:?: .......does anyone here listen to him/them....Well of course b/c of bittersweet symphony most people heard of the verve(not to be confused by prom-rock band the verve pipe)...urban hymns is rock solid(sonnet, the drugs don't work, lucky man, rolling people, space and time, ...damn the whole album is good.....also a storm in Heaven is good alongside a northern soul(history,life's an ocean)..don't own the ep's though...but have heard of the live version of gravity grave...(thats a cool title btw).....if anyone likes early pink floyd check out a storm in Heaven its all so atmospheric in a tripped out way ...kinda like dark side of the moon.....it s good stuff.....
Richard Ashcroft was the lead vocalist for the verve.and has put out two solo albums to date...alone w/ everybody and human conditions....solo Ashcroft sounds similar two what is heard on the more ballad oriented songs found on urban hymns...if you purchase alone w/ everybody track standouts are IMO song for lovers, i get my beat, money to burn, et al..but the whole thing flows well through and through..on his other solo album human conditions (which is not as good as AWE but its still great) the first song on that cd (check the meaning) seriously is incredible! .....damn you really have to hear it to believe it...that one song eclipses everything on his first solo album IMO.....also songs such as sience of silence, buy it in bottles, the miracle are all great .....
If anyonewants to hear great songwriting ......on the singer-songwriter vibe check 'em out.....
Lastly if anyone has seen him or the verve live please give a setlist and explain the show
I don't care what your sig says, use the Shift Key
Quote from: mogwaidefinitely enjoyed the disturbing video to check the meaning.
...cool man... glad you like the verve and ritchie....
but the video for CTM i have never seen that ...do you know of a link to that video or any info about it???????
Quote from: mogwaiQuote from: NEON MERCURYbut the video for CTM i have never seen that ...do you know of a link to that video or any info about it???????
go to his official site (http://www.richardashcroft.com), there's a video section, check if there's any video there. i can't get the site to work, it keeps on loading and loading.
can't get it to work either ..i will try later though......thanks
he's awesome. human conditions was underrated.
verve stuff is flawless tho. i dunno, it's like a simpsons/futurama thing to me.
Yep, I used to listen to Verve a lot. I miss them so much. It's a shame that they're only remembered as the group who sang "Bitter Sweet Symphony."
Does anyone else have the Verve VHS video? It's got some great concert stuff from "Urban Hymns" days and most of their music videos.
I love Ashcroft. I'm glad you guys listen to him too. Alone With Everybody is easily one of my favorite albums. Come On People is a great song!
Haven't got into the new one so much yet.
Saw him live solo acoustic in Vancouver for the A.W.E. tour, it was just mindblowing. He brought on a flute guy and a sax guy for New York. Then his wife played keyboards for some tunes. For his encores he did the last track off of Storm In Heaven (see you in the next one...), and then a 7 min Bittersweet Symphony, smashed the shit out of his guitar, waved, and left. Wonderful!!
damn mog u hav everything.
can i hav a copy of everything?
also..
Quote from: SoNowThenThen his wife played keyboards for some tunes
is she good?
All of you summed it up-The Verve kicks fucking ass.
They have some of the most moving songs I have ever heard. And they're fantastic to listen to when high as a kite. :-D
Quote from: PQuote from: SoNowThenThen his wife played keyboards for some tunes
is she good?
Yeah, she's fine. She was in a band too, but I think has quit now. He made her sit off to the side of stage, anyway.
Quote from: mogwaishe has some huge chesticles.
pic/cap time.
Quote from: SoNowThenYeah, she's fine. She was in a band too, but I think has quit now. He made her sit off to the side of stage, anyway.
She played keyboards with Spiritualized, but has since quit when she met Ashcroft. I'm pretty sure the band is still together. Their songs are kind of hit and miss.
They're are a few pictures of her in the "Alone With Everybody" cd liner notes if anyone wants to scan them...
Quote from: Pawbloe
Does anyone else have the Verve VHS video? It's got some great concert stuff from "Urban Hymns" days and most of their music videos.
is it a full live show?
is it part live and part interviews?
what songs do they show perform live ?
Quote from: NEON MERCURY
is it a full live show?
is it part live and part interviews?
what songs do they show perform live ?
Some. All on tour promoting "Urban Hymns"
Yes. Mostly live stuff at different locations
Songs:
01 . Drugs Don't Work, The - (demo)
02 . Space And Time - (demo)
03 . Rolling People, The - (Urban Hymns Album version)
04 . Come On - (Urban Hymns Album version)
05 . Bitter Sweet Symphony Video - (single release, radio edit)
06 . Drugs Don't Work Video, The - (single release, radio edit)
07 . Velvet Morning - (instrumental)
08 . Lucky Man Video - (single release)
09 . Stormy Clouds - (live, reprise)
10 . Stamped
11 . On Your Own - (live, acoustic)
12 . Life's An Ocean - (live)
13 . Come On - (live)
14 . Brainstorm Interlude - (A Northern Soul Album version)
15 . Sonnet - (live)
16 . Bitter Sweet Symphony - (live)
17 . MSG
18 . Neon Wilderness - (Urban Hymns Album version)
Highly, highly recommended by Pawbloe.
The VHS is getting harder to find cause it's out of print now, but you can find it used at Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00000JQV4/qid%3D1060175623/sr%3D11-1/ref%3Dsr%5F11%5F1/103-7914975-0107035#product-details) fairly cheap.
Pawbloe...thanks for the info ..i been eying it a a music store but wasn't sure it was worth the money (its pricy).but after whats on it(in terms of songs played).i will go get it....
Urban Hyms is solid. Never ever get bored of listening to it.
damn.....i was just listening to urban hymns again....and the drugs don't work has be an example of a flawless song.......it phucking sucks that the verve is no longer.....i have both ashcroft's ....and i thonk alone w/ everybody is better as a whole than human conditions.....but check the meaning is the best song he has written solo.....poeple need to buy his sh*t....
And people need to pay more attention to early Verve. History could be their best song.
But the 1st album is soooooooo brilliant. One of my favorite writing cds. He did See You In The Next One at the acoustic show I saw, and put 30 second pauses in the silent parts, then he'd kick back into it. It was perfection.
Quote from: NEON MERCURYand i thonk alone w/ everybody is better as a whole than human conditions.....but check the meaning is the best song he has written solo.....poeple need to buy his sh*t....
god in the numbers is ekzellent also.
Quote from: SoNowThenAnd people need to pay more attention to early Verve. History could be their best song.
...i have A Strom in Heaven , A Nothern Soul , and Hymnns....i use to have that ep with the gravity grave song (live).....you're right about history......i thinks its their slow/balled-esque song s that rock.......i also like life's an ocean.......that line about .."buying some feelings ....from a vending machine".......<---------genius.........
and the whole bass part to that song
amazing
yeah, that b-sides album is tops, too
any word on when RA is gonna release the next solo album?
Quote from: SoNowThenany word on when RA is gonna release the next solo album?
"early this year" according to the official website.
:mrgreen:
I have Alone with Everybody and I really like it. How is Human Conditions?
not as good
bout the same. more stringy. check the meaning itself is better than AWE.
Quote from: SHAFTRI have Alone with Everybody and I really like it. How is Human Conditions?
...i personally don't thinkit is as good as AWE..but if you liked AWE ...get Human Conditions anyway...its still solid.....and like
P said...check the meaning is worth the monney just for that one song.....its flawless.....God in the numbers is good...and science of silence, and the miracle...buy it in bottles ...all are good..............just get it though.....
The last track, w/ Brian Wilson, is my personal fav.
Quote from: SoNowThenThe last track, w/ Brian Wilson, is my personal fav.
....you must have a different version or something...b/c the last track on my cd is "the miracle".... :? ......i know the song you speak of-nature is the law ..and yes its good
I wish I could comment on Ashcroft's new one, but I still haven't gotten around to buying it yet... lazy. I have heard "Check the Meaning."
A piece from the auto-biography of Pawbloe:
"When I was in college, I dated a girl for about 2 years. We broke up... well, she broke up with me. For about a month or so all I listened to was 'A Northern Soul' and (more importantly) the song 'History.'
'Because it's you and me, we're (sniff) history
There ain't nothing left to say (sob)'"
All jokes aside, that's a true story.
Hilarious
'A Northern Soul' is a great album, featuring the classic: 'This Is Music'. 'Song For The Lovers', Ashcroft's debut solo single is ace too.
THIS IS MORE MUSIC
Two previously unheard songs by THE VERVE will feature on their Greatest Hits.
'This Is Music: The Singles 92-98' is released on November 1 as a CD and DVD, and will feature two unheard songs, 'This Could Be My Moment' and 'Monte Carlo'.
Both were recorded for the sessions of their classic album 'Urban Hymns', and were produced by Youth and John Leckie respectively.
The tracklisting runs:
'This Is Music'
'Slide Away'
'Lucky Man'
'History'
'She's A Superstar'
'On Your Own'
'Blue'
'Sonnet'
'All In The Mind'
'The Drugs Don't Work'
'Gravity Grave'
'Bittersweet Symphony'
'This Could Be My Moment'
'Monte Carlo'
The DVD tracklisting runs:
'This Is Music'
'Slide Away'
'Lucky Man'
'History'
'She's A Superstar'
'On Your Own'
'Blue'
'Sonnet'
'All In The Mind'
'The Drugs Don't Work'
'Gravity Grave'
'Bittersweet Symphony'
'Lucky Man (US version)'
Richard Ashcroft has confirmed the details of his third solo album, to be released early next year.
'Keys To The Word' is released on January 23, preceded by first single 'Break The Night With Colour' on January 9.
Talking exclusively to NME.COM, Ashcroft explained: "I've been working on it on and off all year, but the main recording of the songs took just a couple of nights."
The new album's tracklisting is:
'Why Not Nothing?'
'Music Is Power'
'Break the Night With Colour'
'Words Just Get in the Way'
'Keys to the World'
'Sweet Brother Malcolm'
'Cry Til the Morning'
'Why Do Lovers?'
'Simple Song'
'World Keeps Turning'
Quote from: mogwai on November 10, 2005, 10:01:58 AM
'Keys To The Word' is released on January 23,
...
The new album's tracklisting is:
'Keys to the World'
so which is it? nme.com says the same thing, maybe it's not a typo..
best tracks by title:'Why Not Nothing?'
'Break the Night With Colour'
'Cry Til the Morning'
'Words Just Get in the Way'
'World Keeps Turning'
Yay -- I will hopefully be seeing/hearing Mad Richard on Dec 7 when he plays London.
:bravo: great news
Quote from: Pubrick on November 10, 2005, 10:24:12 AM
Quote from: mogwai on November 10, 2005, 10:01:58 AM
'Keys To The Word' is released on January 23,
...
The new album's tracklisting is:
'Keys to the World'
so which is it?
it's the second one, here's the cover.
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i hope he's still relevant.
look it's the lead singer of kasabian!!
Well he does look pretty happy, kind of like he has the keys to the word.
Quote from: Pwaybloe on December 29, 2005, 11:29:00 AM
kind of like he has the keys to the word.
i think it's more like he's lost them (again)..
Quote from: Pubrick on December 26, 2005, 05:49:28 AM
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"did they fall out of my pocket when i went under the dumpster to pick up that angel?"
New single and video here:
http://www.richardashcroft.com/index.php?page=videoStreams
that's a nice tune, definitely going somewhere new. also available on his site is a full preview stream of another single: Cry Till the Morning, available in windows media (http://exodus.interoutemediaservices.com/?id=6c643a00-7a3e-4895-a8af-4ace1d8f629b&delivery=stream) or realplayer (http://exodus.interoutemediaservices.com/?id=fb3d1c5e-d467-4aea-a76f-393fadb4eeb7&delivery=stream).
both singles are dope, i'll wait for the whole thing before any further judgment.
Richard Ashcroft's third solo album, Keys to the World, will hit U.S. stores on March 21. To promote the record, the former Verve singer will embark upon his first North American tour in six years, opening for Coldplay beginning March 17 in Kanata, Ontario.
Quote from: MacGuffin on February 28, 2006, 01:33:21 PM
opening for Coldplay
haha, as writer of the new thread title, i'll take responsibility for this one,. sorry guys, i didn't think it would go this far.. :yabbse-embarassed:
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KEYS TO THE WORLD[/B]: TRACK BY TRACK REVIEW
WHY NOT NOTHING?: to be honest when i first heard the horns i was like..how the fuck could he follow-up check the meaning with this song as the album opener? on all of his solo efforts, the opening songs are killer...song for lovers and check the meaning...check the meaning is my personal favorite ashcroft song and one of the greatest songs recorded in the last 10 years...it's one of those songs that you measure someone's taste in music with...if you hate that song then you have shit for taste..and i take that to the grave w/me...why not nothing? is so loud and scattershot..much like buy it in bottles...but after some time with it, i began to embrace it..it's sort of a fun rouser.
MUSIC IS POWER: i love how this song opens w/a bang..it's very soulful and funky..different from most of his shit..it's odd like nature is the law...but in a good way.
BREAK THE NIGHT WITH COLOUR[/I]: great fucking song...i immediately fell in love w/it..it's the perfect example of why i love ashcroft..it has a tremendous melody, it's catchy and a fun sing-along song...it has feeling..it's gorgeous...if i was making a mix cd of his greatest shit..this would be on it...
WORDS JUST GET IN THE WAY: this is a song that had to grow on me...the melody seems borrowed from on a beach...it's slow and sort of meanders..doesn't go anywhere...and the lyrics are pretty bad..exspecially the part where he screams "ABC"...but even still i think its an okay track.
KEYS TO THE WORLD: after dozing off during the previous song..this one opens brilliantly..it's very revved up and i like the touch w/the female haunting vocals..adds a nice layer to the song...this is another song i'll put on a ashcroft mix...thank you ashcroft for this one.
SWEET BROTHER MALCOLM: i hate this song..every ashcroft album has a shit song..and this one's it....the way he sings is annoying..like when he constipates the word "celophane"...this song just plain sucks..
CRY TIL THE MORNING[/I]: once again he bounces back w/a stellar track..this one is similar to break the night with colour...just a great melody and catchy..simple but fun song..nice ambiance...like all of ashcroft's great songs..they are unmistakenbly his..they have a trademark to them..in the way that they are melodic, sexy, ethereal....my only complaint it that like alot of his songs ..he repeats the chorus way to much at the end..but still good anyways.
WHY DO LOVERS?: i think his best lyrics on this album are in this song...it's a pretty good song..the emotional peak is there in the chorus..it has a nice verse/chorus transition.....this song has the potential to become one of my favorites..
SIMPLE SONG: now this song is a great rocker..reminds me of something by the rollling stones...the song has the most transitions of any of the other songs on this album..from slow-fast-meduim-slow-fast...it's the most interesting song on the album..i like it
WORLD KEEPS TURNING[/I]: just like the american version of human conditions closed with a great song, the miracle, this album has a great, melodic, feel good song...it's a nice closer..
FINAL THOUGHTS:[/U] i think this is better than human conditions as a whole..there are only one-maybe two dull moments..but it's definately enjoyable..and the bonus dvd is great...and i may be the only person who does this but i tend to smell all my cd inserts..and this one has the most unique smell yet...pubrick, et al....... i would like to here your opinions.
(wtf???)
Boozed-up Ashcroft nicked
RICHARD ASHCROFT was arrested after bursting into a youth club and demanding to work with the baffled teens.
Witnesses say the former VERVE frontman appeared drunk and looked like a tramp as he began swearing and refusing to leave.
Staff called cops and Ashcroft was taken into custody for a couple of hours, then given an £80 fixed penalty fine for disorderly behaviour and released.
One eyewitness told me: "He was very strung out and close to tears at one point. He kept saying he wanted to work with kids, that he wanted to do 'good things'.
"He wasn't aggressive, in fact he was quite charming and friendly. He kept hugging some staff and kids.
"But when the police arrived he was almost begging to be arrested. They told him to go quietly but he wouldn't."
The singer, famous for songs like The Drugs Don't Work and who earned the nickname "Mad Richard" during his Verve heyday, entered The Bridge club in Chippenham, Wilts, just before 8pm on Monday.
The club is near where his wife Kate's family live.
Around 60 youngsters in their early teens were relaxing and playing games when he arrived.
The witness said: "It was surreal and we couldn't believe it at first. He looked like a tramp. He was dishevelled and unshaven, with filthy clothes, and there was saliva caked around his mouth.
"He was off his head, although he wasn't slurring his words. One of the staff said, 'You're the spitting image of Richard Ashcroft'. And he said, 'That's because I am.'
"When they asked what he was doing there he said, 'I've just come to see the kids. I want to see what's going on in the youth club.'"
Ashcroft then announced he would like to work with the youngsters but the woman in charge of the club told him he would have to go through the proper channels.
The insider added: "He kept swearing and saying, 'I'm Richard, I'm going to be doing some youth work here. You'll be seeing a lot more of me, this is my first night.' The woman was getting more and more anxious and rang her boss and I think he told her to call the police."
Ashcroft then slumped on a sofa and the kids gathered around and asked him: "Are you really a rock star?"
When a lone police officer arrived, the star was seen arguing with him outside.
The insider said: "He started getting aggressive towards the policeman and was swearing and asking him what his 'f***ing problem' was. The officer called for back-up and a patrol car arrived and took him away."
A spokesman for Wiltshire Police said Ashcroft was arrested for a public order offence and taken into custody.
A police source added: "It looked like he was drunk. He was discharged once he had calmed down."
the whole thing is hilarious, but this is my favourite part:
Quote from: mogwai on June 21, 2006, 12:06:00 PM
The insider added: "He kept swearing and saying, 'I'm Richard, I'm going to be doing some youth work here. You'll be seeing a lot more of me, this is my first night.' "
Ashcroft then slumped on a sofa and the kids gathered around and asked him: "Are you really a rock star?"
ah richard, your latest album had 4 great songs and too many bad ones. and yet you're still as entertaining as ever. like the friendly crazy town drunk rock star.
haha i love how everyone is saying he was drunk, he sounds like he was fucked on something harder than that. seriously, that story is great.
from wikipedia:
(2007-present) Reunion
Regarding the possibility of a Verve reunion, Ashcroft ruled it out a couple of times when asked the question by Jam Showbiz, Ashcroft responded by saying: "You're more likely to get all four Beatles on stage."
On June 26, 2007 the band's reunion was announced by Jo Whiley on BBC Radio 1. They are to release an album at the end of the summer 2007 which will coincide with a tour in November 2007. The tour starts in Glasgow on the 2nd November, and will include performances at The Carling Academy Glasgow, The Empress Ballroom and the London Roundhouse. In a statement the band stated they were "Getting back together for the joy of the music". Missing from the band line-up is Simon Tong, who is tight with his work with Damon Albarn.
Holy shit! Is this true?
Quote from: Pwaybloe on June 27, 2007, 12:38:36 PM
Holy shit! Is this true?
The Verve Reunite — New LP, Tour On The WayGroup, famous for worldwide hit 'Bittersweet Symphony,' split at the peak of its popularity in 1999.Source: MTV
Nearly eight years after their acrimonious split, British rockers the Verve have announced that they are reuniting for a winter U.K. tour and their first new album in a decade.
Lead singer Richard Ashcroft announced the reunion on his official Web site, writing, "The Verve, Richard Ashcroft, Nick McCabe, Simon Jones and Pete Salisbury, were back recording together in a London studio last week. After a summer break, they will return to the studio to complete their next album."
The only reunion dates scheduled thus far will take place in the U.K. early in November, with two dates each scheduled for Glasgow, Blackpool and London.
The group — which formed in Wigan, England, in 1990 — split in April of 1999, less than a year after guitarist McCabe bailed on the band's U.S. and European summer tour dates. Ashcroft and McCabe have had a famously contentious relationship that includes an earlier split in 1995 following the release of their second album, A Northern Soul. Ashcroft broke up the band, then reformed it with Simon Tong on guitar. Tong — who has since worked extensively with Damon Albarn in Blur, Gorillaz and The Good, the Bad & the Queen — is apparently not involved in the reunion.
With an intense live show that mixed hazy psychedelia, shoegazer rock and blue-eyed soul, the band broke through with the 1997 LP Urban Hymns, which contained the hit "Bittersweet Symphony." McCabe returned in time to work on the album and tour behind it, but quit in July of 1998, citing the wear and tear of life on the road.
Ashcroft went on to release three low-key, moderately selling solo albums that had an expansive sound similar to the Verve, but which often focused on more domestic issues and his spiritual side. Tong and Jones formed a short-lived psychedelic rock band called the Shining.
Salisbury has toured with Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and opened a drum shop in England in 2004, while McCabe has kept a fairly low profile since leaving the group, working on a remix by the Music and contributing to tracks from an album by veteran British singer John Martyn.
I'm speechless.
..... ...? ........!
The Verve break silence about inter-band fighting
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The Verve have revealed how they settled the differences that split up the band after the release of their classic album, 'Urban Hymns'.
Richard Ashcroft and his band members explain how they resolved their issues in the new issue of NME, on sale now.
"We had quite a lot of time being angry," guitarist Nick McCabe explained, talking about the fighting that split the band. "Then, once you've sort of resolved a lot of things in your own mind, you kind of realise that it wasn't such a big deal in the first place.
"Then you think, 'God, what went on there?' All the stuff that happened since is a bit of a nonsense, really."
"It's all bollocks really," frontman Richard Ashcroft went on to say. "We're not here to get on the fucking couch. We've got our lives, we've got kids, we've got our wives. There's a lot of sacrifice goes on making a record and we're prepared to do that."
The band are set to tour the UK in November. To read the interview with The Verve in full, get the new issue of NME, on sale now.
Quote from: mogwai on October 04, 2007, 07:41:22 AM
frontman Richard Ashcroft went on to say. "We're not here to get on the fucking couch."
Redlum, what the hell is this straight up loon talking about??
Quote from: Pubrick on October 04, 2007, 08:13:08 AM
Quote from: mogwai on October 04, 2007, 07:41:22 AM
frontman Richard Ashcroft went on to say. "We're not here to get on the fucking couch."
Redlum, what the hell is this straight up loon talking about??
Doesn't it mean:
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Or it could mean:
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Other languages should be outlawed. Everyone should speak American. Fuck yeah.
The Verve: A World Exclusive
Three weeks ago, in their first interview together for nine years, The Verve recounted to NME the exact moment that they started making music together again.
"We all decided," Richard Ashcroft told us, "That rather than meeting for a cup of coffee or a beer or whatever, we should meet in a studio where we can do what we do. Straight away."
Now, in a phenomenally exciting world exclusive, The Verve are giving away the first fruits of the recording session – the actual first 14 minutes they laid down together – through NME.com. No rehearsal, no fine tuning, no limits: just Richard Ashcroft, Nick McCabe, Simon Jones and Pete Salisbury back together in a room, making music.
The first new material by The Verve in 10 years is now just a click away...
download session (http://www.nme.com/vervedownloadform)
Thanks Mog. This is fantastic. My anticipation just sky-rocketed.
Does anyone have any clear evidence on who is producing their latest album? Chris Potter?
Quote from: Pwaybloe on October 23, 2007, 10:08:10 PM
Thanks Mog. This is fantastic. My anticipation just sky-rocketed.
word! anyone who has the gift of hearing should check this out! i cannot believe that, if my understanding is correct, this is just the guys getting together for the first time and fucking around. that is simply amazing. it sounds like a more polished vibe of a storm in Heaven. thanks mog.
if anyone could answer pway's question...do so please.
Quote from: pyramid machine on October 30, 2007, 12:59:06 PM
if anyone could answer pway's question...do so please.
no idea who's producing it, hopefully timbaland!
anyway, very much enjoyed that jam session.
they're clearly not here to "get on the fucking couch"
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The Verve return with barnstorming show in Glasgow
But how many new songs are there...
The Verve played their first show as an original four-piece in almost a decade tonight (November 2) with a much anticipated reunion gig in Glasgow.
During a 90 minute performance, the band, who reunited in June, stormed through a 17 song set that included favourites such as 'Bittersweet Symphony' and 'The Drugs Don't Work'. But there were some audible boos at the end of the Carling Academy show when, after a three song encore, fan favourite 'History' wasn't dusted down.
There were no support acts tonight. Instead DJs played ahead of the hugely in-demand show - tickets were trading on ebay for £250 a pair. As the band got ready to come to stage there were snippets of moments that may have come from the recently unveiled 'Thaw Sessions', alongside a screen flashing images that included Lou Reed, Bob Dylan and Reginald Perrin.
The show started with a classic Verve moment. As the band strode onto stage shamanic frontman Richard Ashcroft moved to the mic and announced "this is music" to cacophonous yelps - introuducing their classic of the same name.
It was a night that saw little said from the stage. At one point Ashcroft announced simply that it was great to be back in Glasgow after nine years, though physically The Verve looked to have changed little. And any thoughts that animosity lingered between Ashcroft and his foil Nick McCabe were extinguished early on when, in a simple gesture, the frontman acknowledged his guitarist during a solo on the first track.
The band also unveiled one new song. Seven tracks into the gig Ashcroft announced "we're going to try somthing new here" and, apologising for reading from a sheet of paper, he and the band worked through an untitled track that was distinguished mostly by a rumbling bass. The song owed more to Gorillaz and The Stone Roses second album than The Verve's rich back catalogue. Lyrics included: "I should have warned her/I'd fall to pieces."
The Verve finished their set with a massive 'Bittersweet Symphony' before returning for a three track encore. They play the same venue tomorrow (November 3).
The set-list in full was:
'This is Music'
'Sonnet'
'The Sun, The Sea'
'Weeping Willow'
'Life's An Ocean'
'Space And Time'
New Song, Untitled
'Velvet Morning'
''
'Catching the Butterfly'
'A Northern Soul'
'The Drugs Don't Work'
'The Rolling People'
'Bittersweet Symphony'
Encore
'Man Called Sun'
'Lucky Man'
'Come On'
'Music's a personal crusade, very much within his soul. But he's reaching out for something else - what he can be'
Back with the Verve after almost a decade, the singer still seeks the bigger truths
Source: Dave Simpson;The Guardian
Richard Ashcroft, who is fronting the Verve for the first time in nine years, embodies the notion that if you aim for the stars you'll at least hit the ceiling. Born in Wigan into a working-class family, he has hauled himself to the top of rock through herculean self-belief. The Verve's 1997 Urban Hymns was the fifth fastest selling British album ever on release and it remains one of the landmark 90s British rock albums.
Combining gritty urban realism with music that touches on the elemental, he acts as a lightning conductor for the hopes and fears of his band's huge audience, his emotional delivery turning scarring songs about the human condition - "You're a slave to money and you die," he sings in Bitter Sweet Symphony - into something celebratory and uplifting.
Noel Gallagher wrote Oasis's song Cast No Shadow about him, and Coldplay's Chris Martin has called him "the best singer in the world".
But all this has been achieved at some cost. Ashcroft has endured enormous tension; he has smashed up hotels, shattered relationships, had two band splits and tried fearsome experiments with mainly psychedelic drugs (taking ecstasy every day for three weeks recording the Verve's coming-of-age second album, A Northern Soul).
But Ashcroft is not easily shaken, whether performing with a drip hanging from his arm (following a collapse) or suggesting that "you have to go through these things to taste the extremes". When his girlfriend of six years ran off with his childhood friend, he poured his anguish into the Verve's 1995 chart breakthrough, History. But the 36-year-old has spent his life turning drawbacks into positives and refusing to accept that human beings have limits.
So thin as a child that a doctor told him he'd probably have a cold for the rest of his life, he threw himself into his first obsession, football, with the ferocity he would later bring to music - breaking the ankle of future Verve drummer Peter Salisbury and his own nose several times playing for pub sides and Wigan Athletic youth team.
Seeing the Stone Roses in 1989 convinced him that a lad could aspire to something other than the local baked bean factory and at 18 he formed the Verve with schoolfriends Salisbury, Simon Jones and Nick McCabe.
A desire to confront bigger truths may have been triggered early on for Ashcroft; his father died from a blood clot to the brain when he was 11, a defining moment for him. "Other kids would be playing with their Action Man and I was questioning life and society," he said.
Tim Vigon, the band's PR in the 90s, suggests this event, addressed in the Verve's 1997 number one, The Drugs Don't Work, fed Ashcroft's confidence.
"The cover of History read 'Life is not a rehearsal'," Vigon says. "It wasn't an empty phrase. They lived like that. I've never met a bunch of people who were so definite that it was going to happen for them. Richard embodied that and he brought everybody with him. His focus was unstoppable. If you've lost someone you lose your inhibitions. Once you realise that the worst can happen, you might as well just fuckin' have it."
Miles Leonard, Parlophone Records MD but formerly a Virgin talent scout, remembers that when he saw the Verve playing to three people, Ashcroft was treating the tiny backroom venue as if it were Wembley stadium. "Music's a personal crusade for him," Leonard says. "It is very much within his soul. He sings from the heart. There's a lot of truth and honesty but he's reaching out for something else, what he can be, and the combination is very powerful."
Ashcroft carries some influence from his stepfather, a Rosicrucian into enlightenment and telekinesis, but his own quest for transcendence has landed him in trouble. The music press dubbed him "Mad Richard" after he said he could fly, but Leonard says he meant in the music. "But what a thing to aspire to."
Conversely, Ashcroft has been known to walk offstage or away from the band when "the feeling" is absent. However, without the Verve around him, he has seemed less self-assured. He named his first solo album Alone With Everybody. Subsequent fairly successful records, marriage to musician Kate Radley and children did not tame his restless soul. Never a materialist, he has been stung by accusations that he became a "rock star buying a big house" and said "80% of everything I've experienced since the Verve has been depressing".
Last year, he revealed he had been prescribed Prozac and had been arrested after going into a Wiltshire youth centre and demanding to work there. Ashcroft suggests he has always suffered from depression but can dispel it through creativity.
The band's long-standing manager, Jazz Summers, agrees: "There's a chemistry in that band that's very special and when you see him unleashed with those three people it's amazing. Richard Ashcroft is an enormous talent - as a musician, songwriter and spiritual shaman. He touches people."
The CV
Born: Wigan, Lancashire, in 1971, the son of an office clerk and a hairdresser. Married to Kate Radley, former keyboard player with Spiritualized. Two children.
Education: Winstanley college, Wigan, but at 18 walked out of an A-level exam saying he was going to be a musician.
Career: Lead singer of the Verve 1989-99, Solo artist 2000 until present. Playing with the Verve again from this year.
Music: Verve albums include Verve (EP, 1992), A Storm in Heaven (1993), A Northern Soul (1995), Urban Hymns (1997).
Singles include All in the Mind (1992), Bittersweet Symphony (1997), The Drugs Don't Work (1997), Lucky Man (1997).
Solo albums include Keys to the World (2006).
Solo singles include A Song For Lovers (2000), Money To Burn (2000), C'mon People (2000).
The Verve are aiming for 'spectacular' return
Albums Of 2008: band reveal all about forthcoming record
The Verve have spoken about their forthcoming new album, which they are putting the finishing touches to now.
Speaking to NME.COM, bassist Simon Jones explained that he hoped the results would be "spectacular" on the belated follow-up to 1997's 'Urban Hymns'.
"There's 'Sit And Wonder' – that's the one we were doing at the gigs," Jones explained.
"That was born out of a 25-minute jam, and we just edited it down into a song. That's kind of the method we've always used, ever since the early days. We all take away the tracks, and make a note of all the bits that are good, then just put them together.
He added: "Then there's 'Appalachian Springs', which is a song of Richard (Ashcroft, lead singer)'s, but one where there's just three chords going round and round so we can still jam through it as a band. And 'Mona Lisa', that's a much more strictly written, Richard-y type thing."
These more structured Ashcroft moments will be balanced out by the likes of 'Judas' – a song born out of a full band jam, with Nick McCabe's unique guitar playing leading the way.
Jones described 'Rather Be', a song set for the album, as having "a string line looping around three chords all the way through – kind of like 'Bitter Sweet Symphony' did, although it's not really anything like that".
He said: "It needs arranging, but that's a pretty strong one. It's very vocally led that one, with loads of great intertwining vocal lines, kind of making a chorus even though the chords haven't changed. Richard's a bit of a master at that."
The band, who are recording their first record in over a decade at the at State of The Ark studios in Richmond, Surrey, are aiming to get the record out towards the end of the spring, in time for the inevitable festival headline slots this summer.
"For us now it's just a case of getting the balance between Richard's songs and the more jam-based songs," the bass player concluded. "If we can get the balance right, then it's gonna be a spectacular record, without a shadow of a doubt."
The Verve land in US for first time in 10 years
The Verve played their first concert in the U.S. in ten years, taking the stage at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts festival.
The psychedelic Brit Pop group played for about an hour as one of the main attractions on Friday, the first day of the three-day Southern California festival. The Verve reunited last summer, but had previously only played a handful of sold-out concerts in Europe.
On Friday, frontman Richard Ashcroft thanked "the hardcore" for coming out to see them. The band was sure to play its biggest hit, "Bittersweet Symphony," but Ashcroft made it clear they weren't only on a nostalgia trip.
While introducing one of the Verve's new songs, "Sit and Wonder," Ashcroft noted that many reformed bands don't write new music.
"But that's what we're all about," said Ashcroft. "So let's make some music."
The Verve, who plan to put out a new album this year, formed in 1989.
Here's a couple of new songs they've performed live the last few weeks. Video isn't that great, but the audio is better than most.
Love Is Noise (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTJvbGVXwMI&feature=related)
Sit And Wonder (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiLGC_X8HmI&eurl=http://www.theverveonline.com/)
They're both cobbled from Ashcroft's solo music and a new Verve hybrid. They're definitely looking forward rather than back.
http://rapidshare.com/files/124898701/The_Verve_-_Love_Is_Noise.mp3
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fecx.images-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FI%2F511akLHYZDL._SS500_.jpg&hash=0e2b406fbdc55523d52508c03f4a9493fb47447e)
Hrm.. Could have been better.
i'm digging a bit of the verve's performance at the t at the park festival in scotland. some of the highlights is "the drugs don't work" with a beautiful extended outro that i've been playing over and over.
check it out here:
http://imfeelingsupersonic.blogspot.com
It's leaked. So, who's going to download it?
Well, you better not!
Did the whole thing leak or just a few songs? I hate downloading half leaks. They're usually mutt rips with one song coming from some radio station in Bristol, and another song coming from a station in Detroit, and another song some kid recorded with a tape recorder off his stereos speakers and they're all in different bitrates. I'll wait till it's up on What or Waffles.
Quote from: Stefen on August 13, 2008, 09:57:10 AM
Did the whole thing leak or just a few songs? I hate downloading half leaks. They're usually mutt rips with one song coming from some radio station in Bristol, and another song coming from a station in Detroit, and another song some kid recorded with a tape recorder off his stereos speakers and they're all in different bitrates. I'll wait till it's up on What or Waffles.
The whole thing leaked and the version I'm listening to sounds polished and complete.
Werd. I'll have to check it out when I get home.
Quote from: Stefen on August 13, 2008, 10:51:33 AM
Werd. I'll have to check it out when I get home.
HOLD THE PHONE. At least a couple tracks cut off before they are finished. Sound quality is still top notch and there are even bonus track but if you want the total experience you may have to wait a day or two. Sorry to get your hopes up there. I'm still enjoying it though.
You know, this could have turned out to be a real disaster, jerk. :yabbse-angry:
Luckily chaos was averted. :bravo:
Quote from: Stefen on August 13, 2008, 11:24:20 AM
You know, this could have turned out to be a real disaster, jerk. :yabbse-angry:
Luckily chaos was averted. :bravo:
I wouldn't want you to drag me outside of Largo and stab me or anything. :yabbse-grin:
My reaction after a first listen is; Great album, but a few songs go on longer than they should. You think the song is over, but it fades out for another two minutes.
Love Is Noise gets my vote for single of the year. I am having to use extreme amounts of self-control to not listen to that song on repeat all day long.
Teacup review:
- I like Richard and Co, even defended him many times when he released solo albums. Well, mostly just the first solo album, then it became impossible. Had high hopes for this one, though. Even listened to my least favorite Verve album (Northern Soul) in preparation a few weeks ago, loved it, and so...
- it's a pile, to be sure. There was a moment when it was not a pile. That moment was from the beginning of Noise Epic until the end of Valium Skies. That sounded like a band with something to say, and with some balls. Or at least it DIDN'T sound wanky, twiddly, and whiny, like the rest of the album.
- I guess I save ten bucks. I wouldn't mind if someone who is enjoying it and listening to it constantly tries to change my mind, however.
my favorite song on the new lp is "judas". it's what i like about the verve. they often jam stuff and edit them down to songs. unfortunately there are some stinkers here (especially "noise epic") that makes the lp not a well worth follow-up to "urban hymns".
does anyone know who produced the album btw?
Quote from: mog●wai on August 28, 2008, 10:54:36 AM
does anyone know who produced the album btw?
Officially "The Verve'' produced all tracks. Chris Potter did some engineering work, but was not listed as a producer.
sorry to bump this thread but i just wanted to join the others here who feels the new album stinks.
I have grown to dislike this album...After the intial Palin glow wore off I realized how crappy it actually was.
wow :yabbse-angry:...u guys are mean..except for mac. i fucking love this album it falls short of urban hymns but i fell its stronger (i.e. i like it more) than northern soul and storm....i think alot of it is what our good friend from tenneesse says..arshcroft solo palyed by the verve...but thats not abad thing....mog...i think this will be our first big dissagreement and i usually alwys agree w/u..but judas is the worst track while noise epic is ..epic....and i fells its on of the closer soiundign the old verve stuff...i pesonally think the grandest of all tracks is appalachian springs..i lovgfe that song..... the album was worth the wait for me an di hope this wil lead to only bigger an dbetter things....
Has anyone else heard of RA's new project: RPA & The United Nations of Sound?
It's an... interesting new direction. It has a lot of his solo work involved with strong religious overtones (which I like). It does go a bit overboard at times that even the most ardent of Christian artists don't dwell.
Here is their video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8pZFjczSyA) for their first single, "Are You Ready".
It's a bit unexpected, strange, and unintentionally hilarious.
Richard Ashcroft: Verve reformation tensions were 'inevitable'
Singer says there was a 'realness' to 2007 comeback
Richard Ashcroft has said it was "inevitable" that there were inter-band tensions when The Verve reformed in 2007.
The singer, who is set to release his debut album with new project United Nations Of Sound later this month (July 19), said there was a "realness" to the Wigan band's comeback.
"It wasn't a marketing thing. It was much better than hanging around," he told the Observer.
Ashcroft also discussed disappearing from the public eye over the past couple of years, saying it is "fantastic" that he is outside the mainsteam again.
"But I don't feel on the outside when I walk the streets. I'm not on the outside to the painters, to the delivery guys, the shop assistants. I'm not on the outside to the people of England," he remarked.
In 2008, The Verve released their fourth album 'Forth and headlined a trio of UK festivals - Glastonbury, T In The Park and V Festival.
However, there were regular rumours of tensions and arguments, with Ashcroft describing the reformation at the time as "not some 'Mills And Boon' scene".