The Verve 'This Is Music: The Singles 92-98' (Virgin) Released 01/11/04

The Verve may have called time on their career only 3 albums in, but apparently it’s enough to warrant a compilation – or maybe something to do with Richard Ashcroft’s flagging solo career? Either way the five-piece from Wigan were huge toward the end of the 90’s, so here is a reminder of what they produced, with the obligatory unreleased tracks.

The earlier efforts such as ‘Gravity Grave’ and ‘All In The Mind’ are psychedelic affairs due to the guitar skills of Nick McCabe, while ‘She’s A Superstar’ smothers Ashcroft’s vocals in an epic chorus.  ‘Slide Away’ is bass driven until the rousing chorus, and ‘Blue’ is a great indie-rocker, with some nice work in the chorus by McCabe.  From 1995’s ‘A Northern Soul’ the best contribution is ‘This Is Music’, with its great vocal performance and swaggering attitude.  ‘History’ sees the use of strings, which would later become prominent in the band’s biggest hits.  Though there is quality to these tracks, none of them made the Top 20, but that would change with the release of ‘Urban Hymns’ in 1997…

Featuring a string version of The Rolling Stones’ ‘The Last Time’, ‘Bitter Sweet Symphony’ crashed into number 2.  Everyone knew the melody, it was catchier than flu, but lyrically the song is brilliant – a realistic analysis of life.  ‘The Drugs Don’t Work’ went one better, again featuring great use of strings.  Ashcroft’s stone vocals combined with hard-hitting lyrics (“if Heaven calls/I’m coming too/Just like you said/You leave my life I’m better off dead”) made it an anthem of the decade.  ‘Lucky Man’ and ‘Sonnet’ furthered their reputation for writing realistically songs that were not out of place at the festivals. 

From the ‘Urban Hymns’ sessions there are two new tracks.  ‘This Could Be My Moment’ is a rock’n’roll track quite unlike anything here, positive lyrically and musically, it is rousing and a fine song.  ‘Monte Carlo’ is a return to their earlier sound, Ashcroft’s voice piercing through the hypnotic bass and electronic effects – but it’s easy to see why this didn’t make their last LP.  It’s also a disappointing end to what is in general an enjoyable nostalgia trip.