Tag Archives: The Verve
Seven albums that changed my life
My PC is on the blink this week so I’m having to run it in safe mode just to get the main programs to work. Which doesn’t leave me with much I’m able to do…fortunately most of my music collection is on both CD and my hard drive so I won’t be going completely insane from boredom just yet (although I suspect it’s only a matter of time).
In terms of my guitar geekiness, it’s originally this bloke’s fault. Cheers for that, Nick
Since I want to write *something* to take my mind off the obvious annoyances but can’t watch fansubs or DVDs to write about, I figured I’d do a variant on the ‘favourite albums’ thing. Lists like those are self indulgent and meaningless so I’m outlining albums that have left a big impression on me and have marked important moments in my life as a musician/music fan. Still self-indulgent I guess, but at least somewhat meaningful – I also recommend you listen to them if you get the chance.
The Verve’s 1992 back catalogue
Back in my high school days many thought the Battle of the Bands between Blur and Oasis marked the high point of the Britpop scene but amidst the high-profile chart topping acts many talented outfits went under the radar. The Verve, consisting of vocalist Richard Ashcroft, bassist Simon Jones, guitarist Nick McCabe, drummer Peter Salisbury and (for a time) guitarist/keyboardist Simon Tong, found chart success with their 1997 album Urban Hymns but they had been vying for the big time way before then. I must confess I hadn’t heard of them before this, so had to retrospectively work back to 1995′s A Northern Soul and beyond.
The funny thing is, their pre-’95 material sounds nothing like what the band’s fans are familiar with today. Ashcroft’s smoker’s baritone isn’t there, the indie ballad theme of the songs isn’t there. They owed little to their more (then) successful contemporaries at all; hell, McCabe could have passed for a younger 70s-era Dave Gilmour because the entire band wore their hair down to their shoulders. Looking back, I’ve decided that, ironically, their earliest songs were actually their best; at the very least they ought to be as well remembered as the more recent ones.
