Posts Tagged The Verve

Revisiting Forth

27 November 2008 at 8:03 pm · Filed under Music ·Tagged , ,

Forth

I’ve been somewhat overwhelmed by a deluge of new music lately (twenty-five or so albums in the past two months, by my count), and one of the side effects of that is that everything tends to shuffle out of the listening rotation much sooner than I’d like.

So even though it only came out three months ago, I hadn’t actually listened to the Verve’s Forth in several months when I gave it a few more spins this past week.  But man, it sounds pretty good — much better than I gave it credit for when I reviewed it back in September.  Although some of the songs have grown on me, I think the big thing is that I’m finding that the record hangs together and flows much more naturally than I gave it credit for at the time.  Though it probably doesn’t hurt that November’s been a bit of a rough month for me, so the band’s alternating bursts of melancholy and anger are hitting home a little bit harder right now.  Whichever.

“Valium Skies”, incidentally, has become my favorite track on the album.  It just soars with that strange mix of aching sadness and euphoria that the Verve do so well.

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New video for the Verve’s “Rather Be”

22 October 2008 at 11:30 pm · Filed under Music ·Tagged , ,

After getting through the glut of post-travel posts, I’m coming up pretty empty tonight.  But the Verve have a new video out for “Rather Be”, so enjoy:

I described this song as “Verve-by-the-numbers” when I reviewed the album here, but perhaps that was just comparing it unfavorably to the two towering tracks that preceded it on the record, and the song’s relative lack of fireworks — listening to it in isolation, I find it to be quite good, with a very nice vocal by Ashcroft, and a shimmering sense of melancholy.

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Forth by the Verve

21 September 2008 at 12:48 am · Filed under Music ·Tagged , , ,

Forth

Forth

When I heard last year that the Verve was regrouping, eight years after breaking up, I honestly didn’t feel any interest, in spite of the fact that their last album, 1997′s Urban Hymns, is one of my all-time favorite records.  I suppose it could be because singer Richard Ashcroft’s solo career has been inconsistent and rather disappointing, or that I’ve never really liked any of the Verve’s other albums (I know, I suck), or maybe just a sign of my cynicism about reunion tours in general.

But when I heard “Love Is Noise”, the first single off their new album Forth, I got excited:  pulsing, brooding, and majestic, it seemed to perfectly encapsulate everything that was great about the band in 1997.  So I picked up the album a few days after it came out, and have been listening to it since, trying to make up my mind about it – a difficult task, because while the album has some absolutely fantastic songs on it, it’s also quite flawed.

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Oh look, the Verve have a new single too

26 August 2008 at 7:26 am · Filed under Music ·Tagged , ,

The Verve’s Urban Hymns is one of those records that, even after ten years, I find myself coming back to again-and-again. But I have to admit, I didn’t really get too excited when I heard that they had reunited and were touring in ’07, I suppose because lead singer Richard Ashcroft’s solo career never really managed to live up to expectations.

So I was surprised how excited I was to hear their new single, “Love Is Noise”. But it’s a great song, sounding like exactly where the band left off ten years ago – a hypnotic beat hinting at electronics, washes of guitar (both noisy and jangly), and a lyric covering Ashcroft’s usual restless-soul territory.

You can hear this song on the Verve’s MySpace page. Actually, it looks like they may be streaming the entire new album, but I haven’t had a chance to listen to it yet. The album is called Forth, and apparently came out today in the UK, and will be out tomorrow in the US. Perhaps a trip to Amoeba after work is in order tomorrow.

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