Verve: S/D ?

thanks for that link, i like Verve B-sides.

Yeah, at the Las Vegas show "Love Is Noise" sounded like straight-up New Order with McCabe going nuts on it. Some remixes of this could be terrific.

Mover's an ancient song I think? From '93 maybe?

didnt know that:
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=33:wxftxz8aldse

And an album cover...

http://www.spin.com/sites/spin.com/files/imagecache/huge_page_view/sites/spin.com/files/080702_verve_art.jpg

Whaddaya know, a storm in heaven.

i'm so bored of this "naming albums after the number of albums the band have made only not quite huhuh" shit :-(

? are there a rash of these album titles that I don't know about?

xxpost Ned i dunno, looks like pretty clear skies to me. 10% chance of rain, maybe?

I've seen the storm in heaven from both sides now.

"Fourth" is a number. "Forth" is a direction.

I like how it tries to look important. I'm glad someone is still doing this.

So, hey, I'm watching their Glastonbury set on BBC3 at the moment. This is some of the worst fucking music I've heard in years.

You never really give psychedelic music much shrift, do you? :P

Although fair enough in this instance; I've heard from numerous sources that they were totally wretched.

i'm so not hearing this, hanging on to the past.

i so want Verve back, maybe now they are just the Verve, a new band...

Saw a bit of their T in the Park set on the telly last night. Richard Ashcroft appears to have turned into Andy Murray. They weren't very good.

wow that single is an abomination. who thought this was a good idea again?

Well, now we have a video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmRJo8RQ5sA

Huh.

Don't know how long this is going to stay around on the BBC site, but the Maida Vale session video is pretty great... http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/zanelowe/

THANKS!

the first song "Sit and Wonder" reminded me of A Storm In Heaven and finally made me excited about new stuff from these guys.

Then they go and play Sonnet, which is still rank, and then they do a new song called rather Be that might as well be Ashcroft solo with McCabe doing tame widdles on top.

Also, just look at the gut on Sobbo.

To be fair, the ashcroft solo and tame widdles was the case in 1995... I see the door, on your own etc. I actually like this, in that I like the mix. It's just an entire record of it that's unbearable. Still looking forward to seeing what the new one's like.

So now it's out on CD, what are people thinking?

Packaging seems unnecessarily cheap. Totally unsurprised at which songs are credited to Ashcroft rather than The Verve. Amused that Simon Jones thanks the management company "for making this happen".

Improved sound quality over the MP3s. It's a very trebly mix though, not enough emphasis on Jones and Salisbury. That's always been a problem though. Which is odd cos there's not masses of McCabe either, actually. Maybe there is and he's just doing different things, working in a different range to previously.

As before, bits are amazing, and bits are just... weak.

On headphones, McCabe is doing some awesome shit on Noise Epic. Ashcroft, sadly, is impersonating Bono at the end of Bullet The Blue Sky.

I need to get this. (I keep forgetting, which is perhaps not a good thing.)

Some months old but Nick speaks (and speaks):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDXgTTtahww&feature=related

As my friend stripey said, "funny how they couldn't get the guy to speak for nearly ten years, and now they can't get him to stop ..."

On the whole, I think it's really good. Agree about the mix, though. I guess I thought Urban Hymns was mostly shit (I really only listen to the b-sides from that time), and this is better than that was, so I'm pretty happy with it. I do think it's quite brave to not come back with Urban Hymns 2, as I think that's probably what I expected.

Picking this up tomorrow. Full report to follow

Tellingly, I felt like a dickhead buying it in HMV yesterday morning; they were playing it in the shop, and all the music is now upstairs but this, obviously, was on a display near the door. I just felt like a football hooligan or something, or a middle-management twat, with my Sainsburys bag with bagels and chorizo in, trying to relive my late teens by buying the new album by The Verve. Very odd feeling.

Check the vodcast thingy ('the culture minute') here - which totally misses the point of what prety much everyone on ILM who likes The Verve likes ABOUT The Verve.

haha nick an old homie -- now a young professional in his suit and tie -- of mine emailed to say pretty much that: bought the verve album, felt like an old twat, and it was rubbish.

The trendy emo teen serving didn't help.

Here's the missing link from my last post - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2008/08/23/bmpopcdwk123.xml

Torygraph to be shot for stupid plinky plonky musick when you go on their website even though it's probably better than the 1975-style progressive rock of the new Verve album.

The Verve have always had a taste for the woozy rock jam. Their debut album, 1993's A Storm in Heaven, was a stew of guitar solos; their second, 1995's A Northern Soul, was more tuneful, but still driftingly overlong. It was only when they learnt to shape a song, giving it a cleanly defined verse-chorus structure and cutting the instrumental rambling, that they became popular.

Geir writes for the torygraph now?

More McCabe - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Dt83CXpQxo

On first listen...hmm.

Though the last tracks go a long way to make things up.

will get this tomorrow. it's funny because i'm buying this on loyalty and not really looking forward to it...weird. never did get a better rip, so i have yet to hear it.

wait, Nick didn't you make a Forth thread but bumped this one?

Yeah; this one seems to be where all the discussion is at.

I understand the notion of long-term loyalty to an artist even when the records are crap but in a week of astonishing new albums by Young Jeezy and The Game I certainly have better music to spend my money on.

Neither Young Jeezy nor The Game really tickle my prostate though, Marcello, you know what I mean? Not that this does particularly either.

Pop isn't Bob Monkhouse.

Not that The Verve have ever been pop.

A brief muttering.

Keep an ear on what McCabe's doing during Judas.

i heard that Forth debuted at number 1 in the UK, is that correct?

Rarely have I felt as American as I do reading this thread.

Urban Hymns is a very disappointing album. I didn't think the songs were so hot outside of "Bittersweet Symphony," which I really like even though it somehow comes off as a bit bombastic and overdone. Other tracks like "Neon Wilderness" or whatever the hell it was called were just half-assed self-indulgent neo-psych brit-pop bullshit... Maybe it's not an appropriate comparison, but I'd rather listen to the Stone Roses any day of the week.

Attention wealthy collectors...

(The) Verve, Snakeskin, THE RAREST VERVE RECORD OF ALL.

Only five copies of this record exist.

So rare is this record that even most hardcore Verve collectors are unaware of it's existence.

They were given to the band members, Richard, Nick, Simon & Pete and manager Dave Halliwell.

The track 'Snakeskin' was inspired by the Rolling Stones 'Cocksucker Blues'. "Cocksucker Blues" was the title of a song Mick Jagger wrote to be the Stones' final single for Decca Records, as per their contract. Its context and language was chosen specifically to anger Decca executives. The track was refused by Decca and only released later on a West German compilation in 1983.

This recording was made at Richard Branson's Manor Studios in Oxfordshire during the 'She's A Superstar' sessions in 1992.

The five records were given to The Verve (or Verve as they were known then) as a christmas present from Hut Records in 1992.

The 7" is a one sided pressing and the labels on both sides are entirely blank.

The sleeve has a cut out on one side and a pseudo psychedelic colour photocopy of all band members on the reverse.

The record has been played on a couple of occasions, it is, however, in near mint condition with only superficial surface marks. The sleeve has no tears or creases, there are some storage marks. The photocopy of the band members is uniform to all five copies and is unmarked on this edition.

The run out groove on the playing side has the inscriptions 'Snakeskin.1.A.' and 'Generally buzzing about christmas '92'. The flip side is devoid of grooves.

Comes complete with letter from Dave Halliwell outlining the records history and authenticity.

Any questions just ask.

http://james.nerdiphythesoul.com/bennyhillifier/speedup.php?id=Zx3m4e45bTo