles your senses...ten songs that put the sigh back into psychedelia..."



Sänger Richard Ashcroft hat einmal behauptet, er könne fliegen. Zumindest, was die Debüt-CD von Verve angeht, hat er recht. Mit mal mehliger, mal pathetischer Stimme schwebt er über die nebelverhangene musikalische Landschaft, in die er und seine drei Mitmusiker skurrile Klanggebäude aus Folk-, Rock- und New-Age-Bausteinen stellen. Britische Kritiker bejubelten Ihre Landsleute bereits als unsterblich. Für uns diesseits des Ärmelkanals bleibt immerhin Bewunderung für eine Band, die erfreulich wenig von musikalischen Zeitströmungen hält.

© Audio



Sehr atmosphärisch sind die Klangwolken der jungen Band Verve: "A Storm In Heaven" verbreitet mit entrückten Gitarrensounds und weiträumig- verhallenden Stimmen eine düster dräuende Gruftstimmung - für passionierte Schwarzkittel besonders zu empfehlen.

© Stereoplay



Since there's nothing much to do in the tiny town of Wigan, England, Verve spends most of its days dreaming; then at night it creates an insular world governed by recreational pharmaceuticals, sleep deprivation and sublime, flowing melodies. While most conventional English nightspots close well before midnight, Verve's transcendent (sur)reality lasts well into the wee hours, imparting its slack, late-night mentality through sleepy vocals and shimmering guitar swirls that hover and glide like barroom smoke. A Storm In Heaven, the band's full-length debut following its critically acclaimed EP, is a cloudy wash of inchoate melody with few instantly discernible hooks. Even so, it's far from a meaningless mass of sound, flowing from tangent to tangent with its own impeccable sense of logic. While The Verve E.P. floated on a tranquil, unidirectional path, the new record covers the gamut from ambient ringing notes to colossal bursts of feedback. And though Verve affixes itself along a psychedelic/drug-rock axis, like primary influences Spacemen 3 and early Pink Floyd, the band's songs are as much about spiritual and emotional discovery as about sheer hedonistic escape. Aural bliss doesn't come much finer.

© 1978-2001 College Media, Inc., Inc. All Rights Reserved.



A Storm In Heaven describes perfectly the debut full-length from northern England's Verve. Like early Pink Floyd, the quartet's sound is lazy, wandering through its broad backdrops to gripping effect. Each instrument floats through a boundless space, swirling around the pulsating energy of guitars and hypnotic melodies, with the unrest of a looming thunderstorm. The gentle arrangements fall loosely into place, with light percussion shuffling constantly moving sound through a narcotic, trance-inducing landscape. The subtle flute on "Virtual World" and trumpet and saxophone on the more upbeat "Butterfly" and "The Sun, The Sea" show how the instruments come and go before one notices they're even in the mix. A Storm In Heaven walks the fine line separating free-fall intensity from unkempt chaos, and establishes Verve as a young band not afraid of taking the chances required of its lofty ambitions. With the help of producer John Leckie (Stone Roses, The Fall), Verve occasionally veers from that line, using the musical turmoil to make the riotous moments more intense and the tranquil moments more passionate. Also check out "Slide Away" and "Starsail."

© 1978-2001 College Media, Inc., Inc. All Rights Reserved.
 

 L y r i c s


STAR SAIL

Hello it's me, it's me
Calling out I can see you
Hello it's me, crying out, crying out
Are you there?

Hello it's me, it's me
I want to touch you
It's me throwing stones from the stars
On your mixed up world

Been circling round for 20 years
And in that time I've seen all the fires and all the liars
I've been calling home for 20 years
And in that time I heard the screams rebound to me
While, you were making history

I could see the fire
And I'll throw the fire back down


SLIDE AWAY

So take your time
I wonder if you're here just to use my mind
Don't take it slow
You know I've got a place to go
You always do that
Something I'm not sure of
But just for today
Let go and slide away

I was thinking maybe we could go outside
Let the night sky cool your foolish pride
Don't you feel alive
These are your times and our highs

So take your time
I wonder which cup you'll drink from
I hope it's mine
Beause you always do that something
Something I'm not sure of
But just for today
Let go and burn away
'Cause I read your mind
I need it because it takes me where I can't find
Because you always do that something
Something I'm not sure of
But just for today
Let go and burn away

repeat

Slide Away burn away
Slide Away burn away
I read your mind
I read your mind
'Cause it takes me to where I can't find...


ALREADY THERE

Seen it all I'm already there

Save your books and your pills
I don't need them I'm there

You can do anything you want to
All you've got to do is try

I thought my best days had left me
My best years had left me behind

Then I felt them come back (to me)
And all the wild eyes
All the wild eyes know what I mean

If trees cut stars and eyes to heaven
I'll bend them back and bend them again
If my skin looks tired and old from living
I'll turn right back and live it again
You better pray when the music stops
And you're left alone in your mind
'Cause I'll be hearing music till the day I die

Then I heard it turn off
I swear I heard the screams
And all the wild eyes
All the wild eyes know what I mean
They're scared they've lost their dream
They press down on me
You know I thought I was there

Hello, high, are you?
Yes?
Well that explains it
Oh you were walking round like some kind of angel
You were walking round like some kind of angel
Hello, high, are you? Yes?
Well that explains it
Well that explains it


BEAUTIFUL MIND

A beautiful mind or a beautiful body
I know which one I'm gonna end upon
You say you will but you never promised thoughts

A smile and a hand mix like water with sand
As far as you're concerned
A road and a sign I know which one catches my eyes

And I, thought I heard it for a while
Then it all came to me
Sometimes I just don't know I believe in

Don't you wanna know when I suffer
It doesn't show
A smile and a hand mix like water with sand don't you know?

I was thinking about moving back home
I don't really need to live here
No no I didn't I could I'm sure I would if I knew that
I didn't I could I'm sure I would if I knew that

A smile and a hand mix like water with sand
As far as you're concerned
A beautiful mind or a beautiful body
I know which one, I'm gonna end upon end upon


THE SUN, THE SEA

I see I hear it's very clear
Because the day has come when you have won
It's myself I feel
She calls me calls me the sun the sea yeah
I know it's not for today
It's not for today, it's for you and me yeah you and me

Alone in my room you're there on the floor
Open up your eyes let me get inside
Learned to love on TV
Learned to come on TV
Can I help you?
Can I guide you?

It amazes me how I broke free
Then got brought back in
'Cause when the feelings there shattered and scared
I know you've won goodbye I'm gone

Alone in my room, you're there on the floor
Open up your eyes let me get inside
Said you learned to come on TV then hold on to me
Can I help you? Can I guide you?


VIRTUAL WORLD

See the water break my hand
No one knows my name
I'm not in demand

Signs are right
The signs are here
Who needs virtual world
When I can see it now
I can see it now, oh now, oh now, now
No one goes no one cares
No one seen it anywhere

She's breathing life into lonely dead stars
Have you ever seen it
I ain't seen nothing at all

Come see the water break my fall
No one knows no one comes
Have you ever seen the book
The one on my help
The one entitled self-death, self-death
How to earn a million pounds
I can see it now oh the hearse

She's breathing down in a hole in my head
In the dirty half light where
Time means nothing at all

I'm calling out to some one
Anyone who'll have me?
Does anyone need me?
Does anyone know how to cry?
What happens when I go?
What happens when it snows?
I bet you could if you wanted to end


MAKE IT 'TILL MONDAY

Hey my friend are we gonna make it till Monday?
Another Friday night waiting for a revelation
I can see a million faces in the condensation

In a moment you'd changed
Things weren't the same
You were talking at me not with me
And your tongue was burning up in flames
Are you coming back?
Are you coming back?
When Monday comes you'll be alone
With the whole world staring at you

Hey my friend are we gonna make it till Monday?
Hey my friend friend you better leave now I'm gonna go my own way
You said I suffer from inner frustration

In a moment you changed
Things weren't the same
You were talking at me not with me
And your tongue was burning up in flames
And when you turn him off
Where does he go?
Where've the years gone?
I don't no
Hey my friend are we gonna make it till Monday?
Hey my friend are we gonna make it till Monday?


BLUE

There you were on the floor cut up
And all alone I'll help you
Conceived in a chrome dream I was a crease
In the shirt that this world wears
Till I met Blue, I was in obscurity he said
Loosen up who do you wanna be?

We could steal a car and listen to the stars
I can see you've choked on them too
Had enough of late night films
Just enough for an hour or two
Oh Blue show me something new
Oh Blue show me something new

Blue, I've got a question every time I hold you
Yeah, Blue, I've got a question every time I swallow you it's true

Spike danced for 10 days long
We were just heading for the sun
You shot him down there's blood on my face
His heart's in the right place
What they gonna do to you
What they gonna do
Blue don't forget the word I warned you
Oh Blue don't let them push you don't let them destroy you
Meanwhile I'm searching with my brain blown eyes
See the world through my dirty lonely mixed up mind


BUTTERFLY

You could flap you wings a thousand miles away
Butterfly
A laughing salesman sings
His world so far away
Butterfly

Butterfly (repeat)

You could take the storm away forever every day
'Cause you're mine
And I don't know what to say
You could let my smile disappear for a year
'Cause you're mine
That's the only way I like it to be

Butterfly (repeat)

Now we get to the best part
It happens all the time, telling me all your lies
You get your kicks from seeing me on the floor
Tied to your bed
Tied to the things you said
Butterfly comming back
Butterfly coming back

Butterfly


SEE YOU IN THE NEXT ONE (HAVE A GOOD TIME)

How hard is it for me to wait for you, my love
See you in the next one have a good time
Could be a lifetime before I see you again, my love
See you in the next one have a good time

Eyes they open wide
Eyes they open wide
I like the way it was
Hate the way it is now

Lack of time and a wasted weekend
You wore your lies like a film star

Eyes they open wide
Eyes they open wide
I like the way it was
Hate the way it is now

 M P 3   S a m p l e s


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