Any thought on Urban Hymns by the Verve?

1997 was a great year, for some of the reasons you suggest, and a bunch of other great records I love. One of the best years of the 90s for me, with amazing records by Bjork, Michael Head & the Strands, Richard Buckner, Laika, Portishead, Dylan, Built To Spill, Yo La Tengo, Stereolab, Sixteen Horsepower, Nick Cave, Mogwai, Robert Wyatt, Chuck Prophet, just goes on and on.

 

Top 20 all time album for me. Maybe top 10, depending on the day/mood. I never really got into anything they did before or after though. Funny how that happens.

 

Great album but the beginning of Ashcroft's obsession with orchestration. This could have been a double album with all the B-sides:

B-sides

1. "Lord I Guess I'll Never Know" (Ashcroft) (produced by Youth)
2. "Country Song" (produced by Youth)
3. "So Sister" (Ashcroft) (produced by Chris Potter) - must listen
4. "Echo Bass" (produced by Chris Potter) - must listen
5. "Three Steps" (Ashcroft) (produced by Chris Potter) - must listen
6. "The Crab" (Ashcroft) (produced by Chris Potter)
7. "Stamped" (produced by Chris Potter) - must listen
8. "Never Wanna See You Cry" (Ashcroft) (produced by Chris Potter)
9. "History" (Ashcroft) (produced by Youth, The Verve)
10. "MSG" (produced by Chris Potter) - must listen
11. "The Longest Day" (produced by Chris Potter) - must listen and IMHO, one of the greatest Verve songs ever.

Other
Songs that did not make the cut include

• "A Song for the Lovers"
• "New York" - must listen
• "C'mon People (We're Making It Now)"
• "This Could Be My Moment"
• "Monte Carlo" - must listen

All of these five songs, however, would later be released; the first three rerecorded for Ashcroft's first solo LP, and the latter two on the band's compilation album, This Is Music: The Singles 92–98.

 

I listen to it now. It's a great album with some epic songs and arrangements, "Bitter Sweet Symphony, "The Drugs Don't Work", "Space and Time", "Lucky Man"....

 

Great album. I bought it solely for Bitter Sweet Symphony, but that is not the best song on the album. The entire album is chock full of great songs.

 

They made 4 great albums IMO. A Northern Soul is an under-rated classic.

 

I think of it as perhaps the best "traditional rock" album of the 1990s. Yes, I miss the psychedelic roar of the Verve EP and A Storm in Heaven, but you can't hide in that swirling noise forever. Urban Hymns was this band going out on top, and in my book it's every bit as strong as A Northern Soul, but just a touch more ambitious. And it holds up really, really well.

 

The drugs don't works and Lycky man are the two highlights if the disc IMO... great orchestration, great simple lyrics...simply perfect...

 

I have the 2LP vinyl from the 90's, The Verve is a typical "Britpop" product of its time.
Urban Hymns sounded great when it was released (looked good on MTV) and has great songs on it, but it falls in the one hit wonder category.
I guess there was just an oversupply of "Britpop" at the time.
I admit Bittwersweet Symphony is kinda hard to categorize due to the sample, since it was their biggest hit.

 

I find I can't get past him (or hymn) to get to the songs. They are great songs but their only his. They seem forever destined to stay on that album and never enjoy a life with other singers/interpreters.

 

How is that any useful measure of its (or any album's) value? It's a great album, regardless of "hits".

 

Probably their best album as a whole, but I prefer earlier stuff like Slide Away, Blue or All in the Mind to anything on here. The four singles are brilliant though.

 

Bought it, and all the singles... Listened to them for that year, then sold them all. I really liked it at first, but after a while I totally lost interest in it, mainly annoyed by Ashcroft's slightly flat vocals, and sick to death of Bittersweet Symphony.
Mansun, Radiohead, lots of bands made better albums that year.

 

My faves on this set are Sonnet and The Drugs Don't Work. Bittersweet Symphony is a distant third.

Hard to imagine a thread on this album without the obligatory mention of the Stones lawsuit that basically killed the profits on this album.

 

The Verve had some great B-Sides, some of the ones from Urban Hymns were arguably better than some of the album tracks - a sure sign of a band in top form.

Hard to believe that it and a lot of other great 1997 albums are turning 20 this year - I think it's the best year for music that I've seen first-hand.

 

I love Urban Hymns. There's long been an argument between this and Northern Soul as their best but for me Urban Hymns is the one.

I first saw The Verve live in 1993 supporting Smashing Pumpkins at Brixton Academy. I really didn't "get" them although everyone else I was with loved The Verve. It wasn't really until Urban Hymns that I got them too although History from Northern Soul is superb.

In fact the only song from Urban Hymns I could live without is Bittersweet Symphony, but that's due to overplay on UK Radio. Aside from that its a winner. One Day is a particular favourite of mine.

I heard that Song For The Lovers was tried out during these sessions, in fact there is an early clip of The Verve performing the song but it doesn't sound finished, the later solo version by Richard I think is very good.

 

Haven't played the album in years.
Love "Bitter Sweet Symphony".
My recollection is that I didn't mind the rest of the album, but nothing stuck in my head. Perhaps it's time to revisit it.

 

Great album that was one of the year's best, in a very good year as noted above. Also delivered the 'hit' and 'star' status that RA had always promised.
I played it to death on release and have all the singles and limited LPs, CDs etc., that were released at the time - it was promoted beyond
an inch of its life.
But I haven't played it in ages and anytime I am in the mood for some Verve it is usually 'A Northern Soul' that gets an airing or the excellent 'No Come Down (B Sides & Outtakes)'
or some of the early singles.
Still, a great way to bow out (at least temporarily) on a high but the psych, shoegazing, earlier style of things is for me their signature sound and more important contribution.

 

Remember, the original album with Youth as producer, was more or less ready. Then the old guitarist told Ashcroft he will come back to the band on the condition they produced the album another time, but then with his guitar playing.
The result was a comprimise, so you see at this album the older (original) songs being produced by Youth and the newer songs with the reunited guitarist, produced by the new producer Chris Potter.

Both were fine producers, but I'm a big fan of Youth, he was the former bass guitarist of Killing Joke and one of the first ambient/dub house pioneers. Later he started also a career as great producer.

 

Best album of the 1990s IMHO

 

Great album - played it to death when it came out. To me it was the last hurrah of the BritPop era.

 

How is the 2016 Europe vinyl reissue.

 

I consider Urban Hymns one of the three best albums of the 1990s. As others have mentioned, the b-sides are superb and many could have been included on the album proper. The Verve were on fire in this period. They finally decided to make something a little more commercial than their earlier records and created a masterpiece.

I do wish we'd get an audiophile mastering of the album.

 

Happy to see others love it as much as me. I'm somewhat of a square, I unwind with rum in diet cola or iced tea, but for me I love Urban Hymns meanwhile the earlier psychedelic or whatever it's called Verve is great, but them warming up for the masterpiece of Hymns.

 

Particularly like "The Rolling People" and "Bittersweet Symphony". But whole album is good.