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 enlarge | Artist: The Verve
Label: Mri Associated
Category: Music
List Price: $14.98
Buy New: $6.94
You Save: $8.04 (54%)
New (48) Used (17) from $4.98
Rating:  53 reviews
Sales Rank: 631
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.1
Dimensions (in): 5.5 x 4.8 x 0.2
MPN: 61252
UPC: 202861252288
EAN: 0020286125228
ASIN: B001C47ZOM
Release Date: August 26, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Showing reviews 6-10 of 53
 Urban Hymns 2.0 + a deeper meaning! September 13, 2008
K. Caraballo (USA)
5 out of 12 found this review helpful
Bittersweet Symphony was one of my favorite songs of the late 90's. It became the anthem of my life at the time because of the depth of the lyrics and the singer's delivery, but then I didn't hear anything else from this band (except Lucky Man) and left it at that. In 2006, during Coldplay American X&Y tour, a singer named Richard Ashcroft was the opening act. Not knowing this guy by name, I decided to give him a listen. When he opened up with Bittersweet Symphony I was completely floored because it dawned on me who this dude was and wanted to hear more. He continued to play "Lucky Man, The Drugs Don't Work (which I didn't even know existed and became one of my favorite songs) and Sonnet." Next day I drove to the nearest record store and purchased Urban Hymns. What I discovered was one of the best albums ever made. How could I have awaited so long to get this Album?
Enamored with the sound and lyrics of The Verve, I longed to hear more from them, but heard they'd broken up. Again, instead of digging back and finding out if they had any previous material (EP, A Storm In Heaven, A Northern Soul, Ashcroft's amazing solo and follow-up albums)I just decided to cherish Urban Hymns and leave it at that. Again, I was wrong. But then on August 29, 2008 something amazing happened- I found out The Verve had a new album. I quickly previewed it online and was blown away by the quality, sound, lyrics, sincerity and delivery of each track! Wow!!! What a great band and gifted musicians. They're like a breath of fresh air in a desert of mediocre, lame music.
Every track is a musical gem- able to stand on its own on anybody's playlist. "Sit And Wonder" is vintage Verve and Ashcroft and the gang deliver it with enough drive and passion. "Judas and Appalachian Springs" are haunting. Ashcroft's voice and McCabe's psychedelic, ambient guitar sound transport you into pure musical heaven/bliss. "Rather Be, Numbness, I see Houses and Valium Skies" are incredible tracks that make this album worth waiting a decade four! My only regret was not finding out more about The Verve in the 90's and Richard's solo albums earlier in this decade. But hey, better late than never. Buy this album...it is easily one of the best ever made! If your a Verve fan, you'll find yourself playing this at home, in your car and at work! The Verve is truly a band for the ages- our generation Pink Floyd!
Worth The Wait August 26, 2008
V. Nhim (Bay Area)
4 out of 9 found this review helpful
I found about The Verve from Urban Hymns and at first I thought the album was ok. However, with Verve albums it always takes a couple more listens to actually get the songs and it was amazing. After that, I went to their catalog and listened to Storm in Heaven and Northern Soul and of course it solidified The Verve being my favorite band of all time. So of course, Forth was like the best thing to happen to music in the last decade for me. It is pretty amazing how much this album seems to encompass all their previous work like they have said. The only real difference is the balladry of Urban Hymns. That might be a bad thing but with this band they can really do no wrong. "Sit and Wonder" is a great opener. Its pretty amazing to see how that song has developed since they first aired it live on their first set of shows in the U.K. "Judas" is like a pretty version of "Man Called Sun." "Appalachian Springs" is probably the gem of the album. The ending is so gorgeous. My favorite tracks on the album as songs they have never done anything like, "Columbo" and "Noise Epic." They both sound like they have three different songs in one but its pretty obvious they were both created from their infamous jam sessions. There is no band today like The Verve. No band has a set of musicians consisting of a guitarist like Nick McCabe, the greatest living guitarist, Simon Jones, truly one of the best bassists ever, and Sobbo, would not want any other drummer drumming for the Verve. This band will go down in history like Richard has always said as the greatest rock band ever. Or at least in my mind...
 Utterly Mediocre September 5, 2008
J. Evans (Bend, OR USA)
4 out of 8 found this review helpful
I have always loved The Verve. They're one of my all-time top 3 favorite bands. I've heard everything of theirs that I could get my hands on over the past 15 years or so. On their earliest singles, their The Verve EP, No Come Down, A Storm in Heaven, and A Northern Soul, The Verve are the perfect blend of heavy-mellow beauty with just the right amount of danger. On epic tracks like "Feel" they could simultaneously lull you into bliss and scare you into a cold sweat. To me The Verve was one of the best bands America ever almost missed. By the time Urban Hymns came out The Verve was so big in Europe that radio stations here had to pay attention. I've warmed up to Bittersweet Symphony over the years but Urban Hymns was an over-all let down for me. The Verve was a great band when they wrote songs together as a band. They were great when Nick McCabe played his Les Paul turned up super-loud with deep, smooth distortion. Live, he would effect a single note into a swirling wall of sound that only he could create, Ashcroft's improv crooning in the background the perfect, eerie accompaniment. But since the songs "History" and "In On Your Own" found their way onto A Northern Soul, we were doomed to lose the band The Verve in favor of Richard Ashcroft's solo project- The Verve. Some of the material on Forth starts to ring of classic Verve but it is all lost in the generic, homogenized mixing. McCabe's elegant, experimental guitar minimalism is here, in places, but it's usually buried in the background with the bass and drums. What's always right up front on Forth though is Richard Ashcroft's vocals, which have improved over the years. But what the Verve gained in handing over the reigns to Ashcroft they lost in dark, groovy, drug-addled psychedelicism- something that always made The Verve The Verve. Forth is not an extenuation of A Northern Soul, their last great album. Instead it is an underwhelmingly mediocre extension of Ashcroft's latest solo efforts. Thanks for another album, guys but at least call it "Richard Ashcroft and The Verve."
Satisfying return album falters in second half October 1, 2008
Paul Allaer (Cincinnati)
4 out of 7 found this review helpful
Has it really been 11 years since The Verve's masterpiece "Urban Hymns"? Wow... how time flies. Lead singer Richard Ashcroft's solo career since 1997 has been less than remarkable, and he must have finally realized that, and so finally the Verve come back with this, their 4th studio album.
"Forth" (10 tracks; 64 min.) starts off tremendously with "Sit and Wonder", with energy blazing all over. It is followed by "Love Is Noise" (1st UK single), which struck me as sounding eerily similar to the Simple Minds' sound of the mid -80s "Once Upon a Time" album sound, but that is not a slight. "Rather Me" sounds like the ballad that "Bitter Sweet Symphony" was, albeit not as good. After that excellent first third, the album starts to falter, with songs like "Judas" and "Numbness" that simply doesn't leave a lasting impression. The album is not well served by its 64+ min. length. It's simply too long, and nothing would've been lost by simply chopping off the last 2 songs, trimming it to a more manageable 50+ min. length.
It strikes me how this album sounds very similar to "Urban Myths" in its overall musical tone. This could have (and probably should have) been recorded in 1998 or 1999. That said, I have come to like the album quite a bit, and have been playing it a lot. I was supposed to see the Verve at Coachella earlier this year, but ended up not making that first day of the festival (when they played). I'm looking forward to an opportunity to see how the songs of "Forth" translate in a live setting at some point, assuming the band keeps playing together, a guess in anyone's book.
GOOD STUFF! August 26, 2008
M. Callazzo (New York, NY United States)
3 out of 8 found this review helpful
Wow! Love this album. If you like Coldplay (actually, Coldplay stole most everything from The Verve), you will dig this album.
All the tracks are strong.
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