Verve: S/D ?

guess what? they're back.

http://www.theverve.tv/

*smacks forehead*

I got a REAL bad feeling.

Likewise.

More smooth MOR like Ashcroft's solo stuff, methinks. Least necessary reunion since the last unnecessary reunion.

Hahah, all too true.

i pretty much HATE Richard's solo stuff, especially as time went on.

hope that they feel the groove again because they are one hell of a live band.

*crosses finger* for good luck on this.

first Blur, now Verve...who is next?

Someone PLEASE book them on one of those Don't Look Back shows where they have to play all of A Storm In Heaven

I'm kinda shocked that McCabe is part of this.

Someone PLEASE book them on one of those Don't Look Back shows where they have to play all of A Storm In Heaven

And all of the early EPs, and the B-sides.

*pause*

Who are we kidding? At most they'll say, "This is an older song you might know" and only do "Slide Away."

Like they'd even do that. The "older song you might now" MIGHT be History, if you're lucky, This Is Music if you're REALLY lucky. This will be an Urban Hymns set. If McCabe's involved it's cos interest rates have rised and he's pushed on his mortgage.

At least it's a new album and they're not just doing a greatest hits cash-in tour.

is McCabe's participation really that big a surprise? I mean, what else does he have to do?

A friend suggested McCabe both 'resents and requires a steady routine,' and so the band format, though it irritates him, might irritate him less now than not having it.

If McCabe's involved it's cos interest rates have rised and he's pushed on his mortgage.

Or else Ashcroft knows that there's no way this will have any cred unless McCabe is on board from the beginning. Ashcroft probably realizes that he has to play nice and make this work or else he's opening up for puppet shows for now on.

months-old xpost to Keith - the old Cathouse was on Brown Street, the new one is on Union Street. And yes, I was at that Oasis/Acetone/Verve show.

Someone PLEASE book them on one of those Don't Look Back shows where they have to play all of A Storm In Heaven

Aye, that'd be brilliant. I'd be up for that. I have some reservations about the quality of material stemming from a reunion, but stranger things have happened.

I have some reservations about the quality of material stemming from a reunion, but stranger things have happened.

I suppose I'm just gun shy after the relative non-event of the House Of Love reunion with Terry Bickers - of course now they're doing one of those Don't Look Back shows.

I suppose the real questions here is whether or not Ashcroft has expunged all the ham and oatmeal out of his system and whether McCabe is interested enough to really cut loose.

Probably not.

(I'm blaming my "stranger things have happened" quote on the strength of, um, Take That, so don't be expecting miracles)

I'm not sure Ashcroft and McCabe have anything to lose, and there's hardly been a stack of people begging for their triumphant return or anything. Mind you, people bought into the Embrace revival, so, yeah, I have no point.

Embrace never split-up or hated each other or anything though; it's just that no one cared for a couple of years.

"No Come Down" (their B-side comp) and the original EP are the only things i still listen to.

"for a couple of years"

So a good quality recording of one of the new shows leaked out and... well goddamn...

McCabe is fucking killing it... I don't know if he changed around his set-up and got rid of the Quadraverb, or if he's just showing off but he sounds like Townshend doing shoegaze. The set-list is equal parts old and new ("Gravity Grave" is fortunately in and still just as epic) and yeah, there's a good chunk of Urban Hymms in the set-list but they sound like the old 1992 Verve stomping through them. I could even stand listening to the otherwise odious "Sonnet."

The new stuff sounds like they would fit in on ANS - best thing I can say about them right now. Otherwise I'm pleasantly surprised.

These are all good things, I would say...

I didnt go see them incase it ruined my good memories of seeing them in 1995 t in the park and 3 times around the urban hymns stuff, wish i had went now as the sunday mail said they played All In the Mind. I only saw them do gravity grave once(1995) I didnt go incase they played new stuff and it was crap. Sp where can i hear this recording Mr T? ;)

http://ocstwosway.blogspot.com/2007/11/verve-live-blackpool-nov06-2007.html

Roxor and then some!

Haha, I LOVE "Sonnet".

Yeah, this is pretty spectacular. MUCH better than I would have guessed when news first surfaced.

I was gonna say, why is everyone hating on "Sonnet" in this thread? It's hardly the greatest song in the world, but it's very pretty. "Lucky Man" helped me quit smoking, no idea why. And "History" is awesome. "Bittersweet Symphony" does still hold up, too. Love the Northern swagger (of the video).

Ha, I capitalised "northern", silly me.

I'm more than fine with "Sonnet" but I can see how it would irritate.

why is everyone hating on "Sonnet" in this thread?

It's a victim of sequencing. I was (and still am) a huge fan of "Bittersweet Symphony" and so when I got around to hearing the album for the first time, I couldn't believe that such a weak song would be #2.

Here's the set-list for the show BTW...

This Is Music
Space And Time
Gravity Grave
Weeping Willow
Life's An Ocean
Sonnet
Sit And Wonder
Velvet Morning
Already There
Stormy Clouds
Let The Damage Begin
On Your Own
The Rolling People
The Drugs Don't Work
Bittersweet Symphony
A Man Called Sun
History
Lucky Man
Come On

LET THE DAMAGE BEGIN FUCKING HELL FUCK FUCK

I've listened to the set about 3 times now & I have to say it wildly exceeds all of my (admittedly cynical) previous expectations. Their turn toward AOR during the UH era & the sheer crapness of Richie's solo "career" had me shrinking at the prospect of a reunion, especially when it was announced they would be recording another album. But: (A) The performance is tight, the band sound genuinely reinvigorated, and Elvis is OTM about McCabe in particular sounding better than ever (B) The range of the setlist would indicate that they are actually enjoying the exploration of their back catalog, rather than trotting out UH and going through the motions (C) The psychedelic haze throughout, and the fact that they're playing shit like "A Man Called Sun" bodes very well for the possibility of less Sonnet, more Stormy Clouds in the future. (D) The new song "Sit and Wonder" actually sound good, not so much nu-Verve as teleported in from 1995 - which, when you think about it, is pretty much all one could ask for, considering the circumstances.

the UH era

In retrospect, no finer term could define it.

The performance is tight, the band sound genuinely reinvigorated

Aye... I gotta shout out to Jones and Sobbo too.

Sheesh, the least expected (or even wanted) reunion might just turn out to be one of the best.

Agreed. Some of my burblings (written just before the MBV news came down the pike).

Ned, I just read your blog post & your friends got it spot on: Because of the magnitude of "Bittersweet Symphony" and the saccharine quality of some the (mostly Richard-penned) surrounding material from that time, those seeking to write off the band don't have to look very far. But those early gigs.. Like the fellow in the first block quote, I have been to hundreds of shows, and Verve in 1993 (St. Andrew's Hall, Detroit) is easily top five. Just the bog rock standard set up of guitar, bass & drums - but goddamn they ignited a shitstorm betweent the four of them. Literally the old cliche: "a sonic whirlwind." I saw them a few more times between then and 1995 & they managed to maintain the impossible standard they set in '93. But when the cult of Ashcroft took over, the magic quickly dried up.

Interesting you should bring up The Pixies reunion in comparison, but I don't think the shared qualities stop at quality control. Each band was the sum of its parts in the truest sense, and both suffered when the singer's ego gradually came to dominate the sound - and in both cases the bands' final albums were essentially the singers' solo debuts. But in reuniting, ego is scaled back somewhat and the bands have again allowed groupthink to occur, resulting in concerts that unhindered by interband bitterness. Just as I feel the Pixies reunion gigs were superior to their stint supporting Trompe Le Monde ten years prior, so do the new Verve shows promise to surpass their live presence circa-Urban Hymns. Beyond that, "Sit & Wonder" >>> "Bam Thwok"

And now that MBV are "officially" planning new gigs, it seems I'll finally be able to see them too. This is turning out to be a very good week.

your friends got it spot on

You will find most of those friends quoted upthread. ;-)

Anyway, that introduction song before "This is Music" at the show -- David Axelrod, yes?

do we know if they're coming to the us?

do we know if they're coming to the us?

They added a couple of December shows in the UK, but I surmise that their focus is on new songs, seeing what works live, and not doing anything else until the new album is done.

In short, probably yes but not for awhile.

"...and we'll be coheadlining with MBV in the States. We hope that won't be a problem."

Anyway, that introduction song before "This is Music" at the show -- David Axelrod, yes?

Aye. It's "Holy Are You" from The Electric Prunes' Release Of An Oath

I hadn't kept up with the latter stages of Richard Ashcroft's solo "career", so I was disappointed to hear how much his voice has deteriorated judging from that Blackpool gig. He sounds so hoarse and tired now, particularly on slower stuff like "On Your Own" where the vocals really have to carry the song. But the rest of the band sounds incredible, especially (DUH) McCabe. The coda to "Bittersweet Symphony" has justified the entire reunion already.

Odyssey Arena, Belfast from a couple weeks ago
http://ocstwosway.blogspot.com/2007/12/verve-2007-12-17-belfast-odyssey-arena.html

Dreadful audience recording here, but at least that Blackpool show is no fluke

McCabe at O2 a couple weeks ago...

http://www.gibson.com/Files/AllAccess/2008/Feature_Images/TheVerve1.jpg

I see a Boss EQ and a MXR-something, but I wanna clear shot