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The Verve: Urban Hymns

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: Hut Records
Released: 1997.09.30
Time:
 75:51
Category: Progressive Rock
Producer(s): See Artists ...
Rating: ********** (10/10)
Media type: CD
Web address: www.theverve.co.uk
Appears with: Richard Ashcroft
Purchase date: 2002.02.06
Price in €: 6,99



 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] Bittersweet Symphony (Ashcroft/Jagger/Richards) - 5:57
[2] Sonnet (Ashcroft) - 4:22
[3] The Rolling People (Verve) - 7:02
[4] The Drugs Don't Work (Ashcroft) - 5:05
[5] Catching the Butterfly (Verve) - 6:26
[6] Neon Wilderness (McCabe/Verve) - 2:38
[7] Space and Time (Ashcroft) - 5:37
[8] Weeping Willow (Ashcroft) - 4:50
[9] Lucky Man (Ashcroft) - 4:53
[10] One Day (Ashcroft) - 5:03
[11] This Time (Ashcroft) - 3:51
[12] Velvet Morning (Ashcroft) - 4:57
[13] Come On (Verve) - 6:40

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


SIMON JONES - Bass Guitar, Producer
RICHARD ASHCROFT - Guitar, Vocals, Producer
NICK MCCABE - Guitar, Producer
PETER SALISBURY - Drums, Producer
SIMON TONG - Guitar, Keyboards, Producer

WILL MALONE - Conductor, String Arrangements

YOUTH - Producer
CHRISTOPHER MARC POTTER - Producer, Engineer, Mixing
LORRAINE FRANCIS - Assistant Engineer
GARETH ASHTON - Assistant Engineer
JAN KYBERT - Assistant Engineer
PAUL ANTHONY TAYLOR - Programming
MEL WESSON - Programming
MARTIN CATHERALL - Director, Design Assistant
BRIAN CANNON - Director, Design, Sleeve Art
MATHEW SANKEY - Director, Design Assistant
MICHAEL SPENCER Jones - Photography
JOHN HORSLEY - Photography
CHRIS FLOYD - Photography

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


1997 CD Virgin 44913
1997 CS Virgin 44913



Not long after the release of A Northern Soul, the Verve imploded due to friction between vocalist Richard Ashcroft and guitarist Nick McCabe. It looked like the band had ended before reaching its full potential, which is part of the reason why their third album, Urban Hymns — recorded after the pair patched things up in late 1996 — is so remarkable. Much of the record consists of songs Ashcroft had intended for a solo project or a new group, yet Urban Hymns unmistakably sounds like the work of a full band, with its sweeping, grandiose soundscapes and sense of purpose. The Verve have toned down their trancy, psychedelic excursions, yet haven't abandoned them — if anything, they sound more muscular than before, whether it's the trippy "Catching the Butterfly" or the pounding "Come On." These powerful, guitar-drenched rockers provide the context for Ashcroft's affecting, string-laden ballads, which give Urban Hymns its hurt. The majestic "Bitter Sweet Symphony" and the heartbreaking, country-tinged "The Drugs Don't Work" are an astonishing pair, two anthemic ballads that make the personal universal, thereby sounding like instant classics. They just are the tip of the iceberg — "Sonnet" is a lovely, surprisingly understated ballad, "The Rolling People" has a measured, electric power, and many others match their quality. Although it may run a bit too long for some tastes, Urban Hymns is a rich album that revitalizes rock traditions without ever seeming less than contemporary. It is the album the Verve have been striving to make since their formation, and it turns out to be worth all the wait.

Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All-Music Guide, © 1992 - 2001 AEC One Stop Group, Inc.



Bittersweet Symphony

After going on hiatus after their 1995 A Northern Soul release, the Verve decided to reunite and issued their greatest album yet two years later, Urban Hymns. The album proved to be the global breakthrough that they hoped for, especially on the strength of the majestic hit single "Bittersweet Symphony." A few years before the track was written, Verve singer Richard Ashcroft bought a used copy of the obscure album The Rolling Stones Songbook, from 1966. The album consisted of Stones songs that were reworked by an orchestra (the bandmembers didn't play on it at all). And while there was absolutely no comparison between these strange new versions and the definitive, rocking originals, Ashcroft became interested in a small musical phrase that was included on the album's final song, "The Last Time." While many assume that the main orchestrated hook used throughout "Bittersweet Symphony" is the sample, it is not — it was written by the Verve. But when the song was issued as a single shortly after the release of Hymns, the copyright holders of the Stones' '60s catalog, ABKCO, informed the Verve that they were not going to give the band clearance of the sample they used. The Verve's manager even contacted Mick Jagger and Keith Richards personally to see if they'd help out, but both refused to get involved in a dispute with ABKCO (run by their former manager, Allen Klein). Eventually, ABKCO agreed to let the Verve use the sample, but at a very steep price — they'd have to surrender 100 percent of the royalties to the Stones' copywriters. Without much choice in the matter, the band agreed and the single was finally released, helping propel the album to the top of the charts worldwide.

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



Perhaps you weren't convinced of the Verve's staying power until recently. Before the release of Urban Hymns, skeptics wondered if they could ever match the explosive power of their earlier dedications. In 1995, most critics dismissed their offerings of the time as vapid, romantic excursions. To their credit, the Verve have sustained their shadow rock legitimacy while introducing string arrangements, piano fills, and slide guitar. Nowhere are these stirring traits more obvious than in the epic single "Bitter Sweet Symphony." Laying it on thick throughout the rest of the album with painfully engaging ballads, the Verve have crafted their most accomplished album to date, proving the longevity of their cultural resonance.

Lucas Hilbert, Amazon.com



Calling it a day in early 1999 was probably the best thing the Verve ever did, as it meant that they quit when they were at the pinnacle of their success, sparing their faithful followers an unsightly degeneration. Urban Hymns is a fitting final testament to Wigan's favourite sons, as Richard Ashcroft and Nick McCabe temporarily buried the hatchet and reformed one of Britain's greatest songwriting partnerships since Lennon and McCartney. From the unmistakable introductory chords of "Bittersweet Symphony" to the sheer pop perfection of "Lucky Man" via stoner rock-outs like "Weeping Willow" and the call to arms that is "Come On", every track justifies its presence by being part of a cohesive whole. Their previous album A Northern Soul was already marked down in the annals of rock history as a classic; Urban Hymns surpasses it and then some.

Helen Marquis, Amazon.co.uk



What the Critics Say...

Q Magazine (12/99, p.92) - Included in Q Magazine's "90 Best Albums Of The 1990s."

Village Voice (2/24/98) - Ranked #18 in the Village Voice's 1997 Pazz & Jop Critics' Poll.

Q Magazine (1/98, p.115) - Included in Q Magazine's "50 Best Albums of 1997."

Melody Maker (12/20-27/97, pp.66-67) - Ranked #1 on Melody Maker's list of 1997's "Albums Of The Year."

New Musical Express (12/20-27/97, pp.78-79) - Ranked #3 in NME's 1997 Critics' Poll.

Q Magazine (6/00, p.69) - Ranked #58 in Q's "100 Greatest British Albums" - "...Rose to national anthem league, an appeal to a post-club generation who now use rock'n'roll as a comedown aid..."
Q Magazine (7/00, p.141) - Included in Q's "The Best Male Angst Albums Of All Time"
Rolling Stone (10/16/97, pp.104-106) - 3.5 Stars (out of 5) - "...their strongest album to date....the songs on URBAN HYMNS are anchored by propulsive guitar rhythms and sinuous, infectious vocals....a breathtaking venture, an ambitious balance of stargazing and worldweary pathos."

Melody Maker (10/4/97, p.51) - "...An album of unparalleled beauty so intent on grabbing at the strands of music's multi-hued history....all songs which sound like they've lived a little more than most." New Musical Express (9/27/97, p.54) - 8 (out of 10) - "....Its sheer magnificence and spirit is such that the danger of it overwhelming anything that follows it is obvious. This, after all, is the musical signature of the year....The Verve's best album to date..."

Entertainment Weekly (10/10/97, p.92) - "...a surprising - and stunning - comeback from Britain's shoe-gazing shamans the Verve, resurrected after two splintered years. Crooner Richard Ashcroft makes it all sound like churchworthy gospel." - Rating: B+



Wenn Sie bislang nicht vom Durchhaltevermögen von The Verve überzeugt waren, dann sind Sie das mit Sicherheit jetzt. Bevor Urban Hymns herauskam, fragten sich skeptische Zeitgenossen, ob diese Band jemals wieder an die Schlagkraft ihrer früheren Werke herankommen würde, zumal ihr Oeuvre damals, 1995, von der Mehrzahl der Kritiker als nichtssagende, romantische Verirrung belächelt wurde. Man muß The Verve aber eines lassen: Trotz Streichersätzen, Pianosoli und Slide-Guitar blieben sie ihrem düsteren Shadow-Rock stets treu. Nirgendwo wird diese aufsehenerregende Mischung deutlicher als in dem epischen Single-Hit "Bitter Sweet Symphony". Aus dem Vollen schöpften sie auch auf den übrigen Stücken des Albums: Die schmerzhaft tief empfundenen Balladen stellen The Verves derzeit eindrucksvollste Leistung dar und beweisen die Beständigkeit ihres Einflusses auf die Musikszene.

Lucas Hilbert, Amazon.de



Ahhh! THE VERVE, ein wundervoll abwechslungsreicher Wurf.Welche andere Band könnte auf der Basis eines die Highstreet herunterschlendernden Ashcrofts eines der besten Videos des Jahres zaubern?Durchweg stimulierend, nie nie dumpf. Jedes ihrer Alben besaß eine mystische Qualität, und "Urban Hymns" macht da keine Ausnahme. "Bitter Sweet Symphony" hat mich fast einen Monat lang während der Verkehrsstaus bei Laune gehalten, und die Nachfolge-Single "The Drugs Don't Work" ist nichts weiter als fuckin' brilliant. "The Rolling People", "Catching The Butterfly" und das prächtige "Weeping Willow" bestätigen, wenn das überhaupt jemals nötig war, daß VERVE zu den ganz Großen gehören. Dank geschliffener Worte, eines einzigartigen Melodieverständnisses und nahezu perfekter Arrangements setzen sich THE VERVE meiner Meinung nach weit vom Feld ab. Ein provozierender Tanz im Schatten des Untiers. Solltest Du vorhaben, nachts ein paar Hundert Kilometer Autobahn zu fressen, vergewisser' Dich, daß Du dieses Album dabei hast.

Mark Burgess / © Intro - Musik & so
mehr unter www.intro.de



Achtung: Hier haben wir es mit der "zweitbesten Band der Welt" zu tun - so sieht es zumindest Gitarrist und Berufsnöler Noel Gallagher von Oasis. Nun ist der Britpopper nicht unbedingt dafür bekannt, selbstbescheiden zu argumentieren - was The Verve nur noch stärker ins rechte Licht rückt: Was die fünf Mittzwanziger aus dem nordenglischen Städtchen Wigan seit ihrer Gründung am "Winstanley College" 1991 (ein Jahr vor Oasis) musikalisch fabrizieren, darf mit Superlativen beschrieben werden. Ihr drittes Album "Urban Hyms" bringt's auf den Punkt: "Bitter Sweet Symphony", ein hauchzartbitteres Pop-Epos, vom "The Last Time" der Rolling Stones inspiriert, und "The Drugs Don't Work" erklommen als Singles auf der Insel Top-Positionen. Und die übrigen elf Songs des Albums halten das hohe Level. Sänger Richard Ashcroft - ein dünner Strich in der Landschaft, der scheinbar täglich mit einem Schälchen Cornflakes satt wird, aber mit einer Stimme, so souverän und dehnfähig wie ein Bubblegum, ausgestattet ist - klotzt mit einem unverschämten Gespür für Melodien wie vom Notenblatt aus einer anderen Welt - und klingt doch so vertraut. Gitarrist Nick McCabe entfesselt psychedelische Elektrostürme auf seinen Saiten - in "The Rolling People" oder in der 15minütigen Rock-Space-Odyssee "Come On", und im Song "Weeping Willow" surft er mit seinem Instrument in einer schillernden Rock-Umlaufbahn. Drummer Peter Salisbury treibt die Stücke an oder schwingt seine Stöcke locker-flockig pulsierend. Und obwohl schnell klar wird, an welcher musikalischen Sixties-Original-Brause die Jungs am liebsten schlürften (zum Beispiel The Doors, Pink Floyd oder Small Faces), machen sie ihr ganz eigenes, sehr subtiles Ding daraus. Die textliche Architektur von "Urban Hymns" handelt indes von dem, was jungen Männern so im Kopf herumspukt - keine Autos, schon eher Obsessionen, Abgründe, Mädchen. Der Sänger: "Liebe, das Leben, Tod, Drogen, Highlights, Sex". Diesen Themen verleiht Richard Ashcroft, der übrigens gerne auf Astral-Reisen abzischt, einen ungeheuer melancholisch-kraftvollen Dreh, obwohl er manchmal mit seinem philosophischen Sermon am liebsten gleich den Weltfrieden anzetteln würde. "Die Leute sagen, Rock'n'Roll sei tot. Aber tot ist nur die Vorstellung der Leute. Ideen. Visionen. Bilder. Das ist der Moment für uns." Diese Worte könnten auch von seinem Freund Noel Gallagher stammen. Doch wahrscheinlich hat der Mann einfach recht.

© Audio



Eine komische Karriere: Mit dem Debüt "A Storm In Heaven" (1993) und "A Northern Soul" (1995) können The Verve bereits auf zwei der brillantesten britischen Pop-Alben der 90er Jahre verweisen. Einziger Haken: Außer einigen Kritikern und wenigen Insidern interessierte sich kaum jemand für die Band von Richard Ashcroft. Also löste er sein Projekt 1995 kurzerhand auf - um es nun wie Phönix aus der Asche wiederauferstehen zu lassen. "Urban Hymns" vereint all jene Tugenden in sich, welche die Popmusik von der Insel groß gemacht haben: Drama, Kraft, Glanz, Melodik. Darin und in ihrer Zusammensetzung aus verdichteten elektrischen und akustischen Gitarren und der weitläufigen Kompositionskunst von Bandleader Ashcroft erinnern The Verve eindeutig an die Superstars Oasis. Doch im Detail offenbaren sich flugs die Unterschiede. Während die Gallaghers der Welt über weite Strecken von "Be Here Now" den ausgestecketen Mittelfinger hinhalten und sich durch ihre rüden Kompositionen wüten, wirken The Verve, als spielten sie im positiven Sinne mit angezogener Handbremse. Ihr Sound bleibt kontrollierter, die Kraft der Songs entfaltet sich weniger stürmisch, aber umso intensiver. Und Ashcroft hat Stil: Trotz massivstem Streichereinsatz etwa entgleitet ihm der monumentale Hit "Bittersweet Symphony" nie ins Schwülstige. Und auch die Grandezza von Songs wie "Sonnet", "The Drugs Don't Work" oder "Lucky Man" speist sich zwar aus Weltschmerz und Wehmut ohne Wenn und Aber, doch stets triumphiert das große Gefühl über die große Geste. 13 Songs und keine Niete: ein famoses Album, perfekt in seiner Mischung aus Pop und Psychedelik - diese "Urban Hymns" weden noch lange nachwirken.

© Stereoplay



Eighteen months after a well-publicized breakup and two justly slobbered-over LPs, The Verve make a magnanimous return with Urban Hymns. Less reliant on the pedal-heavy guitar psychedelics that so strongly marked the band's previous work, the album captures The Verve at its most artistically ambitious and emotionally extreme, its playing raised to a kind of mythical grandeur. As the album's leadoff track and single, "Bitter Sweet Symphony" couldn't be any more representative or momentous: Centered on Richard Ashcroft's graceful English tenor, the track slowly builds and coalesces into a gorgeous, uplifting mass of nimble strings, weightless guitar theatrics and golden melodies, proving both the band's continued knack for lofty sonics as well as its newfound grasp of deeply personal song themes. The sparser "Sonnet" chugs along with lazy confidence, the rich yearning in Ashcroft's delivery set against a thoughtful backing of simple percussion and wavering guitar beauty. Perhaps the album's most delicate moment, the acoustic "The Drugs Don't Work" is its most triumphant, encompassing the entire record's struggle with beauty and heartache, lushness and emptiness, euphoria and loss. Urban Hymns is a record that won't be forgotten by year's end.

Colin Helms: CMJ New Music Report Issue: 540 - Oct 06, 1997
© 2001 CMJ Network, Inc.



In Gravity's Rainbow Thomas Pynchon wrote that paper is used in three ways - for "shit, money, and The Word." I tend to look at guitars in the same way. File Urban Hymns neatly into the "The Word" file please. Listening to the Verve's third LP mimics the feeling one gets the day after being bedridden-sick forever and walking out into a 59-degree-cool, fresh, lung-numbing October morning to have a picnic of herbal tea, citruses, and damn good donuts with your lover (who was too afraid of catching your bug for the last week). No need for power chords or stick- a- fork- in- a- fan guitar racket here. The Verve's fencing guitarists layer neon-effervescent wave after neon-effervescent wave of wah wah wash over the blue sands and polished granite boulders of the shifting rhythm section. The beautiful subtlety of the guitars waft up your nose and relax your mind like those giant screw-hooks with which the Egyptians used to take out brains. The Verve's affirmant melodies dance and haunt. Vocalist Richard Ashcroft even looks and sounds like a ghost. Ironic that one of the year's best rock albums moves earth without excessive stroking of the guitar. But this sucker can blow out a Bose. Recommended uses for Urban Hymns - reading Tolkien, making love, driving at night through Kentucky/Scottish hills, any old time you're tired of the chug and drag of modern rock.

Brent Dicrescenzo - Rating: 8.9



Urban Hymns is not a bashful record. Opening with "Bitter Sweet Symphony," the album takes on board suffering, pride and the triumph of the human spirit, set to driving strings and thundering drums, before it's five minutes old. It was the single of 1997, and it promised nothing less than greatness. Urban Hymns refuses to betray that promise, maintaining an almost religious emotional intensity over its 13 tracks. Where earlier Verve albums sought release in exploratory, atmospheric jams, Urban Hymns sees the band channeling its passion into singer Richard Ashcroft's more structured songs. The result is a set of instant classics, driven by one of the most fluid and powerful rock bands ever caught on tape. "The Drugs Don't Work," "Space and Time," "One Day," - this album throws up a handful of ballads whose deep sadness is matched only by their resilient, indomitable spirit. These are hymns of redemption, and they stand together as a testament to a band of rock 'n' roll survivors. When the final track "Come On" kicks into gear, all the promises of "Bitter Sweet Symphony" are realized. Ashcroft whips the band into a fury, dragging himself, his mates and his audience out of the gutter and into the promised land, where great music saves. "Don't wait to be found," he exhorts, "come along with our sound." Resistance is futile.

jf - Copyright © 1997-2002 Ink Blot Magazine. All rights reserved.



Blown away by The Verve's remarkable comeback single, Bitter Sweet Symphony,THE iZINE's Music Editor, MIKE GEE, tracked down the only copy of their forthcoming third album, Urban Hymns, in Australia and organised a special listening session. That was in late SAugust '97 and yesterday's exclusive 'Net preview is today's track-by-track review. Our thanks to Penny and all the folk at Virgin who made it possible at the time.

To be honest, the boardroom of Virgin records, Sydney headquarters, is one of those places where a suitcase would come in handy. Bins full of EMI and Virgin releases line three of the four walls, box sets sit on shelves; rifle through them and just how vast EMI's back catalogue is becomes evident. Jethro Tull mix it with The Beatles, Pink Floyd with Alan Parsons. And amid the splendours of the past, EMI's today gems: Blur, Radiohead, Mansun.

"Urban Hymns" doesn't even have a cover yet. Just a white piece of paper slotted into the CD cover, a pure gold "burn" filling the tray. It looks pure. It looks perfect.

Just over an hour later, it is possible to conclude, it is nearly perfect. Even the imperfections are perfect. The Verve have made the record of their lives, an album to rival (and - in retrospect - better) Radiohead's remarkable "O.K. Computer" both in scope, detail, sound, lyricism and poise.

But "Urban Hymns" is a very different record to "O.K. Computer". It is as its title suggests a collection of urban hymns, rooted in the street and the people, rather than in technology and the future. And while "O.K. Computer" employs strange lassitudes and chilling airs, only Thom Yorke's voice delivering the emotional heartburn, "Urban Hymns" is gloriously full-bodied, yet extraordinarily ambient. A gluepot of emotion, sticky with love and tears, loneliness and hope, anger and strength.

"Urban Hymns" is a "Bitter Sweet Symphony", and that masterpiece of stringed grandeur and pastoral grace, tinged with melancholy futility and existential leanings is the where the journey begins.

This is "Urban Hymns" - track by track. A stunning achievement that lifts The Verve into the highest echelons of composition and performance and fulfils, wildly, all the promise of "A Storm In Heaven" and "A Northern Soul".

1. Bitter Sweet Symphony (5.57)
Critically-acclaimed already, the debut single from "Urban Hymns" reveals a band that has undergone a complete transformation. Soaked in lush orchestration with a Richard Ashcroft vocal that comes from somewhere left of Wigan (their home town) and right of the last stop on the main line to a dark corner of the soul, "Bitter Sweet Symphony" is the human face of paranoia and madness just contained. Where before Ashcroft's songs would lose themselves in his own fear and unease, now they are focussed, tight, beamed straight between your eyes. You could fall in love to this, but if you did you'd wake up next morning knowing that the torment would destroy whatever beauty -if there was any - of the night before. "Bitter Sweet Symphony" journeys from birth to death. And ends in a crescendo.

2. Sonnet (4.22)
Is it? I'm no classical scholar, and I've forgotten what the hell an iambic opentameter is, except that it's a 14 line poem with an octave rhyming of abbaabba (wonder if that's where they got their name from ...) Whether this is, who knows. It doesn't matter. The Verve's "Sonnet" is an almost country-tinged gentle pop song that floats in an extraordinary amount of space through which what sounds like echo effects ping and wobble, but it's heart is the strummed acoustic that opens the song and carries its theme. The middle just goes right off somewhere and the whole thing is just mesmerising, finally going out on a burst of strings and picked guitar chords. Wigan was never this pretty - and if it was, it was with help of a few friends.

3. The Rolling People (7.02)
You want epic. This is epic. It's so epic I got confused about where it comes from. See, the beginning is kind of very Booker T and the Mgs with lots of echo and space, then it blasts into a quasi-psychedelic romp with echoed vocals and scratchy guitar punching some near wild heaven. Things get all mystical and starry and Ashcroft and guitarist Nick McCabe drive it round on gilded wings while the bottom end chigs on fairy dust. By the end it sounded like a '90s Stones track lifted straight off one of their '60s psychedelic platters. R'n'b on acid - or something like that. Fuckin' great. And Ashcroft's vocal is a killer.

4. The Drugs Don't Work (5.05)
The song that will send The Verve straight to No 1, install them as early favourites for next year's Mercury Prize and see them leave Oasis in their wake. "The Drugs Don't Work" is one of the great songs of the '90s, a heart-rending you and me dose of poignant reality. Simply set against an acoustic guitar, never overwhelmed by the sparse accompaniment and subtle orchestration, it's the loser's struggle to survive, the battle to make something of life, to make it through each day. Only there comes a point where the drugs don't work anymore. Where nothing's going to put colour into the endless grey days when the soul is sapped and the heart only flutters. Look words just aren't going to do justice to the greatness of this song. Here's a sample of the lyrics: "All this talk of getting old, it's getting me down, my love. Like a cat in a bag waiting to drown. This time I'm coming down ... I hope you're thinking of me as you lay down on your side. Now the drugs don't work, they make you worse but I know I'll see your face again ... I'm coming to, just like you said ... you leave my life, I'm better off dead". This is reality. It hurts and it bleeds and it breaths. It's so focussed, so tight yet so spartan. It's the hair on the razorblade gleaming in the dull light of a rundown room; the thin line between going on and ending it. What do you do when the drugs don't work anymore? Due as the second single in about 10 days time, this may well be the song of the year.

5. Catching The Butterfly (6.26)
The perfect follow-up to "Drugs". An eerie, repeated, siren motif opens on a strange, restless, trippy feel that drifts off into a Primal Scream-style chorus. Dreamy, lazy, almost Radiohead at their most acidic, again it evokes a strong sense of the '60s yet just as convincingly seems unerringly '90s. The depth in which the whole thing is played out is startling, the space almost engulfing ... and as the music drifts Ashcroft sings "my elusive dreams, my forgotten dreams". You'd be lost in the haze of eternity if this didn't end.

6. Neon Wilderness (2.38)
An interlude. A creepy scary fragile interlude. The fear is tangible. A small shard of inner-city Blade Runner ambience. "Someone else is in distress in a neon wilderness". Ashcroft proves that while on "Urban Hymns" his understanding of the dank, dismal struggle at ground level is the daily real, he also understands the chemicrazy fear that comes with the night, the lights, the fights and the unspoken threat that hangs in every shadow cast by every beam. Musically it's somewhere around Mazzy Star meets Labradford.

7. Space & Time (5.37)
Another potential killer single. As with many of the tracks on "Urban Hymns" the intro is strummed, rolling over on a drum beat into one of those chords you wish you could play but have no idea how to. The kind of chord you hear in your head but can never get out of the fingers. Settling on a backbeat with the drums mixed up high again and the guitar in the middle eight a fragile chiming distance, its beauty is offset by its sense: "I can't make it alone, no, no, no," sings Ashcroft. The fade out at the end says it all. Beautiful.

8. Weeping Willow (4.50)
One of the highlights in an album of highlights, "Weeping Willow" springs off a glorious chorded intro into atmospheric Brit pop rock full of hope and desire. The perfect antithesis of the loner in "Space & Time" yet also the same loner on anaother day when he's found somebody to love. "I hope you see like I see, I hope you see what I see, I hope you feel like I feeeeel .... " For some odd reason it reminds of The Byrds, "Turn Turn Turn", not musically, but in the way of life. There is some light at the end of most dark tunnels. And in the tough, unrelenting bitter sweet symphony of life that is the journey of The Verve's "Urban Hymns", "Weeping Willow" is so sublime, so heartfelt, composed and classy. A band at its most epic - and at its best. And just cop the bottleneck guitar that peals off the end of the chorus. Triumphant.

9. Lucky Man (4.53)
You have to admire the way The Verve have tracked "Urban Hymns". The longer it goes, the more the journey takes shape. As the video for "Bitter Sweet Symphony" sees Ashcroft reprising Massive Attack's video stroll for "Unfinished Symphony", except Ashcroft strolls unyielding and unrelenting in the opposite direction, it is also a journey down one street. And each song on "Urban Hymns" is a street, its houses, shops, the people that live in the darkened rooms, behind the sameness of walls and windows, the punters who lean, stroll, occupy the footpath, the busy street, the flood of traffic blood and metal. "Lucky Man" like so many of the songs on "Urban Hymns" is undefinable; subtle territories and atmospheres that blur around the edges so they could be anywhere, space and time. Musically, it's a magnificent build, a layering, a swelling, guitar and orchestra stroking each other, cajoling each other, to climax; the orchestra attuned to Ashcroft's voice moving with his nuances. The finale is astonishing. Strummed guitar, multi-tracked vocals, sweeping strings ... that drop away leaving space bare ... and a church organ plays alone.

10. One Day (5.03)
Ashcroft's optimism and lifeliness reaches a pinnacle as he sings against a warm fuzzy r'n'b groove that wouldn't be out of place on "Exile On Main Street": "One day, maybe, you'll see the land, touch skin with sand, You've been swimming in the lonely sea with no company. Oh, don't you want to find, can't you hear there's beauty of life." Stop wallowing in your mire, delivered with compassion. A beautiful song with a huge wide open mix full of little things going on the background; and it's that character and subtlety that makes so many of these songs, so much more. For a band that once overstated themselves into a corner The Verve have mastered understatement with rare understanding.

11. This Time (3.51)
Wouldn't be out of place on U2's "Pop"; it's that kind of song. Quirky, atmospheric, with a sampled vocal opening, funky little beat, all mixed way back to leave the vocal to work in space. At some point the guitar scratches and chops out the rhythm in one direction out of one speaker while the drum beat counterpoints it in the other. And Ashcroft repeats over and over again, "There is time ... "

12. Velvet Morning (4.57)
An alterna take on the badlands feel most enduringly delivered by Giant Sand, Mazzy Star and Tarnation, The Verve - because they are British - have their own velvet mornings and they are extraordinary. In the ebb and flow of "Urban Hymns", "Velvet Morning" treads the thin line. Early atmospherics - the multi-tracked treated vocal and steel guitar (I think) are almost spectral and glistening in their frail intensity, are offset by sudden violent contrasts at the end of each verse before the whole song picks up and strings appear on the downbeat of the crashing cymbals, only to fall away again. Delivered but not deliverance. Promise, perhaps not fulfilled. Look you can see what sitting there all alone in the boardroom does to you. The Verve get to you and Ashcroft is unrelenting as lines appear and disappear: "Another velvet morning for me" ( love the image, the feel of the image and the words); "I'm trying to tell you about my life ... my feelings they've been betrayed"; "Don't you find it's lonely". And the mother of all punchlines - "If life was a game, you tried". If life was a game you tried. That is just bloody brilliant. You can live with that, take that and put it away somewhere and think about it over and over again. It's one of those lines.

13. Come On (6.40)
The finale is a monster, a pulsating, thunderous, psycho-Stones and Scream monster that blasts off into some divine madness, an unearthly ordered chaos that finally loses its gravity and disintegrates into an electronic whirlwind through which Ashcroft can be ranting and raving and tossing off lines. "there's only one life" he mutters , and as the hullabaloo builds, "let's go, let's go", finally crazed he can be heard in the midst of the sonic whirlpool screaming "she's a bitch", "fuck you". It is the most brutal and stunning of endings. And if you press the shiny little button the bitter sweet symphony begins all over again.

If you don't press the button but let the track run on another six minutes you'll hear noises, chiming guitars, ambience, a disembodied child's voice. Then you realise in the eeriness of it all, that it is baby crying.

Life, death, birth. An urban hymn.



Dionysius Comes To Wiggan: A Review of the Verve's Urban Hymns

The Verve could have been could'a beens, but they aren't due to this album. In 1995 they released A Northern Soul, an incredible album of psychedelic freakouts, philosophical lyrics, and languid grooves made for watching the lava flow. Although this album was big in Britain, the four guys from Wiggan, England, were unknown in the United States, except among Britpop Anglophiles like yours truly, who was very depressed after their break-up soon after recording an incredible album.

Somehow, singer Richard Ashcroft and guitarist Nick McCabe managed to smooth their differences, and headed into the studio with the old rhythm section of Simon Jones and Peter Salisbury, along with new addition Simon Tong on guitar. The result was Urban Hymns, my favorite album of 1997.

The firt song on the album is the first single they realeased: "Bittersweet Symphony." Although the song is now famous for being used in a Nike commercial (a move the group couldn't prevent due to legal wranglings caused by the use of a sample) I first heard it while watching 120 Minutes on MTV one very lonely Sunday night. The song amazed me then, and still does. The strings at the beginning are soft and sublime, hinting of something good to come. Part of the strings track is looped, sounding like some strange music box, but it crescendos and the full band starts playing along with the symphony, and Richard Ashcroft's voice intones "It's a Bittersweet symphony that's life/ Try to make ends meet/ Find some money then you die." This song is easily the best four minute encapsulization of modern life that I've ever heard. Although the lyrics may sound depressing, the melody is strangely uplifiting, and Ashcroft, feeling trapped by the meaninglessness of his life, tries to tell himself "I can change." At the end of the song he asks "have you ever been down?" knowing that the listener, like any human being has. Though the song reminds me of how hard life is, the song is a nugget of beauty that one can carry with them as a sign that some things can transcend the desperartion that we all must live out.

The song gets the album off to a breath taking start as Ashcroft and company play songs about the primal determination to live life. "Sonnet" is a great love song that is grounded in reality, not the "ooh baby" stuff that gets played on the radio. The fourth song, "The Drugs Don't Work" rivals the beauty of "Bittersweet Symphony." It is a song about seeing someone you love destroy herself, and it is the type of beautiful ballad that Celine and Mariah wish they could sing. Ashcroft's voice relays incredible pain, knowing that he can't do anything to save his lover. The musical backing is very understated, creating a perfect frame for Ashcroft's voice. "Space and Time" may be on of the great break-up songs of all time, with its biting first lines "There ain't no space and time to keep our love alive/ We have existence and that's all we share."

Although these songs seem to move away from the psychedelic soundscapes of the band's past, the guitar workouts are still here, including the space age wah-wah peddle on "Rolling People" and especially in the last song, "Come On." The song starts with a funky bass groove that is joined by some effects laden guitar and pounding drum beats. Ashcroft sings from his belly like a Dionysius come to tell people to damn the consequences of life, and the end of the song screaming "COME ON!" hoping the listener will wake up and heed his call. It's very hard not to.

Jason Tebbe - GarageLand



The first time I heard "Bittersweet Symphony," I thought it was one of the catchiest damn songs I had ever heard. The Pachabel- like intro with the tongue-in-cheek bird noises coupled with the loping beat and lazy vocals drew me in like a coiled cobra. Weeks later, I feel the same way, but I've also grown to appreciate the rest of the songs on the album as well. The Verve has quietly been around for quite awhile in the UK, but they've never really caught on huge in the US. Most people here still think you're talking about that group that did "The Freshman." Egad.

The main reason behind this is because they don't have the ego's or the hooks that Oasis does. This isn't a bad thing by any means. Although there are some louder rockin' songs on Urban Hymns, the songs where the group comes across the most effectively is on quieter, beautifully long arrangements like, "The Drugs Don't Work" and "Velvet Morning." Chances are that you probably won't hear more than their first single on your local radio station, but don't be discouraged. They can pen a seven-minute song like nobody else and create a dreamy surrounding of music to go right along with it. I wouldn't want them carving a song in half to fit it on the radio anyway.

AlmoastCool.org - Rating: 8



The Verve's 'Urban Hymns' is, without question, one of the albums of the decade. To date it's sold six and a half million albums worldwide - a third of those in the UK alone. That said, success was a long time coming. They made two seminal albums in the early nineties - 'A Storm in Heaven' and ' A Northern Soul' - before splitting in the summer of ' 95. Things were sorted by early '97 and then came the anthemic 'Bitter Sweet Symphony'. 'The Drugs Don't Work' and 'Lucky Man' confirmed their status as the biggest band in Britain - something that Richard had no problem with: "You're almost laughed at when you say 'We're gonna be the biggest band in the world. Saying 'We're gonna be the biggest band in the world' is not just boasting, it's saying to other people who are picking up guitars or whatever, that if you aim your sights high, y'know, believe in it, it'll happen", he said. "And that's what's happened to us. That's why I'm here and that's why people know who I am, buzz off my music, and why I'm a happy man at the moment".

BBC.co.uk
 

 L y r i c s


BITTER SWEET SYMPHONY

Cause it's a bitter sweet symphony that's life...
Try to make ends meet , you're a slave to the money then you die.
I'll take you down the only road I've ever been down...
You know the one that takes you to the places where all the veins meet, yeah.

No change, I can change, I can change, I can change,
but I'm here in my mould , I am here in my mould.
But I'm a million different people from one day to the next...
I can't change my mould , no,no,no,no,no,no,no

Well I've never prayed,
But tonight I'm on my knees, yeah.
I need to hear some sounds that recognise the pain in me, yeah.
I let the melody shine, let it cleanse my mind , I feel free now.
But the airwaves are clean and there's nobody singing to me now.

No change, I can change, I can change, I can change,
but I'm here in my mould , I am here in my mould.
And I'm a million different people from one day to the next
I can't change my mould, no,no,no,no,no,no,no

Have you ever been down?
I can change, I can change...

Cause it's a bittersweet symphony this life.
Trying to make ends meet, try to find somebody then you die.
You know I can change, I can change, I can change,
but I'm here in my mould, I am here in my mould.
And I'm a million different people from one day to the next.
I can't change my mould, no,no,no,no,no,no,no

We've got ya sex and violence melody and silence
(Have you ever been down)
(I'll take you down the only road I've ever been down)


SONNET

My friend and me
Looking through her red box of memories
Faded I'm sure
But love seems to stick in her veins you know

Yes, there's love if you want it
Don't sound like no sonnet, my lord
Yes, there's love if you want it
Don't sound like no sonnet, my lord
My lord

Why can't you see
That nature has its way of warning me
Eyes open wide
Looking at the heavens with a tear in my eye

Yes, there's love if you want it
Don't sound like no sonnet, my lord
Yes, there's love if you want it
Don't sound like no sonnet, my lord
My lord

Sinking faster than a boat without a hull
My lord
Dreaming about the day when I can see you there
My side
By my side

Here we go again and my head is gone, my lord
I stop to say hello
'Cause I think you should know, by now
By now
By now
By now
By now
By now
Oh, by now
Oh, by now
Oh, by now
Oh, by now


THE ROLLING PEOPLE

I got one more life
Can you see it wasting away?
But I got a plan
Do you understand?

The drugstore wife
I was dealing soul and other white
I won't shake your hands
'Cause death has no plans

But here we are the rolling people
Can't stay for long
We gotta go

So come alive with the rolling poeple
Don't ask why
We just know

I'm on a big jet plane
With my briefcase and crime in my veins
I'll be the first to toast
To my rowdy soul

But here we are the rolling people
Don't ask why
We don't know

So come alive with the rolling people
Don't ask why
We just go now
Yeah

Don't even know which way I'm going to
The lights are on and I am feeling blue
I hope you know which way I'm going to fly
Thank you for my life
I said good night, good-bye

You see me going

But here we are the rolling people
Can't stay for long
We gotta go

So come alive with the rolling people
Don't ask why
We don't know now
Yeah


THE DRUGS DON'T WORK

All this talk of getting old
It's getting me down my love
Like a cat in a bag, waiting to drown
This time I'm comin' down

And I hope you're thinking of me
As you lay down on your side
Now the drugs don't work
They just make you worse
But I know I'll see your face again

Now the drugs don't work
They just make you worse
But I know I'll see your face again

But I know I'm on a losing streak
'Cause I passed down my old street
And if you wanna show, then just let me know
And I'll sing in your ear again

Now the drugs don't work
They just make you worse
But I know I'll see your face again

'Cause baby, ooh, if heaven calls, I'm coming, too
Just like you said, you leave my life, I'm better off dead

All this talk of getting old
It's getting me down my love
Like a cat in a bag, waiting to drown
This time I'm comin' down

Now the drugs don't work
They just make you worse
But I know I'll see your face again

'Cause baby, ooh, if heaven calls, I'm coming, too
Just like you said, you leave my life, I'm better off dead

But if you wanna show, just let me know
And I'll sing in your ear again

Now the drugs don't work
They just make you worse
But I know I'll see your face again

Yeah, I know I'll see your face again
Yeah, I know I'll see your face again
Yeah, I know I'll see your face again
Yeah, I know I'll see your face again

I'm never going down, I'm never coming down
No more, no more, no more, no more, no more
I'm never coming down, I'm never going down
No more, no more, no more, no more, no more
(Repeat and Fade Out)


CATCHING THE BUTTERFLY

As though you were born
And so you thought
The future's ours
To keep and hold
A child within
Has healing ways
It sees me through
My darkest days

I'm gonna keep catching that butterfly
In that dream of mine
I'm gonna keep catching that butterfly
In that dream of mine

In my lucid dreams
In my lucid dreams

Something now????
Through life no fun
I want to feel
I want to run

I'm gonna keep catching that butterfly
In that dream of mine
I'm gonna keep catching that butterfly
In that dream of mine

In my lucid dreams
In my lucid dreams

I'm gonna keep catching that butterfly
In that dream of mine
Keep catching that butterfly
In that dream of mine
I'm gonna keep catching that butterfly
In that dream of mine
I'm gonna keep catching that butterfly

In my private dreams
In my private dreams
In my private dreams
My lucid dreams
My forgotten schemes
I see through you
You see through me
I see through you
You see through me
Be with me
Be with me
I see through you
You see through me
I see through you
You see through me

To be in your eyes
To be in your eyes


NEON WILDERNESS

In a neon wilderness
He was restless
Escape loneliness
Find a new address

Stood before I sink
In a neon wilderness
Spill my last drink
Yeah, he was restless
Say good-bye to my new friends
Escape from loneliness
I found a new address
In the last room
I hear a boom
Someone else's distress
In a neon wilderness
Someone else's distress
In a neon wilderness
And I hear a boom

In a neon wilderness
He was restless
Escape loneliness
For a new address

In a neon wilderness
He was restless
Escape loneliness
For a new address


SPACE AND TIME

There ain't no space and time
To keep our love alive
We have existence and it's all we share
There ain't no real truth
There ain't no real lies
Keep on pushin' 'cause I know it's there

Oh, can you just tell me
It's all right (It's all right)
Let me sleep tonight
Oh, can you comfort me
Tonight (It's all right)
Make it all seem fine

I just can't make it alone
Oh, no, no
I just can't make it alone
Oh, no, no

There'll be no lullabies
There'll be no tears cried
We feel numb 'cause we don't see
That if we really care
And we really loved
Think of all the joy we'd feel

Oh, can you just tell me
It's all right (It's all right)
Let me sleep tonight
Oh, can you comfort me
Tonight (It's all right)
Make it all seem fine

I just can't make it alone
Oh, no, no
I just can't make it alone
Oh, no, no
I just can't make it alone
Oh, no, no
I just can't make it alone
Oh, no, no


Ain't got no lullaby, no, no
Ain't got no lullaby, oh, no
There is no space and time
Oh lord
There is no space and time
Oh lord

We have existence and it's all we share
We have existence and it's all we share
We have existence and it's all we share
We have existence and it's all we share
We have existence and it's all we share
Keep on pushing 'cause I know it's there
Keep on pushing 'cause I know it's there
Keep on pushing 'cause I know it's there
Keep on pushing 'cause I know it's there


WEEPING WILLOW

When morning breaks
We hide our eyes and our love's aching
Nothing's strange

It was in our hands from 6 to 10
It slipped right out again

There'll be no better time
There'll be no better way
There'll be no better day to save me
Save me
Yeah, save me

I hope you see like I see
I hope you see what I see
I hope you feel like I feel

And the world don't stop
There is no time for cracking up
Believe me friend
'Cause when freedom comes
I'll be long gone
You know it has to end

There'll be no better time
There'll be no better way
There'll be no better day to save me
Save me
Yeah, save me
Yeah, save me
I hope you see what I see
I hope you feel like I feel
Someone to stand beside me
Beside me
Beside me
Beside me
Beside me

Weeping willow
The pills under my pillow
Weeping willow
Pills under my pillow
Weeping willow
The Gun under your pillow
Weeping willow
Beside me
Beside me
Beside me
Beside me


LUCKY MAN

Happiness
More or less
It's just a change in me
Something in my liberty
Oh, my, my
Happiness
Coming and going
I watch you look at me
Watch my fever growing
I know just where I am

But how many corners do I have to turn?
How many times do I have to learn
All the love I have is in my mind?

Well, I'm a lucky man
With fire in my hands

Happiness
Something in my own place
I'm standing naked
Smiling, I feel no disgrace
With who I am

Happiness
Coming and going
I watch you look at me
Watch my fever growing
I know just who I am

But how many corners do I have to turn?
How many times do I have to learn
All the love I have is in my mind?

I hope you understand
I hope you understand

Gotta love that'll never die

Happiness
More or less
It's just a change in me
Something in my liberty
Happiness
Coming and going
I watch you look at me
Watch my fever growing
I know
Oh, my, my
Oh, my, my
Oh, my, my
Oh, my, my

Gotta love that'll never die
Gotta love that'll never die
No, no
I'm a lucky man

It's just a change in me
Something in my liberty
It's just a change in me
Something in my liberty
It's just a change in me
Something in my liberty
Oh, my, my
Oh, my, my
It's just a change in me
Something in my liberty
Oh, my, my
Oh, my, my


ONE DAY

One day maybe we will dance again
Under fiery skies
One day maybe you will love again
Love that never dies

One day maybe you will see the land
Touch skin with sand
You've been swimming in the lonely sea
With no company

Oh, don't you want to find?
Can't you hear this beauty in life?
The roads, the highs, breaking up your life
Can't you hear this beauty in life?

One day maybe you will cry again
Just like a child
You've gotta tie yourself to the mast my friend
And the storm will end

Oh, don't you want to find?
Can't you hear this beauty in life?
The times, the highs, breaking up your mind
Can't you hear this beauty in life?

Oh, you're too afraid to touch
Too afraid you'll like it too much
The roads, the times, breaking up your mind
Can't you hear this beauty in life?

One day maybe I will dance again
One day maybe I will love again
One day maybe we will dance again
You know you've gotta
Tie yourself to the mast my friend
And the storm will end
One day maybe you will love again
You've gotta tie yourself to the mast my friend
And the storm will end


THIS TIME

Lookin' back on my life
You know that all I see
Are things I could've changed
I should have done
Where did the good times go?
Good times so hard to hold
This time, this time
This time I'm gonna find

Lookin' back on my life
You know that all I see
Are things I could've changed
I could have done
No time for sad lament
A wasted life is bitter spent

So rise into the light
In or out of time
Gonna rise straight through the light
In or out of time

Woke up one other day
The pain won't go away
I am growing
In peculiar ways
Into a light I pass
Another dream, another trance
This time, this time
This time I'm gonna rise into the light
In or out of time

Gonna find my way in life
In or out of sight
I'm still seeing things in black and white
Gonna rise straight into the light
In or out of sight

I'm gonna see the light
I'm gonna see the light
I'm gonna see the light

'Cause I know there is time
There is time
There is time
There is time
There is time
There is time
There is time
There is time
This time, this time
This time, this time
This time, this time
This time, this time


VELVET MORNING

Yes
It's been long
And yes
I still feel strong
Into the half light
Another velvet morning for me, yeah

Time
Stands still
As you take
Your last pill
Into the half light
Another velvet morning for me

And now I'm trying to tell you
About my life
And my tongue is twisted
And more dead than alive
And my feelings
They've always been betrayed
And I was born a little damaged man
And look what they made

I said, don't you find
That it's lonely
The corridor
You walk there alone
And life is a game
You've tried
And life is a game
You're tired

Yes
I'm coming down
Your beauty is
A color surround
Into the half light
Another velvet morning for me

And now I'm trying to tell you
About my life
And my tongue is twisted
And more dead than alive
And my feelings
My feelings, they've been betrayed
And I was born a little damaged man
And look what they made

He said, don't you find
That it's lonely
The corridor
You walk there alone
And life is a game
You've tried
And life is a game
You're tired
And life is a game
You've tried


COME ON

I must be feeling low
I talked to god in a phonebox on my way home
I told you my answer
I left you my dreams on your answering machine

Come on
Let the spirit inside you
Don't wait to be found
Come along with my sound
Let the spirit move you
Let the waves come up
They'll fuse you
I never met no one to deny a sound

I must be going insane
I called the doctor so he can relieve
He's got a little pill for me
Just a little luxury
Help me through my day

Come on
Let the spirit inside you
Don't wait to be found
Come along with our sound
Let the spirit move you
Let the waves come up
They'll fuse you
I never met no one to deny our sound

Come on
Come on
Come on
Come on...

There's only one life
There's only one life

Let it go
Let it go
Let it go

This is a big
Fuck you!
This is a big
Fuck you!
Come on!

Come on now

 M P 3   S a m p l e s


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