The Verve - Urban Hymns (2017 Box Set)

I'm not holding my breath with this one

I love the album and all, but it was already compressed when first released in 1997, and the previous 2 Deluxe Editions of 'A Storm in Heaven' and 'A Northern Soul' were brickwalled

 

Must buy....for people that aren't familiar with the B Sides they will be amazed at how good they are. A handful of them are stronger than a few of the album tracks.

 

Oh well, no food for September it is. . .

 

It was released in 1993. And 1995.

 

I don't understand this logic. But then again, it's a record company, so I wouldn't expect anything they do to make sense.

 

Lots of disappointing news but most expected, for example Chris Potter further squeezing the dynamics out of everything and no 5.1 mix.

Big plus tho is finally getting the 96-98 VHS release properly mastered on DVD. Lots of money, not sure it's worth it but will eagerly keep an eye out for reviews on the sonics once it's released. As with all previous releases there's no reason to expect this won't be digitally mastered so for me the vinyl is definitely out of the question and a waste of me cash.

 

It's a great era for Verve b-sides.

 

Why DVD and not Blu-Ray for the live show? This is 2017.

 

Agreed. I'd happily swap, Weeping Willow, This Time, One Day, Velvet Morning for Country Song, Echo Bass, Three Steps and Stamped.

 

Lord I Guess I'll Never Know is also a classic of its time, in my opinion.

 

Agreed. It's all SD content, but removing DVD compression pixelation and upscaling the video would still provide some improvement, in at least presenting the material in the best quality possible (not to mention significantly better audio options).

I have no reason to think the main album will sound any better than the mess that is the 1997 release, but I'm really excited for the opportunity to have the b-sides and live stuff on vinyl. I'm glad it's a complete show, and not the hodgepodge of stuff they used on the previous re-releases (and also that they're including bonus stuff in the vinyl version)

 

It may take a Steven Wilson-type remix and remaster to fix it. It's a archetype of its time; and I love it.

 

Is the original cd and/ or lp really that bad? It always sounds quite good to my ears. UH is a different beast than ASIH or ANS, but especially tracks like Come On or The Rolling People groove hard and are well recorded and mixed imho. Not to mention b-sides like Echo Bass.
I am fearful of the remastering though, the flat sound of the previous deluxe editions is not very promising...

 

Nice! Ordered the 5-CD+DVD set.
Only gripe is lack of single edits (very common for rock or indie acts). They would have fitted.

 

Why did Ashcroft veto that tasty clutch of unreleased demo songs? Afraid people will realise just how much of them he recycled for his solo career? It's a shame...he gave a great interview on BBC 6 Music last week sounding enlightened rather than sullen but this reminds me of his jerkness.

 

I can't imagine anyone swapping One Day. Its wonderful, i love the whole album but this is my favourite song.

Not sure which version of the reissue i'll go for. The recommendations make me think i need the b-sides but the 2cd version was recommended over on Superdeluxeedition with the edited live show. Now i'm not so sure. I'll definitely be investing but I already have the original cd and the double LP and don't need/want or can afford to spend big bucks. One to keep an eye on.

 

I'm in just for the DVD alone but yeah, a Blu-Ray would've been nice. I've been waiting for a DVD release of that VHS for a long time and the extra stuff on there will be nice to have. Still have my original copy.

Urban Hymns and The Video are the only things I ever picked up from them at the time they were released. No idea why I didn't check out any of their other albums but this sure is a great one. Looking forward to hearing more from this period of the band.

 

The mix is fine. Might even be great. Just brickwalled all to hell. Would love to see all the Verve LP's mixed to suround one day though.

 

Cripes. I have to own 3 (The) Verve Deluxe Box Sets now?!? Cripes. This album was the weakest of the 3 imho.

 

There's an interesting - and very different - album to be made by using all the (released) band-written tracks from the era & ditching all the Ashcroft solo-writes.

You could almost argue that they made two records in those sessions (& from what little I know, perhaps they essentially did): one band-written album of sprawling tracks that sounds like the logical progression from their early work to A Storm In Heaven to Northern Soul and another of Ashcroft-written weepy ballads. (That's a slight simplification, I know...)

Hmmm. Might have to make some playlists & test this theory.

(And another vote for 'why can't there be a vinyl + download + dvd' option.)

 

There was an article online a while back that had a revised tracklist to make it more like a Verve album and less like an Ashcroft album:
1. “Bittersweet Symphony”
2. “Three Steps”
3. “Weeping Willow”
4. “Country Song”
5. “This Time”
6. “Stamped”
7. “The Rolling People”
8. “Catching The Butterfly”
9. “Echo Bass”
10. “Lucky Man”
11. “Come On”

 

Take out "This Time" and replace it with "The Drugs Don't Work" and that's a brilliant tracklist.

I don't rate This Time at all and whilst I'm not massive on the Ashcroft ballads. BSS, History and TDDW are very good songs and Nick's work on TDDW makes it as dark and haunting as it should be, the track would be a lot weaker without him.

It's a shame that we won't get to hear "All Ways are Maybes" because Nick, Si and Jazz Summers raved about it. And in Nick's words "Ashcroft doesn't want it releasing because he knows how good it is"

 

I'm in for the 6 LP vinyl box just because of the Haigh Hall show. Is there a site where the vinyl set can be pre ordered? Amazon UK only has the CD set listed at the moment.

 

Hi, I preordered from the Amazon France website. It was also the cheapest.

 

Thanks!