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The Verve: This is Music - The Singles 92-98

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: Virgin Records
Released: 2004.11.30
Time:
 77:37
Category: Progressive Rock
Producer(s): See Artists ...
Rating: *********. (9/10)
Media type: CD
Web address: www.theverve.co.uk
Appears with: Richard Ashcroft
Purchase date: 2008.01.24
Price in €: 9,99



 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] This Is Music (Ashcroft/Jones/McCabe/Salisbury) - 3:38
[2] Slide Away (Ashcroft/Jones/McCabe/Salisbury) - 4:06
[3] Lucky Man (Ashcroft) - 4:49
[4] History (Ashcroft/Jones/McCabe/Salisbury) - 5:28
[5] She's a Superstar (Ashcroft/Jones/McCabe/Salisbury) - 5:04
[6] On Your Own (Ashcroft/Jones/McCabe/Salisbury) - 3:36
[7] Blue (Ashcroft/Jones/McCabe/Salisbury) - 3:39
[8] Sonnet (Ashcroft) - 4:24
[9] All in the Mind (Ashcroft/Jones/McCabe/Salisbury) - 4:17
[10] The Drugs Don't Work (Ashcroft) - 5:05
[11] Gravity Grave (Ashcroft/Jones/McCabe/Salisbury) - 8:21
[12] Bitter Sweet Symphony (Ashcroft/Jagger/Richards) - 5:59
[13] This Could Be My Moment (Ashcroft) - 3:59
[14] Monte Carlo (Ashcroft/Jones/McCabe/Salisbury) - 4:58
 

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


Richard Ashcroft - Guitar, Vocals, Producer
Nick McCabe - Guitar, Producer
Peter Salisbury - Drums, Producer
Simon Jones - Bass, Producer

John Leckie - Producer, Mixing
Barry Clempson - Producer
Owen Morris - Producer, String Arrangements, Synthesizer Strings
Chris Potter - Producer, Mixing
Paul Schroeder - Producer
Youth - Producer
John Cornfield - Programming, Engineer
Tony Cousins - Mastering, Remastering
Steve Elswood - Engineer
Lorraine Francis - Assistant Engineer
Gareth Ashton - Assistant Engineer
Jan Kybert - Assistant Engineer
Paul Anthony Taylor - Programming
Mel Wesson - Programming
Michael Spencer Jones - Photography

The London Session Orchestra - Strings
Will Malone - String Arrangements
Gavyn Wright - Strings


 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s

2004 CD EMI 863689
2004 CD Virgin 63688
2004 DVD Virgin 5442709
2007 CD Slowburn 68692

This Is Music: The Singles 92-98 is the definitive best of collection from The Verve. Consists of singles released from A Storm In Heaven, A Northern Soul and Urban Hymns plus various EP's, B sides and two unreleased tracks. This definitive collection from the Verve brings together their biggest hits for the first time. From their debut single 'All In The Mind' through to all four singles which were released from their final - and most successful - album 'Urban Hymns'. Tracks from the first two albums 'A Storm In Heaven' and 'A Northern Soul' are also represented here. The release features fourteen songs in total, including two previously unreleased tracks recorded in 1997.



The '90s were filled with pop supernovas - bands that burned brightly for one or two albums then sputtered to an anticlimactic conclusion. Of these bands, the Verve were one of the largest, perhaps because they imploded not once but twice. The first time, they collapsed following the release of their second album, Northern Soul, in 1995. They regrouped in the following year to record Urban Hymns, their commercial breakthrough, but lingering tensions between vocalist/songwriter Richard Ashcroft and guitarist Nick McCabe tore the group apart for a second and final time. They never became the global superstars that their early partisans predicted - it would have been hard to compete with Oasis during their heyday - but as the 2004 collection This Is Music: The Singles 92-98 proves, the group was too arty, too low-key, too psychedelic, too English eccentric to be superstars. Some might have said the same thing about Radiohead, but that Oxford quintet had a heavy dose of U2-styled anthemic arena rock and Thom Yorke's melodies were bigger than Ashcroft's subtle, swirling tunes. Also, Radiohead started out relatively straightforward and grew strange, while the Verve took the opposite path, beginning as post-shoegazer neo-psychedelics and ending as tasteful traditionalists. This Is Music - which is the natural and perfect title for this compilation - doesn't chart this journey, since it winds through the group's 12 singles, including the first LP appearance of their debut single, "All in the Mind," with little regard for chronology before ending with two OK outtakes from Urban Hymns ("This Could Be My Moment," "Monte Carlo"). This sequencing doesn't emphasize similarities throughout the body of work - Urban Hymns is a decidedly less adventurous album than its two predecessors, which doesn't make it a lesser album - but it doesn't hurt the collection, either, since it flows like a good concert. This collection also confirms the suspicion that the Verve were an album-oriented band that best conveyed its mission and sense of purpose on its singles, which expertly captured the feeling, spirit, and mood of each full-length record. And that's why This Is Music winds up being definitive: distilled to their singles, the Verve still sound vibrant and slightly mysterious, wiping away memories of the band's dissolution and Ashcroft's pedestrian solo career, preserving the moment when the group sounded as if the world were at their feet.

Stephen Thomas Erlewine - All Music Guide



This Is Music: The Singles: 92 – 98 represents a landmark collection of releases from one of the most celebrated British bands of the last decade, The Verve. Richard Ashcroft and his reformed band of northern souls stood astride the mid-nineties like a colossus, after finally producing the masterpiece that everyone knew they were capable of (1997's Urban Hymns). A collection of their most successful work is long overdue, particularly with Ashcroft's solo career stalled after two below average efforts. This rolls out the singles from their three albums, early EPs and the obligatory new tracks too, both unreleased from the Urban Hymns sessions. Interesting though these collector's items are, the real treasure lies in simply rediscovering, like Suede, what a great singles band they were. Witness the grandeur and scope of "History" – with it's epic (if overdone) strings and classic Ashcroft delivery or the genuine melancholy of "The Drugs Don't Work." They became, as Oasis and the Stone Roses did, a band of the people; of the nation. The era-defining "Bittersweet Symphony", grand without the Gallagher's arrogance, somehow intellectual in place of their brutish stupidity, didn't so much carve The Verve a path as stomp one through the crowd.

Ben Johncock - Amazon.co.uk



Lange mussten wir darauf warten - nun ist es endlich soweit: mit ´This Is Music: The Singles 92-98´ erscheint die längst überfällige Werkschau einer der erfolgreichsten britischen Bands der letzten Jahre. THE VERVE haben sich allein mit ihrem 1997er Werk ´Urban Hymns´ ein Denkmal gesetzt. Unvergessen die Erfolge von Songs wie ´Bittersweet Symphony´, ´Lucky Man´ oder ´The Drugs Don't Work´. Richard Ashcroft (Vocals/Guitar), Nick McCabe (Guitar), Simon Jones (Bass), Pete Salisbury (Drums) und Simon Tong (Guitar/Keyboards) gründeten THE VERVE 1990, veröffentlichten mit ´A Storm In Heaven´, ´A Northern Star´ und ´Urban Hymns´ drei Alben, von denen letzteres über ein Jahr die internationalen Charts dominierte. Die beiden bisher unveröffentlichen Songs ´This Could Be My Moment´ und ´Monte Carlo´ entstanden in der selben Zeit wie ´Urban Hymns´.

Amazon.de



"The Verve for all their vastness, had a tenderness of touch that rendered them distinct..."

Uncut (p.170) - 4 stars out of 5



"[A] vitalising, occasionally era-defining force."

Mojo (Publisher) (p.124) - 4 stars out of 5



Though the band only made three studio albums before disbanding in 1999, the Verve still proved to be one of the most compelling rock groups to emerge from Britain in the '90s. THIS IS MUSIC: THE SINGLES 92-98 upholds the claim, and gives 14 prime examples of the ensemble's sharp songcraft and riveting sonic sweep. Powered by the rumbling of bassist Simon Jones and drummer Peter Salisbury, and characterized by Nick McCabe's swirling guitar-scapes and Richard Ashcroft's hypnotic vocals, the Verve created a hugely expansive sound that drew from '60s psychedelia, mainstream rock, and an indie shoegazer ethos. More subtle and atmospheric than contemporaneous work by Blur and Oasis, the Verve's spiraling, echoing textures were offset by a fierce edge that underscores the desperation at the music's core. This is particularly true of early tracks, including "Slide Away" and "Blue," which offered up a heady crunch. The Verve refined its sound without losing any of its epic scope, culminating in the hit singles from 1997's URBAN HYMNS, the aching ballad "The Drugs Don't Work" and the majestic "Bittersweet Symphony." The Verve's songs - especially their singles - were symphonies within themselves, and THIS IS MUSIC ensures the band's brief, important legacy will continue to hold sway. Recording information: 1992 - 1998. This is the definitive best of collection from The Verve. The package will consist of singles released from the hugely successful albums "A Strom In Heaven", "A Northern Soul" and "Urban Hymns" as well as various EPs and B-sides.

CDUniverse.com
 

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