Verve: S/D ?

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

Nick McCabe playing with Damo Suzuki. April 2, in Manchester, England at the Marquee Club, Night & Day cafe.
http://thevervelive.blogspot.com/2009/03/special-one-off-performance-featuring.html

Anonymous said...

Someone tell nick to stop f##### around and get back with the verve . For F### sake , BORING BORING BORING .... Come ON !!

lol

Listened to Forth the other day, as it happens, or some of it; it doesn't sound that different from anything else they've done, could slot into their career anywhere after the first album. Not that their career was particularly long. It's... OK. Then I listened to Gravity Grave, though, and that was still pretty damn wicked.

Guess what? They've (probably) split again.

http://uk.myspace.com/nickmccabeuk -> about Nick McCabe -> hints at such

While Ashcroft does whatever it is he's doing McCabe and Simon Jones form a new band

For a second I was all excited by that link thinking about Goldfrapp singing over McCabe's guitar!

So a set of Northern Soul demos has surfaced via DIME, live in the studio runthroughs it sounds like. Nice little mixed bag of performances -- an early version of "Come On" is there but Ashcroft's voice was utterly fucked when he sang that. "A Northern Soul" itself sounds great.

I would love to hear a version of ANS w/o the Zooropa production job.

That's pretty much what this is. Here's the tracklisting:

01. A New Decade
02. So It Goes
03. Come On
04. On Your Own
05. Northern Soul
06. Stormy Clouds
07. Life's An Ocean
08. Drive You Home
09. History
10. Country Song

And http://www.theblackships.com is live...

10 minute video up with selections(?) from the album (maybe?). I want to hear more!

interview with nick mccabe.

http://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4142968-“this-is-the-best-band-we’ve-ever-been-in-”---dis-meets-nick-mccabe

richard ashcroft really sounds like the worst person in the world ever.

Correct link

DiS: I saw you out here in SF before Coachella (headlining in 2008) and you basically played a greatest hits set. Was that your decision?

NM: It would be lovely to pass it off as someone else’s decision but that’s not the case. Obviously we have to clear a lot of things through Richard. So in isolation when we were rehearsing we had A Storm in Heaven and A Northern Soul ready to play, and quite a lot of b-sides too, which is why my pedal board grew to that ridiculous size. But it would have been delusional to think we could play the main stage at Coachella and not play 'Bittersweet Symphony' without getting fucking tomatoes thrown at us.

Verve's old manager with a T-shirt story:

http://mybandtshirt.tumblr.com/post/18071699248/97-the-verve-t-shirt-made-on-hollywood-boulevard

blimey, didn't realise best was their manager.

used to deal with him when he was part of david holmes/13 amp label crew.

That first Verve album, A Storm In Heaven, is the one I keep returning to whenever I feel the need to listen to this band. I just enjoy getting lost in the overall sound of it, and on that level it works better for me than pretty much anything they did afterwards.

Been listening to a lot of early Verve the last couple of days, listening to the early EP tracks and B-sides in sequence almost makes for a great companion album to A Storm In Heaven. Their music circa 1992-1994 is easily my favourite era of this band. I never really liked the way that A Northern Soul sounded, they were pretty much a different band from that point onwards. I just love the spacy, jam-like, loose feel of their earlier work.

I put Storm In Heaven on the other week and it felt really juvenile and unformed. Which obviously was a massive part of its appeal when I was 16, but grated now.

They were a great groove band in those days - Gravity Grave, A Man Called Sun, No Come Down. I'd've liked them to stay more locked-down like that, instead of starsailing.

Yeah, 'Gravity Grave' especially still takes me on a journey whenever I listen to it... it has to be the 8+ minute version where they jam out at the end, though. My favourite tracks from A Storm In Heaven are stuff like 'Already There' and 'Beautiful Mind', where I just get lost in the sound of it.

I've never particularly cared for Verve's lyrics, mind, even in their earlier stages; and if there's one element of the band's sound I could call 'juvenile', that would be it. But to concentrate too hard on the lyrics when listening to early Verve is kinda missing the point. Their best work, especially their lengthier pieces, carry me along with them and take me somewhere else: 'She's A Superstar', 'Gravity Grave', and the aforementioned 'Already There' and 'Beautiful Mind'.

They did clean up their sound later on, and got better at writing songs (even through jamming), but it doesn't touch me and nor do I find it absorbing in the same way as I find their 1992-1994 work, sadly.

The key to deep music is deep atmosphere.

"Because I’ve got a thing about rooms, I think a lot of stuff that we wrote was influenced by the very room that we were in. I got sucked into them. Two months later I thought, “That’s why the record doesn’t sound right, because we can’t get the room anymore.”
~Nick McCabe

I dig Nick's subtle slide guitar on this song.

Haunting dreamscape....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0F5oOSCVqkA

God, how I wish 'Gravity Grave' and 'She's A Superstar' were both on A Storm In Heaven...

I've got all the original cd singles from 92 onwards and love the early stuff the most but bloody hell there needs to be a decently remastered compilation of their singles and b-sides, the original singles don't have the power they should have.

I put Storm In Heaven on the other week and it felt really juvenile and unformed. Which obviously was a massive part of its appeal when I was 16, but grated now.

― Sick Mouthy (Scik Mouthy), Friday, May 25, 2012 10:45 PM (9 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Just getting this revived for GP.

what a coincidence

I'm a better musician. Serious musicians and composers are not commercial I trained at the top music school in the US.. I'm a CREATIVE person. I am a vocalist, composer, multi-instrumentalist. I taught myself how to write music but I had extensive training. I sing advanced music and write advanced music. I can write simple music too. I need donations since the commercial world does not fund serious composers or serious musicians. I need assistance. All serious musicians do.

heh, I can still listen to Storm in Heaven repeatedly, it's just one of those long haul LPs for me. the first side is just perfect.

I was going to say, this one is still all time for me.

Occurs to me that in the end Ashcroft followed the Stipe path -- as it became clearer what he was singing, the end results dropped off.

Yeah, for me part of the appeal of those early records isn't what Ashcroft is singing, it's more the sounds he makes with his voice and the way he reacts to the music and compliments it, which is even more evident in the live performances of some of the longer pieces where they sprawl out a bit. In a way, Ashcroft is "jamming" as much as the rest of the band are, but with his voice.

man i only really knew Verve from bittersweet symphony and that record

listening to storm in heaven, this is fucking a gorgeous guitar record

I think the midpoint album (A Northern Soul) is better than what came before/after. best of both worlds.

xpost:

Check out the early EPs too, if you can. If you love A Storm In Heaven, you'll also really like 'Gravity Grave', 'She's A Superstar' etc.

thanks turrican

started northern soul, don't like it as much. it's not bad. but i think i basically just love the guitar player(s?) in this band and like it best when ashcroft isn't out front

Singular. Nick McCabe. Wonderful guitarist. Listen to the title track of A Northern Soul; WTF IS HE DOING?! There's a b-side from that era called Let The Damage Begin which is just fucking ungodly.

But yeah, their three records were completely different from each other, basically, might as well have been different bands.

xxpost:

No worries! It's mostly just the one guitarist on those first two Verve records (and on Forth): the inimitable Mr. Nick McCabe, although Richard Ashcroft does play a little bit of acoustic guitar here and there (although I think it's just on 'History' and 'See You In The Next One' from those albums). Simon Tong was a member of The Verve for the Urban Hymns period only.

My favourite McCabe riff on A Northern Soul is undoubtedly 'So It Goes' (god, I love that riff), but I'm pretty much with you... I see A Northern Soul as having much more in common with Urban Hymns than with A Storm In Heaven. I'm not a big fan of the Owen Morris production treatment on it either.

Listen to the title track of A Northern Soul; WTF IS HE DOING?!

A lot of wah-wah and a lot of attitude! :D

Owen Morris' production is fucking brutal and weird. I like it, but I think it's affection from adolescence rather than appreciation.

To me, it just has that "mid-'90s Owen Morris sound", like his work on Oasis' What's The Story (Morning Glory)? or 1977 by Ash. Of course, the musical content is going to be different (since The Verve aren't Oasis or Ash), but you can definitely tell he worked on all three just by listening to them... the overall sound of those records are very similar. I think he ruined 1977 in particular... didn't really get the best takes or performances out of Ash and god damn that over-reverbed snare drum sound (which is a bit of a mid-'90s Owen Morris trait, I think). Then again, wasn't he known to get carried away with the partying just as much as the bands themselves? I don't think I heard a decent production job from him until... oooh... Free All Angels.

Yeah, there are LOTS of stories of BIG indulgence where he's just as hammered as who he's working with.