THE VERVE: Urban Hymns (Richard Ashcroft, Nick McCabe & The Greatest Album Of 1997)
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- čas přidán 10. 10. 2022
- The history of the Verve in the years leading up to the creation of their masterpiece, and the love/hate relationship between Richard Ashcroft and Nick McCabe that formed and inspired it's timeless sound.
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Many thanks, JH.
You can read more about the Verve in Richard Bowes' excellent book here - www.amazon.co.uk/Modern-Music-Masters-Verve-MMM5-ebook/dp/B08ZKBZY4P
Another masterpiece James. You are doing such incredible work. These short documentaries are blissful
Urban Hymns will always be special to me. It helped massively in getting me through my cancer treatment at 17 years old in 97/98. Thank you The Verve 💚.
Congrats and thanks for sharing....❤️
That's brilliant mate, I was just 12/13 and this music was beginning to shape my whole world view! Glad you beat it man, love a success story.
7,8,9. Space & Time, Weeping Willow, & Lucky Man are three of the greatest songs I’ve ever listened to. Mind you, they’re on the same album with Bittersweet Symphony. That’s how great Urban Hymns is from beginning to end. Being a teenager in the 90’s was something else, and The Verve had a lot to do with that. And yes, I was one of those American kids who grew up on British Rock music. It was, is, and always will be the sound to my life. Cheers.
A storm in Heaven is the BEST.
Became obsessed with Ashcroft and the Verve in 2006 after an Ashcroft gig. With Ashcroft’s music and The Verve’s albums life was good. The only thing that was missing was the experience of a Verve gig but Ashcroft had put out a previous statement claiming there was more chance of getting the Beatles back together. Then boom, the news dropped that The Verve were returning and I was like a kid at Christmas! Secured tickets to their Camden Roundhouse gig and can honestly say that apart from my children being born that night was the best of my life! They even threw in Gravity Grave! What a time to be alive! 🙌🏻
Nick McCabe is one of the most talented guitarists of the 90s. My All time favourite player!
Listening to Urban Hymns on a cold, January day when the sun finally breaks is bone chilling. Fantastic album.
What a beautiful episode.
Both Urban Hymns and A Northern Soul are of the greatest pieces of art in the history of the world.
These albums will live on to be forever meaningful, for generations upon eternity.
The Verve were pioneering with everything they did musically. There is no other band like them. The world is still yet to appreciate the genius and head of time of this band.
A Storm In Heaven is far greater than A Northern Soul....
@@sandycheeks7865 I love A Northern Soul but A Storm In Heaven towers over both of them
I saw Verve when Oasis supported them at Newcastle Riverside in 1993 ; they were awesome - it was A storm in Heaven time and they had a great track called All in the Mind which I loved. They had not released bittersweet symphony but they were already playing the rolling stones original (from which they sampled)before the gig on the PA. It was also the night that the PA blew during Oasis’s set and Bonehead ended up playing ‘She’ll be coming round the mountain’ on some spoons. All for about £5 ….. yes, I’m old😂.
Like to read stories like that...
thats fucking brilliant man
Love All in The Mind, Blue, Slide Away and Gravity Grave. Druggy funky intense pyschadelia 🔥👌
Nick McCabe is a sensational guitarist. His playing is outstanding on all four Verve albums. Best album of 1997 'Urban Hymns' or 'Ok Computer' its hard to choose between those 2 they both mean alot to me.
OKC all day,year,decade,century,millenium long
Ok Computer or Blur 'Blur' for me
@@monrush 'Blur' is a fine album.....very diverse.....'death of a party' is a big favourite of mine...
No Be here now?
@@Sleepflowrr I'm a big fan of 'Be here now' its packed with great songs like 'My big mouth', 'Fade in-out", but i'd still rank it behind the two i mentioned.
Urban Hymns will always have a special place in my heart ❤️. I still have the original CD from 1997. Happy days.
Saw The Verve supporting Oasis at Earl"s Court 97', they were phenomenal. I feel privileged to have been there
McCabe's guitar work on this album is very underrated
Not be me it isnt. It’s there with the greats
Don't forget Tongy
It’s even better on the previous two albums
I completly agree with you. I play guitar and often listen to Nick on Urban Hymns. I honestly can't work out how he gets some of those sounds. They are very subtle in a lot of places and also very unusual. A lot of people would not even recognise some of those sounds as a guitar. Nice post my friend.
Voyager 1 bootleg is absolutely otherworldly sounding his guitar sound there is untouchable.
Big fan of the Oasis deep dives James but definitely want more of the same for The Verve who didn't have exposure through the early years. They became just as important to me as the years pass me by
Absolutely. Ashcroft sounds even better today. If you haven't, check out Acoustic Hymns by Richard Ashcroft. You wont regret it
Early The Verve was awesome.
@@fullbeans983 Yeah was lucky enough to catch him again when he supported LG a few years back and his voice is better than ever
@@RobertHurleyJr I came to the party late but have to agree a lot of the early stuff is what connects with me most. Love watching live stuff from the early days especially as they just had a completely different energy to other bands
I remember when Richard said history has a place for us and he was right, the verve are my favourite band
Poor Nick wanted to create music at the same time he was having a daughter, sounds like the other members didn’t appreciate just how big a deal that is.
I nearly booked Nicks daughter Ellie to play harp at my wedding in 2018, can’t remember now why it didn’t happen but she’s talented. Think she sang on Black Submarine album if my memory serves me correct.
McCabes guitar lick on the opening to ‘Lucky Man’ still gives me chills and puts a smile on my face at the same time 😊
Did you know it’s the same lick on the song This Time, just sped up?
It's crazy to think the following albums came out in 1997:
Urban Hymns
OK Computer
Either/Or
In in for the Money
The Colour & the Shape
The Fat of the Land
Homogenic
Low Estate
Around the Fur
Be here now, don’t forget it
@@SnapMeBollix69 Better than most people say, but still nowhere near that list
@@MaquiladoraIII I listen to it now and love the Coke’d up theatre of it all… the grandiose delusions… it’s very different to anything on that list and was perhaps more of a 1996 record in sentiment than it’s reality where the landscape had changed… imagine what might have been had the masterplan been their third! It would have made the list above
Ladies and Gentlemen we are floating on space.
Vanishing Point
My 3rd favorite Verve album, and that is not an insult by any means. I would still pin the difficulties of this band surviving primarily on Richard. Nick, like Owen mentioned, was a singular talent.
You are absolutely correct
I worked and lived in Wigan in 2015, in a restaurant a 2 minute walk from the pub The Verve played their first gig at, The Honeysuckle, on Poolstock Lane, Wigan. I used to drink there as well. There is no commemorative plaque stating this first gig though, which is a shame.
Stopped outside the Honeysuckle last year as I was working in Wigan. Expected to see a mural or something but nothing 😂 disappointed!
Verve’s song History is the one.
I truly love Urban Hymn's , From my top 3 favorite albums , the stone roses , definitely maybe , I still listen to it the most and it made me a fan off all Ashcrofts work.
This is great, love this. All their ‘90’s albums are brilliant. Urban Hymns gets a bad rap because it sold millions, but it contains the essence of the band that the first 2 albums have as well as the ballads.
Purists hate UH - so what? Nobody who really loves the band begrudges them the success that they deserved.
The Verve always were a complicated bunch of people. MaCabe is a genius, and I can prove that in a court of law - but the whole band were geniuses.
UH is a great album and I love it, even if I love the first two albums more - especially “A Northern Soul”.
Thank you for this.
This is awesome, James. A Northern Soul is one of my very favourite albums. You can feel the drug fuelled tension and paranoia throughout the whole record. I absolutely adore it.
Absolutely love that you made this video. Nick McCabe remains my fav guitar player of all time; NO ONE compares with the incredible soundscapes he conjures up.
Urban Hymns is pretty good but it’s kind of Verve’s Be Here Now. Once Richard Ashcroft started brining in his own songs it totally changed the band for the worse as Richard is not the musical genius that McCabe is; he’s an amazing frontman but not a musical genius. McCabe is truly amazing and Simon Jones wins the award for coolest bass player in a band and he combined with drummer Peter Salisbury bring in such a solid groove that totally locks in with McCabes soundscapes. The result has made Verve one of the greatest psychedelic bands of all time; A Storm in Heaven, the live album Voyager One, A Northen Soul, and No Come Down are unlike any other music out there. Once Ashcroft started bringing in his own songs it was like he wanted to make Verve into Oasis. Ashcroft’s solo work following Verve’s break up shows how weak he was as a musician.
I’m from the states and in the early 90s absolutely NO ONE had heard of The Verve. One of my Good friends found out about them by some hotline in a British music magazine that played snippets of new bands over the landline. He heard a snippet of “Slide Away” and then introduced all of us to A Storm in Heaven. We had never heard ANYTHING like it. We were just coming out of grunge and had heard Oasis’ Definitely Maybe but A Storm in Heaven was something different altogether. Our teenage minds had just been introduced to LSD and combining that with A Storm In Heaven took us all to heights we had never experienced. My first break through experience on acid where I “saw god” at seventeen years old happened whilst I had No Come Down and A Storm in Heaven on in my little Aiwa CD changer. From that point on, my friends and I were no longer punks, now we were fucking STAR SAILORS! We wanted to make ppl see God with the music we made and bands like Verve, Spiritualized/Spectrum/Spacemen 3, and all the bands on Creation records helped us redefine our sound. The 90s truly was a time like no other in music and as I mentioned before, in the states NOBODY knew of these amazing psychedelic bands coming out of the UK! It made us seem so much cooler that we knew about them and that was important as a teen LOL.
1997 when Urban Hymns was released was quite a year for music and the UK was responsible for much of it. Radiohead released OK Computer, Spiritualized released Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space! Combine that with Urban Hymns and you’ve got quite a combination and those albums are only the beginning!
Please do more videos about the Verve! I’d love it if this became a channel for Verve nerds too. Also Spiritualized, do some vids on them too
The album that dethroned Be Here Now. Those Earls Court shows helped for sure.
Good, BHN is vastly overrated
Now I'm a huge Oasis fan but when Noel told Richard Ashcroft to "get yer shit together", at Knebworth no less, the fact he did and then stole Oasis' thunder in 97... You gotta admire that. Noel got complacent and Be Here Now is utter shite lol. Still, what a time to be young and into rock and roll that era was
@@1dorz I totally agree. Ashcroft got his shit together and made the best album of 1997.
This album and Cornershop - when I was born for the seventh time and Suedes coming up are all masterpieces and sometimes underrated.
One of the best albums ever
James I love these type of videos were you deep dive into a band & tell the story of a particular time in their history. The Seahorses one was excellent as was this. I know you’ve touched upon the Stone Roses with Spike Island but I’d love to hear about difficulties they had following on from that time including the legal battles with their label & their next album ‘Second Coming’.
Keep up the good work
Really enjoyed that..
Urban hymns holds a close
place for me… I remember
Walking 4 miles to buy it..
Then the opening cords of sonnet.. blew me away. my life was changed..
Money to burn
On my mind in my sleep
Songs for the lovers
Brave new world
Cmon people….
Where all left off urban hymns
But lucky made it onto Richard’s first solo album
“Alone with everyone “
I’ve subscribed to your channel cause we are big Manchester music fans!! We live in California and love your ardent and amorous info …. Thanks for all the info …. 🙏🏽 please do a story on Ian Brown ….. he’s worth at least 4 of these sessions …. Lol. Thanks again 🤙🏽
The verve are great, glad you have done a video about them
We need more videos about the verve and their absolute greatness
the level of research you distilled into this video is absolutely superb
Nice one James. I had no idea Owen Morris recorded a full version of Urban Hymns. I'd love to hear it.
really its nuts
I love these Britpop band bio videos! Keep it up 😊
Glad you like them! More to come
Holy crap,its amazing they all came out of this alive or intact.
I have the "Money to burn" bio as well and I am very very glad you did this video (I also asked you once in the comments). This proves that you read the comments take in consideration what people would like to see. Being a teenager in the 90's was not possible to escape the genius of Ashcroft or NG. Anyway, big hug James. Thank u.
Would give anything to see them live someday, Nick McCabe is a wizard on them strings. Very informative video as always, never heard most of the information before
I spent a fortune to see them twice in their last reunion. Once at the first gig back in Glasgow and again at V Fest which I think was their last appearance. With a band like the verve I’d literally beg, steal and borrow to see. Nothing comes close to them.
Saw them many times back in the day. My last time was in Belfast 2007 Nick McCabe is a spectacular Guitarist, truly unique and magical.
@@ashleycrawford9863 where in belfast?
@@SeanD1847 Odyssey mate.
Owen Morris went onto do Floored by Pusherman which was made in similar circumstances to a northern soul at Rockfield..it's a great record and I'd recommend anyone in here to dig it out
Great vid! But i have to say that "A Storm In Heaven" is their masterpiece, althought i do get the "songs rather than groove base music" that U.H did have and made a difference. Love from Chile!
Every freakin song on this album is great tbh, love it
That was simply brilliant, thank you for taking the time to do this!
have had a rough few months, but your enthusiasm and knowledge for my favorite band (and some of my other faves) have made things genuinely easier and more positive, thank you for your hard work. cheers
Robert
Nice video one of the great bands, Im still amazed by a northern soul every time I listen to it.
I really enjoyed this. Great video. You have some fantastic content.
James , I have an interesting Oasis topic for you. Noel is on countless videos saying he has zero musical theory. He said he can't even spell the word in one video! I'm calling bullshit. He obviously has a great ear, but he has to have garnered some practical stuff over the years. Like knowing the flat 7th, major third etc and even some unusual chords etc. We know he likes to dumb down his image a lot but it would be interesting to delve into how much theory you think he might actually have to create all those amazing songs and sounds. Cheers mate!
Good stuff man! Your breakdowns are brilliant, thank you.
Nick McCabe is the reason I picked up a guitar.
Everything the Verve has ever done is a banger. Each one of their albums (and b-sides for that matter) are classics. It’s impossible for me to pick a favorite Verve album…
Liking this video before I even watch. I long waited for this. Thanks!
Man those stories from recording ANS are fucking brilliant. To be a fly on the wall!
Love these BritPop stories. Thanks James
Still think there performance of Life's an Ocean on Later with Jools Holland was incredible.
James if you haven't seen the Verve on Mtv videos from 97 I highly recommend checking them out. I watched the performance live the night I was broadcast and it was so epic it's never left me.
It's sad that the 2 creative forces of the band could never co exist for more than an album or tour at a time.
Nick McCabe had a You tube channel where he was posting videos of his iconic guitars and gear he was having to sell to pay for university fees I believe.....quite sad but we will always have the music
Definitely interested in more videos on The Verve!
Never knew some of these bits of background info.
Storm In Heaven might be my personal favourite, but everything in their catalogue is great.
Cheers James.
Another great video James, in my view urban hymns was the best album of the 90's
You fucking legend
Sound for doing a video on the verve
Nah there masterpiece was a northern soul and then a storm in heaven then b sides album no comedown, for me verve where there best when they were there darkest.
I hope someday those recordings of Bernard Butler playing with The Verve find their way to the internet.
Mad because a northern soul and a storm in heaven are far superior
I enjoyed this video James, I love watching your Oasis videos and It would be cool to see similar content on the Verve as there are barely any channels talking about their history as a whole instead on just focusing on the BSS controversy. A deep dive on A Storm in Heaven would be awesome.
I'm not knocking UH, but I can't be on my own in thinking that ANS is a superior LP. Who's with me?
I remember seeing them supporting the Black Crowes in 1992/3.
I still have the same leather Dickie wore in the Bitter vid.
Im not sure who is Mccabe on the cover of urban hymns but i think he's the one sitting on the left, looking at the right, while the others are looking at the left. Seems symbolic for their relation
Good catch
Definitely not a coincidence
Some corrections to this very interesting video:
1. Tong wasn't a "new guitarist," he was a friend of Richard and Nick from their school days in Wigan and had taught both of them how to play guitar 10 years earlier.
2. It wasn't that the Verve made NO money from Bitter Sweet Symphony -- just that Richard didn't earn any publishing money. They all earned a pile of performance royalties.
3. Ironically, the Stones didn't even write the melody that the Verve borrowed for "Bitter Sweet Symphony" (the first strain of Richard's melody) -- it was traditional, and the Staple Singers recorded it first.
4. You strangely omitted mention of Youth, who produced the initial pre-Nick sessions (not Owen Morris).
Yeah that's what I thought too, Youth was heavily involved in the 1996 sessions and had already left prior to Nick returning. No idea that Owen Morris was involved in an earlier version, I thought it was John Leckie, the producer of A Storm in Heaven who was working with them, as mentioned in 2017 interview with Nick and then Verve worked with Chris Potter.
Enjoyed this james
Great video, the part where Ashcroft calls Nick to rejoin the band is really moving.
Enjoying the recap history very much thanks James! Wondering if you ever did a comment on the liner note for “cast no shadow” about Ashcroft and the oasis connection-might be a good story there-cheers
Urban Hymns is a true modern classic.
Great video
One of the best album in 90's
The verve coukd really taken over when Oasisi went quite in 1998-99.
Soooo good !!! Urban Hymns is totally Biblical …. 🙏🏽
“An absolute sh#thead”. 😂 Learnt so much in this vid James. Thanks for all your awesome work.
Looking forward this
Urban Hymns is, in my opinion, the greatest album of all time. Yet nothing on it touches "On Your Own" or "History"
McCabe is God
Some say bitter-sweet is the greatest song ever written, I like the lyrics but I like a lot of other verve songs. Great video James.
Epic album, one of my favorites of the era. But James, what's with the black eye?
Bought this lp for £6.99 at 'ear 'ere records in Lancaster in 93....its Verves best lp imo....still play it regularly...fuckin great record....
Another great video James. I love that Richard Ashcroft and The Verve finally got their moment in the sun along with their mates Oasis. Its just such a shame Richard Ashcroft didn't earn a bean out of Bittersweet Symphony for all these years at least Mick and Keith have tried to remedy that to some extent. Its a charming album and I've thought for a while Nick McCabe is no slouch on guitar and is a musician to be respected. Its a shame they dont make rock stars like Richard Ashcroft and The Gallaghers anymore. Is Urban Hymns the album Be Here Now arguably should have been? Ha ha :)
I'd say _The Masterplan_ is more or less what _Be Here Now_ should've been.
A Northern Soul is their masterpiece.
Always thought that Urban Hymns was 2 or 3 tracks too long and basically an Ashcroft solo album in essence.
A Northern Soul seems to get bypassed most of the time.
It's my personal favourite, Nick's guitar playing is superb, particularly on the title track.
He's a magician.
One time I heard somewhere that in order to reach your heaven You've got to go through hell. Well that really sums that story up in a nutshell.
Should do A NORTHERN SOUL sessions video by itself. Amazing and a perfect album
YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSS.
YOU LEGEND.
BE HERE NOW came out in 1997....
Great analysis as always James, total naive question but if the sample wasn’t recognizable as a Stones song why didn’t they create their own sample and not have to deal with the publisher, just feel like they could of got around this somehow and their honestly got them in a big mess.
They were scammed but Richi won in 2019, the rest of the band got nothing, so that 50% is 100% now for Richi who is not sharing and he's still high, in fact in 2010 was high too for Forth and that's why they won't have a reunion, I watched Richi high on Bbc a couple of years ago, maybe he recovered just for a short time in the 2000 but that's it, let's not forget Richi's wife who allows this, the current adviser or manager and greedy Kate Radley Jason Pierce ex of Spiritualized who got married with Richi secretly that's where A broken heart and History come from unless History was for Sarah or for both for Sarah and Kate. In brief: everybody was high, sad and it shows in an amazing album.
I would love to hear the next chapter about the song that they were ripped off. Please
The Last Time by the Stones IS very similar to Bittersweet Symphony when it comes to chords and vocal melodies. I'm not sure why pretty much no one points that out.
Apparently Owen Morris once got so excited recording the Verve that he put a chair through a window
Allen Klein RIP (rot in pieces) 👿
Outstanding. I've read same Allan Klein book, an absolute shit head 🤣 brilliant.
Verve a stellar band, deep dive into a storm in heaven please
I could be confused, but I remember seeing on some music channel a video where the band was called "The ____ Verve", with an extra word. It was after the big smash hit of "bittersweet simphony", it was probably the second song I heard of them. I can't remember the song, all I remember is the video was in color and they were in a room. I swear the text that appeared at the beginning and end of the video didn't say just "The Verve", there was another word.
Did the band change their name in 98 or 99?. Or maybe the name was changed for some countries?. Like Yazoo in some places is called Yaz.
I remember perfectly "bittersweet simphony" said "The Verve", but the next song that got some play a year or two later, had an extra word.
(by the way, I don't know how it is in the UK, but as far as I know, outside the UK they are "one hit wonders", remembered only for "bittersweet simphony").
You mean the Verve Pipe? They're an American band who released their biggest single in 1997 called " the freshmen". They have no relation to The Verve whatsoever.
Unreleased demos from Urban Hymns: czcams.com/play/PLP1OPdKR5iaIykfFNS-zHSYdtPN7aIHii.html
Elsewhere on YT is an interview with Nic and Si about the making of Urban Hymns where it sounds like Nic was brought in on a last minute rescue mission. Thank god else we'd be without such a classic album.
Yes, Nick was brought back into the band in early 1997. He rescued Bittersweet from being a B-side and the start of the song, the looped lilting strings was his idea.
it always sad that genius tend not to be able to be in sync, but when they do, only magic happened. thus thats why it is so magical
Interesting you mention 32 songs were recorded with Si Tong in the lead up to Urban Hymns. Sympathy for the Demos was only 24 songs. We’re the other 8 songs the ones on the unreleased demos with Sweet and Sour etc on?
Possible the greatest album of all time
I actually prefer A Northern Soul. Thanks for the vid