Urban Hymns - The Verve

[Caprice]

Wonderful CD. I am so glad i finally purchased one of their CDs

i took a trip to slc and i wanted new music.

its very relaxed and just something nice to listen to on a plane.

im a terrible reviewer,

anyone else agree?

[Future Proof]

It's a decent album, but nothing even close to "A Storm In Heaven". Very melodic, less poppy and really, it's a voyage more than anything where the songs work to form the whole, a la Dark Side Of The Moon or another album of that sort.

After that album came out, they went on a triumphant tour because everyone just knew that they were going to explode on the scene. They took a little-known band on the road with them and... nothing. That record only sold 30,000 records worldwide, no joke. However, the little band they took with them... ended up being Oasis, and gathered all of the steam they'd need to rule the mid-nineties up to present.

Funny how things work.

EDIT: You'll have a hard time finding this probably but if you're interested in finding it... EBay to the rescue.

http://http://cgi.ebay.com/THE-VERVE...QQcmdZViewItem

[vacant]

Urban Hymns is an awesome album, for real.
Bittersweet Symphony, Sonnet, The Drugs Don't Work and Lucky Man are incredible.
Bittersweet Symphony is by far one of the best songs to walk around London to, along with Cage's 'Good Morning'

[stimpee]

Its my least favourite Verve album but its alright. A Storm In Heaven is out there somewhere tho and their first 3 singles are just sonic cathedrals of sound. just much more trippy on the whole.

As for not being available, its absolutely rock bottom prices in the UK and a quick check tells me its as low as £3.99 in the UK. A quick USA price check tells me you can pick it up for about $10 delivered via Overstock.com. A copy of No Come Down is a great companion piece also.

[Tiger]

Originally Posted by Future Proof

It's a decent album, but nothing even close to "A Storm In Heaven".

one of my fav albums, its perfect for late nite driving on deserted roads; and like stimp says the first 3 singles are pure quality, the 15 minute version of gravity grave a particular fav

[stimpee]

I must give a thank you to Caprice for making me think of Verve again. I've been digging into the 1992-1993 era stuff. Namely:

All in the Mind
One Way To Go
A Man Called Sun
She's A Superstar
Feel
Gravity Grave
Endless Life
Blue
Twilight
Where the Geese Go
No Come Down
Slide Away
6 O'clock
Star Sail
Already There
Beautiful Mind
The Sun, The Sea
Virtual World
Make It 'Till Monday
Butterfly
See You in the Next One (Have A Good Time)
Change My Life
South Pacific

There are also some great extended versions of some of these tracks like Gravity Grave and She's A Superstar and really mellow acoustic versions of tracks like Make It 'Till Monday, Virtual World and Butterfly. South Pacific was only ever played live and appears on the ultra rare Voyager 1 mini live album. Change My Life was played on the John Peel session and the Hit The North Session for Mark Radcliffe both in 1992. I was lucky enough to see Verve a few times in this period and two of their gigs are in my top 15 or so.

[Scott Warner]

I think my favorite Verve record was A Northern Soul. Felt like the best collision between their Wall o' Sound days and a proper rock record.

"Slide Away" is a fantastic piece of music tho...

[Tiger]

Originally Posted by stimpee

I was lucky enough to see Verve a few times in this period and two of their gigs are in my top 15 or so.

caught em live supporting the smashing pumpkins in brixton back in 93 and they were very good, although ashcroft looked like he was wired out of his head on smack or something given the vacant look on his face

wasn't really a huge fan of northern soul, although it did have history on it, which is one of their best tracks

shame the stuff ashcroft is putting out know, stinks of dad rock; always thought McCabe was the sonic force behind the verve, and ashcrofts solo stuff supports that and the sickboy theory to life argument too

[crank]

Here's my favorite Verve story to bring out when they come up in conversation:

I saw them in Athens Georgia at the 40 watt touring for "A Storm in Heaven". They were absolutely amazing to the 50 people that were there. It was unreal. they loved their music and they loved playing to whomever wanted to listen. What a night.

C.rank!

[Animal Boything]

I'm a huge Verve fan. They're one of my favorite bands. I'm also of the fairly rare opinion that A Northern Soul is their best album, but the early singles were pretty amazing. Richard Ashcroft came up with a lot of the best lyrics I've ever heard, before he went "dad-rock." The chorus to Gravity Grave is probably my favorite rock n' roll quote ever: "To me you're like a setting sun; you shine, then you're gone." The guitar solo at the end of She's a Superstar (long version) is pretty mindblowing too.

Urban Hymns was a favorite of mine when it came out, but what I like best about it is that it led to me hearing their old stuff.

Anybody else who likes their early stuff ought to check out The Chameleons. They're somewhere between early Verve and Echo and the Bunnymen, and sadly underappreciated.