When you open your album with one of the best opening tracks of
\nall-time, you are setting yourself up. Audiences may put that
\nparticular track on “repeat” or “rewind,” depending on your mode of
\nmusic. Then, when they are eventually tired of it, the album heads
\nto the used bin of a record store or gathers dust in a CD
\ncollection.<\/p>\n
That’s the case for The Verve’s final in-studio album,
\nUrban Hymns<\/i>. The album opens with “Bittersweet Symphony,”
\nand while the song pretty much thieves the Rolling Stones (to the
\npoint where they had to pay virtually all of their royalties of
\nthat song to the band), the Verve’s version is arguably superior to
\nthe Stones. The song weaved its way into Nike commercials and due
\nto the U.S. interest in Brit-pop music at that time with Oasis and
\nBlur, The Verve was able to capitalize on some of that success.<\/p>\n
“Sonnet,” the next song, doesn’t do much to keep the listener’s
\near: It’s a nice song overall, but unlike “Bittersweet Symphony,”
\nit takes a few listens to set in. I admit, I didn’t listen to
\nUrban Hymns<\/i> in its entirety until last week, and I have
\nowned this CD since 1997. But it took almost six years to discover
\nthe best way to listen to this album: on a dreary Sunday afternoon,
\non your couch and with the remote far out of hand’s reach so you
\nhave no choice but to absorb the entire album in one listen.<\/p>\n
Most of the other tracks on
\nUrban Hymns<\/i> have the same longing, resigned, defeated feel
\nof “Bittersweet Symphony” and their lesser-known hit, “The Drugs
\nDon’t Work.” The song “The Drugs Don’t Work” is said to be either
\nabout Ashcroft’s own struggles with drug addiction or losing his
\nfather. But there’s no sense in digging for meaning about the song:
\nthe lyrics are fairly straightforward and the orchestration is so
\nachingly beautiful that you can’t help but feel the line, “like a
\ncat in a bag, waiting to drown” to the marrow.<\/p>\n
If Oasis owe homage to the Beatles, The Verve owe homage to the
\n’60s era in general.
\nUrban Hymns<\/i> is awash in psychedelic landscapes. This is
\nespecially evident on “Catching the Butterfly.” After the emotional
\nlows expressed in “The Drugs Don’t Work,” “Catching the Butterfly”
\nhas an airy, spacey vibe that provides a much-needed lift to the
\nlistener.<\/p>\n
For those looking for a “morning after hangover” album,
\nUrban Hymns<\/i> definitely has more downbeat moments. Lyrics fit
\nfor the best of breakup letters (“We have existence and that’s all
\nwe share,” from “Space and Time” and “One day, maybe I will dance
\nagain,” from “One Day”) liberally scatter the album. Ashcroft’s
\nromanticism and sad lyrics intersect perfectly in the song, “Velvet
\nMorning,” a song that should be required to be played in coffee
\nhouses at least once on Sunday mornings.<\/p>\n
Much has been ballyhooed about Ashcroft’s voice, and justifiably
\nso. However, the band is able to provide some of the most moving
\nelements to
\nUrban Hymns<\/i>. Peter Salisbury’s drumming is neither
\noverpowering nor is it just background noise. And Nick McCabe
\ncements his status at being one of the best lead guitarists in
\nmusic after
\nUrban Hymns<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Internal drama imploded The Verve after the recording of
\nUrban Hymns<\/i>. The band broke up before the album was
\nrecorded, but in 1999, the band said this time was definite. With
\nthis CD, The Verve were placed alongside such other classics as
\nOasis’
\n(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?<\/i> and Blur’s
\nParklife<\/i>. And though Oasis and Blur are still chugging away,
\nit is admirable that The Verve opted to quit at their artistic
\npeak. The band shouldn’t have to worry about additional royalties
\nfrom this album. As long as hangovers, personal identity crisis and
\nbreakups exist, there will be a need for
\nUrban Hymns<\/i>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":26424,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[6881],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-37657","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-the-verve","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37657"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37657\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37657"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}