I’m having some trouble placing my Verve purchases in a reliable timeline. I believe I bought A Storm in Heaven (1993) at some point before I picked up Urban Hymns (1997), but I can’t reliably say for sure I picked up Urban Hymns when it came out; I think I didn’t pick it up until a few years after the fact. Regardless, I listened to A Storm in Heaven, liked it okay, filed it away, and eventually sold it off for store credit as part of a large stack of other CDs I didn’t much listen to.
But when I finally checked out Urban Hymns, it felt like I’d discovered an entirely different band; I couldn’t say how, exactly, because I no longer had the older CD to listen to for comparison.
Now, of course, I’ve gone back and checked out more of their older work and found plenty to like. Sandwiched between the UK shoegaze movement and Britpop, the Verve produced some powerful music. Here are two playlists of the Verve.
Playlist 1
Playlist One presents (in theory) an LP-length condensation of the Verve’s best album, Urban Hymns. The psychedelia that characterized their early years is more subtly employed here, with Richard Ashcroft’s vocals pushed to the front of the mix—quite justifiable due to the leap forward he’d made in his songwriting. Whereas before, the noise was worth listening to, now the Verve were worth listening to for actual songs; the music worked to amplify the meaning of the words, as it should.
Playlist 2
The Verve started out as a psychedelic rock band, with the lyrics mostly buried in the swirling, noisy mix.
But kids, this isn’t your weird uncle’s obscure Pink Floyd mixtape—it’s neo-psychedelia, informed by decades of music in the meantime, from Hawkwind’s ‘70s space rock to Sonic Youth’s ‘80s art-punk guitar-orchestra epics, to the shoegazy haze of My Bloody Valentine and Ride, not to mention any number of ‘90s alt-rock contemporaries.
It’s a bright, shimmering psychedelia, dressed up pretty in alt-rock distortion. At times, it sounds to me as if Oasis must have lifted the essence of the Verve’s early sound and pared it down to simple basics for Definitely Maybe (1994).
Here’s a thorough taste. Quite good stuff, in the end. I should never have sold that disc back.
Disclaimer: As far as I know, none of my uncles, weird or otherwise, have any Pink Floyd mixtapes.
Cover Art:
- Urban Hymns: Source, Discogs.com, Fair use.
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