"Already There" cover version

"Already There" is a Storm in Heaven classic, and one of Nick McCabe's best guitar songs on the album. Below is a cover version which sounds very close to Nick McCabe's sound, and Verve's version at Camden Town Hall in 1992.

* 4/26/20 update: Original cover video removed from YouTube, but here's an alternate and unique piano and drums version.

 

"Rather Be" video

Urban Hymns out on vinyl

“From the Capitol Vaults,” a series of classic vinyl reissues from the Capitol/EMI catalog, recently announced its latest crop of vinyl releases. The Band’s Music From Big Pink, The Beach Boys’ Endless Summer, John Lennon’s Rock ‘N’ Roll, Paul McCartney & Wings’ Band On The Run, and The Verve’s Urban Hymns are among the thirteen albums to receive the deluxe treatment, which includes 180-gram quality vinyl and original artwork.

Third time a charm for Verve?

British rock quartet The Verve, known almost as much for their in-band turmoil and spats as they are for hits such as Lucky Man and Bittersweet Symphony, did what many considered almost the impossible in 2007: they reunited.

But with a new album Forth under their belt and touring for most of 2008, bassist Simon Jones says that the newness feel of the group getting back together after more than a decade still hasn't worn off.

"It still feels like a pleasure, a real great thing still, the fact that it's given us another chance and opportunity" Jones says from London in late September, a day after the group recorded b-sides for the next single. "I think it's to be savoured and held onto dearly. I'm not flippant about it and have never taken it for granted. It still feels new, fresh and exciting definitely."

Following solo work and other projects by members that didn't really make commercially successful dents, including albums by singer Richard Ashcroft, the band -- Jones, Ashcroft, guitarist Nick McCabe and drummer Peter Salisbury -- entered a studio in June 2007 to see if the magic was still there. It was, resulting in The Verve agreeing that a new studio album was not just a pipe dream.

"We didn't have the weight of signing a massive contract with a record company for loads of albums," Jones says. "We kind of knew it was just one record. So I don't think we had pressure, it was too much of a joyful experience to be honest."

"It was just a pure release of emotion, just a real cathartic thing to go in there and record. We set our own standards in terms of what we wanted to do and what we set out to do with the record and we achieved that really." Probably one obstacle The Verve faced was trying to take what Jones estimates to be about "50 jams" and transform them into an album."

Forth, released in late August, is highlighted by the single Love Is Noise and the winding Noise Epic, the latter Jones deems to be a great driving track. "We did end up with too much material," he says. "It was splurging everything onto tape and then sitting down, listening to the roots of it, choosing the best of it and having a general consensus about what material we're going to work on."

"Even in the mastering stages, we were wondering what ones we were going to leave off." "We can't have an album with 15 tracks on it, especially when some of them get up to six and seven minutes long. It's not necessarily which is a standout track, it's what makes the album work as a whole."

So far The Verve, who toured North America earlier this year, have managed to make the most of the second chance despite constant speculation from British music magazines that another split or breakup is imminent. "We've created that through our past history, so that's never really going to go away," Jones says with a laugh. "The V Festival (in Britain) was taking place and the promoter was on the phone, 'Is the band going to show up?'

"We are quite a tumultuous band and we've had our moments definitely. We just know that we're four strong fellows and people are going to write about our past and so be it. As long as we know what's going on that's all that matters." Following this summer's festival circuit in Europe, the band considered doing another leg of shows, but have put those on hold until next year when a second North American leg begins. "We've been taking it step-by-step as opposed to looking at a calendar and knowing that it's been booked up for the year," Jones says.

"We're not the type of band that can go out on the road for a year without any stops. We've learned a lot from our past not to burn out this time because that's really what it has come down to in the past."

Source: Jason Macneil, Sun Media, Jam! Entertainment

"Rather Be" b-sides update

It seems "Blue Pacific Ocean" won't be a b-side after all. I'm not sure what will come of it, but it was too good to be one anyway. Regardless, the upcoming single will be released in three formats. The CD single will have the "Love is Noise (Tom Middleton Remix)" and there will be two 7" singles, one with the b-side "Major Force" and the other "All Night Long."

"Rather Be" video

Nearly two decades after they first formed, The Verve are still writing unquestionably catchy indie tunes.

But now it seems shaggy-haired frontman Richard Ashcroft also fancies himself as a filmmaker, directing the video for their new single.

The Bittersweet Symphony-esque video sees the Lucky Man flirting with the camera as he hangs out with Mother Nature.

Source: The Sun

*On the 'Forth' track preview widget above, first click "Love is Noise," then close the video that appears. Immediately a link for the "Rather Be" video will be made available.

* Update: widget no longer available

Catching up with...The Verve

Until this summer's Forth, The Verve hadn't released an album since 1997's critically acclaimed Urban Hymns, and many of the band members hadn't seen each other since that period of time.

But now, over a decade later, the band is back to try and recapture the momentum of what was once considered one of the biggest forces in music, though they're now playing largely to audiences that were just discovering the radio when “Bitter Sweet Symphony” ruled the airwaves. Paste recently caught up with bassist Simon Jones to talk about The Verve's new music, the ever-present rumors and how the reunion came about.

Paste: I want to get your take on the new record. I've been through it a few times and I will say that I was really impressed with how cohesive it sounded for it being the first thing [the band] had recorded in eleven years. Give me your take on the new record and the process that went into it.

Jones: Well, I think when we first went in to record, which was back last year, I think we were all conscious of wanting to make a very sort of live-feeling record. “Get the band in the [studio], record the band live” was kind of what we were working toward with [1995's] A Northern Soul more so than Urban Hymns, I would say. And really, I wouldn't say it was a conscious decision not to make Urban Hymns 2, but we definitely wanted to get back to being a functioning band and playing live in the studio.

When we did Urban Hymns, Nick kind of joined us late and a lot of the tracks were already laid down for that, so I think there was a definite consensus to get the live feeling of the band because we are a great live band, to just record the jams and everything and have the tape on record at all times when we're in the studio.

I mean, not having seen each other for ten years, the first time we all met all together was actually in the studio. [We] kind of had a bit of a chat with each other, and coffee, and then we went straight into recording, and so even things from the first day are on the record. I think what's happened over time as well, now, with the technology and the use of ProTools and stuff. In the past, on A Northern Soul, we'd have these big jams, we'd be editing them physically, like slicing the tape with razor-blades. But now we have this whole technology in place where we could edit ourselves on the computer, which was really a godsend for us.

So there's lots and lots of jamming, really, and that's kind of the band that we started from when we were 16, when we learned to play our instruments together back in Wigan, you know. It's just a lot of sort of learning to play with each other, and you get that sort of intuitiveness where you know what the other musicians are going to do. And I think what amazed us all on the first couple of days [back in the studio] is that we hadn't lost that element at all. We still intuitively knew where to take the music and how to play together as a band.

Even with something that's a bit more polished, like "Love Is Noise”-- that came out as a 40-minute jam and we took an eight-bar loop out of it and then built onto that. So we're always looking for elements within the jams and stuff to see where we could take it further and a major part of the process of this record was actually done when we'd play back what we'd done the previous day or the previous week and go into and find the magic moments.

Paste: You said the first time you were all back together was, in fact, [in] the studio. Who made the first phone call, who really put the pieces in place for this to happen?

Jones: Well, I think I've been in touch with Pete, the drummer, off and on over the years, you know, from a distance. He'd not been in touch with Nick for years and he, just to see how Nick was doing, [gave] him a call, blah blah blah, and they had a chat with each other. And I think Richard got wind of the fact that Pete had talked to me, and said, “Oh, you think they'd be up for doing a few gigs or whatever?” And Pete, having talked to us, knew that we always would be if there was that chance.

So then Richard kinda did the right thing and then called everyone up and sort of put it to us, you know, “How would you feel about doing some gigs and some recordings?” Having this been such big part of all our lives since we were at school together, really, it was something none of us could say no to, really. So it was Richard picking up the phone really and doing the right thing [that sparked the reunion.]

Paste: Is it sort of strange to be at a point in your life where decisions like that, conversations with your friends, automatically become tabloid news and back-page news and things like that? Little reunion quips and money jokes and stuff?

Jones: I guess it does, but to me, even on Urban Hymns-- I think the success of that record took us all a bit off. I didn't read reviews, I don't read reviews, I've not read any reviews since we've got back together. I like to maintain a clear head in that sense, 'cause I don't like to be swayed by anyone else's opinion, 'cause when I'm doing it I know how I feel and I know how good it is and I don't really need to look to see what someone else thinks. I keep all that stuff-- I got copies of all the magazines, the reviews, and one day I might go back and do it, you know what I mean. But me, personally, I'm not the sort of person that gets tangled up in that, you know.

I left London about five years ago to get away from the constant, day-to-day sort of music business thing, and now I live back up north near my family. So I try and keep my head out of the head-spin as much as I can by keeping away from all that stuff, really. But yeah, it is strange, you know.

To me, it's just four people making a phone call, making a record, getting it together and it sounds so simple. And yeah, in the media a fuss is made about it, but to me its just about the people I was at school with and its not that big a deal to me. I've always kinda kept my feet on the ground in that sense. Planted firmly on the ground 'cause its so easy to get carried away with it all, you know. It just messes with your head, to be honest, so I steer clear.

Paste: You find loads of information [online] about the band and history, but then you seem to find just as many almost tabloid stories about Nick probably quitting the band, or about the reunion just being for the money, and it almost becomes hard to separate the fake from the things based in any sort of reality.

Jones: Oh totally. When we were on tour in Japan, Richard smashed his guitar up, and all that, and there was a big story and all that in the media that we'd split up and that was our last gig just because somebody smashed his guitar up. Everything's under a microscope like that, and the slightest little show of anything out of the ordinary and they're jumping on it like, “Oh, they're going to split up.” It's always been like that with our band, and I just have to ignore it as long as I know how us four feel about it.

Paste: You mentioned that Richard is still contractually obliged to make solo albums. When one of his solo albums does come out, is that something you go out and listen to and notice different artistic directions he's going in and think about [The Verve], or is it just something you listen to as a completely separate piece of art?

Jones: Well, in the past I don't think I've ever-- I've never actually listened to one of Richard's solo records. It was too painful after the split-up of the band, really. Now, I believe it wouldn't affect me as much. I wouldn't sit there as a critic going, “Oh, it's not as good as if he were playing with us,” you know? I think I'm old enough and mature enough now to let it sound, as you said, like its own piece of art. I'm not going to criticize what Richard does. He's a great songwriter. But I'm not too familiar with all of his solo records. I'll have to go back and see what he was up to at some point. (laughs)

Paste: What's next for the band for now?

Jones: Yeah, I think it was just a mission to get through all this at first, because we'd never done the whole circus and doing all the festivals. So that was the first plan, to do the summer, and then I guess we'll be promoting the record and then doing some shows at maybe the end of the year and early next year as well, without a doubt.

This is just a pause or a sigh after doing all those gigs. There were 27 gigs including the American tour, which is quite a lot for us. But yeah, [we'll] definitely [be back on the road] the end of this year, early next year. We'd all miss it too much. The gigs have been so fantastic. I've actually really started to miss doing club gigs after doing all these festivals. I miss doing sound checks and stuff like that because that's what we used to really use to write new material together.
Paste: What's it like for you at, say, Coachella, when you know there's tons of people there just to see a three-day music festival that may not know a single thing about you and may not have even cared about music when your last album was out? Do you approach that differently at all?

Jones: Well, I think that's part of the mission, to get those people on board who totally aren't expecting an experience, you know what I mean. They've just sort of stumbled into a field and they're going “Who the fuck is this?” You know? I think that's the buzz, for me. Doing those festivals is knowing that it's not your hardcore fans, like you said, it's people who bought a ticket for three days of music and they're just kind of wandering around and, you know, that's happened to us in the past, back in the early '90s.

We've done Glastonbury in the middle of the day sort of thing and have so many memories of people coming up from other gigs and going “Oh, I've never heard of you before. Fuckin' ahh, it was amazing!” So that's kind of the buzz of the festivals, to turn on the people that haven't listened to you before, who haven't heard you or have maybe disregarded you.

Source: Adam Daniels, Paste Magazine

Review

'Forth' reviewed by the New York Times.

Urban Hymns to be re-released on vinyl

“From the Capitol Vaults,” a series of classic vinyl reissues from the Capitol/EMI catalog, recently announced its latest crop of vinyl releases. The Band’s Music From Big Pink, The Beach Boys’ Endless Summer, John Lennon’s Rock ‘N’ Roll, Paul McCartney & Wings’ Band On The Run, and The Verve’s Urban Hymns are among the thirteen albums to receive the deluxe treatment, which includes 180-gram quality vinyl and original artwork.

Family reunion for The Verve

Simon Jones knew something was up the moment he picked up the phone and heard Richard Ashcroft on the other end of the line. The two didn’t talk on a regular basis particularly since their band The Verve went through a rather ugly split in the late 90s.

“It was weird at first, obviously,” Jones said about hearing from Ashcroft. “I hadn’t spoke to Richard in a long time; 10 years or something.”

The Britpop band’s lead singer didn’t call bassist Jones to catch up on old times and reminisce about the past. That would come later. He first wanted to know how Jones felt about playing together again. Ashcroft not only called Jones. He also reached out to fellow bandmates, drummer Peter Salisbury and even guitarist Nick McCabe, who feuded with Ashcroft before the band broke up in 1999.

“Within a couple of weeks we met up in a studio in London in Richmond, had a coffee and a chat and within the hour, we were recording the record,” Jones said. “So, you know, it was a massive turn of events really after all that time. It’s something I thought would never happen. It’s amazing to have been granted this opportunity, making the record and playing our material around the world again. What a joy, you know.”

It seemed that, at the moment The Verve hit its peak, things ended. McCabe left the band shortly after touring commenced for the worldwide smash, Urban Hymns, which produced the top single “Bittersweet Symphony.”

“I think Urban Hymns took us off guard a little. The pressures that came with that success put an end to the band really,” Jones said. “Urban Hymns took on a life of its own. What we’ve learned from the fact that we did split up for 10 years is how precious this is, really, and to learn from our past experiences. We’re a little more wise, more mature, and more equipped to say ‘no’ to the people who forced us to tour our asses off for two years.”

During the band’s hiatus, each member kept busy. Jones and Simon Tong worked on The Shining project and McCabe released several one-off recordings with various artists. Tong also joined Blur and Gorillaz front man Damon Albarn on Gorillaz Demon Days mini-tour and also featured on the album. Ashcroft recorded three solo albums with help from Salisbury, who also joined Black Rebel Motorcycle Club as their part-time touring drummer.

Jones had kept in touch with the other members of The Verve. He said that when Ashcroft asked how he felt about getting the band back together, Jones didn’t hesitate to join in on the reunion.

“Me and Nick started working together before this thing happened. We started writing some material with the prospect of doing something,” Jones said. “Pete phoned me to ask for Nick’s phone number (one day) because he lost his phone number and hadn’t spoken to him in a while. Then I think Richard got wind that Pete had been speaking to him and said, ‘Ah, you know, maybe we’ll do some gigs; maybe do a bit of recording.’ This thing, having been such a big part of our lives, you didn’t even have to think about it for a second really.”

When the foursome started jamming in the studio, Jones said it felt like the days of old, despite the fact the four hadn’t been in a recording environment in more than a decade. The sessions produced Forth, the band’s fourth studio album and first since Urban Hymns. Shortly after its late-August release, the new record hit number one on the UK Albums chart and number 23 on the Billboard 200 chart here in the States.

“It all felt quite normal,” Jones said of the band’s return. “I guess it’s we’re like a sort of dysfunctional family, and this is like a family reunion. The amazing thing was, within an hour or so, we were recording, and it was blatantly obvious that the chemistry was intact right from the offing. It was amazing. We got so much material. The things we did the first week are on the record.”

Before The Verve entered the studio, none of the band members had prepared arrangements, written lyrics, or thought about what they did or did not want on the album. They started from scratch.

“We went in without any material, and I think the only sort of preconceived notion was to make a record like that, to go in and be free and to jam and to capture spontaneity and to capture the human element onto the record,” Jones said. “And to me, I think we achieved that. It’s the one Verve record that is the most true. It’s very self indulgent, but it’s got to be when you’re in that recording process. It’s got to be selfish, and you’ve got to be true to yourself and true to your own vibe. We’re not the sort of band that goes in and says, ‘Oh s***, we need a single. What are we going to do?’ It just reveals itself.”

What the band didn’t want was to come into the studio without the entire crew on board. Jones, McCabe, Salisbury, and Ashcroft all had to fully commit for it to work, Jones said. Everyone put the past behind them, starting fresh, including McCabe. McCabe left the band twice – the first on his own after having creative differences with Ashcroft, and then for the second time when the entire band split over power struggles and quite simply, exhaustion.

“When Nick left the first time, we brought Simon Tong in, and he’s this cool friend of ours who helped us with the recording of Urban Hymns, and then Nick came back, and he sort of stayed in the band,” Jones said. “When we put the band back together this time, it was a conscious thing to get back together to the original four members because we have the chemistry. There’s no point in doing it without the original members, I don’t think. It’s not the Real McCoy, you know.”

The past is the past, Jones said. The nights of playing shows hopped up on ecstasy, as well as the drug-fueled studio sessions, stayed in the 90s and didn’t tag along for this ride.

“We’re lucky that we’re all intact and there are no casualties, and the fact that I still feel young,” Jones said. “I started when I was 17, and I’m only 35 now. There are bands just making it at my age. I’m just glad that we’ve not decided to do this when we’re 60, and we look a disgrace. We’re not all fat and aging and balding. We’re a totally relevant band, as far as I’m concerned.”

Jones said he feels privileged to record with The Verve for a second go-round, particularly seeing the band started fresh and how every member put their entire heart and soul into making what Jones said is a classic album.

“It was a gift to feel you can make the greatest record of your career,” Jones said. “To have that opportunity because of a 10-year gap is a quite unique thing really. What an amazing experience to go back and make that record you always felt you wanted to make. It is the most definitive Verve record. To me it captures the essence of the band – where we came from, how we started, how we learned to play together as a band.”

The Verve plan to tour in support of Forth. Nothing is set in stone yet. The band played a number of festivals over the summer and should hit the road either by the end of the year or early 2009.

“I can’t wait to tour it and play these new songs in a live environment,” Jones said. “It’s still amazing to play those songs to people – the new generation of fans and all the people who had been with us until the split. It’s a really humbling experience, to be honest. It’s just unbelievable that 10 years on, you’re playing Germany and there are people singing along in a German accent and know every word to every song.”

Ten years of silence from The Verve has ended, and Jones couldn’t be happier.

“If we’d have done this a year later or a year earlier or a month later or even two weeks later, it would’ve been a different record. It would’ve sounded completely different because we go in without too much preparation, and that’s how our band works,” Jones said. “We didn’t compromise ourselves for the sake of commercialism. It was about making the record we wanted to make. This is happiness. This is what it’s all about.”

Source: Ryan Wood, Wicked Local Rochester

Rolling Stones' manager derides The Verve

Andrew Loog Oldham has derided The Verve over their use of a Rolling Stones sample in their 1997 classic "Bitter Sweet Symphony."

The former manager of The Rolling Stones joked to Uncut that he has bought "a pretty presentable watch strap" with the royalties that he has earned from the song.

"They [Mick Jagger and Keith Richards] have the watch and I have a pretty presentable watch strap. That's my little piece," he told Uncut.

'Bitter Sweet Symphony' uses an Andrew Oldham Orchestra recording (a small piece that is looped in the background continuously, not the iconic string riff the article suggests) of "The Last Time" for its orchestral hook, and was the subject of a legal challenge by The Rolling Stones shortly after its release.

Loog Oldham, Mick Jagger, and Keith Richards have since received all of the royalty payments from the song, after it was successfully argued that although The Verve had negotiated to use a sample, they had used "too much."

"As for Richard Ashcroft, well, I don't know how an artist can be severely damaged by that experience. Songwriters have learned to call songs their children, and he thinks he wrote something. He didn't. I hope he's got over it. It takes a while," Loog Oldham added.

• Source: New Musical Express
• For a video explanation of the used sample, follow this link
• For a detailed article on the controversy, follow this link

The Verve to release 'Rather Be' single

The Verve have named the second single from their Number 1 selling album 'Forth'. After the success of 'Love Is Noise' in August, the reformed band will pick 'Rather Be' as the LP's next single - due for release in record shops on November 10th.

Work on the video is being wrapped-up and should be available online in the coming weeks. In addition, The Verve have denied they are splitting up, after rumors suggested the group were arguing.

* "Blue Pacific Ocean" will be at least one of the b-sides

EMI Japan Advertisement

Review: A Storm in Heaven

Date: 1993
Release: Virgin #87950

Unless you spent the entire summer of 1997 in a coma, you’ve heard the song “Bittersweet Symphony.” Found everywhere from the top of the charts to Nike ads, under the leadership of Richard Ashcroft, The Verve crafted an album’s worth of beautiful ballads--Urban Hymns--that featured intelligent lyrics, soulful singing and exquisitely crafted pop melodies. Alas, The Verve broke up after the album, and we’ll have to hope that Richard Ashcroft‘s solo career provides us with more of those type of songs.

A listener unfamiliar with The Verve might wonder why they broke up then--at the height of their fame and fortune. As is so often the case, Ashcroft--the band’s singer--didn’t get along too well with Nick McCabe, The Verve‘s psychedelic-genius guitarist. If Urban Hymns was Ashcroft’s album, giving voice to his increasing desire for ballads and other traditional song structures, then A Storm in Heaven is McCabe’s album, a masterwork of psychedelic guitar virtuosity. In the space of five minutes, he erects and dismantles shimmering walls of sound, his tools a six string, delays, effect pedals, and a stack of amps. On almost every song, Ashcroft’s vocals are buried deeper in the mix, haltingly articulating the emotions called forth by McCabe.

Opening with the track “Star Sail,” The Verve issues a challenge to the listener at the juxtaposition of thick, somewhat discordant chords, and the almost lilting melody that emerges from it. How can such starkly opposed sounds open a song? Slowly but surely, McCabe builds up an impressive edifice: a twin melody emerges--McCabe’s playing and the heavily delayed echo--before thickly distorted guitar picks up, bending the song in new directions, at each and every turn building over Ashcroft’s haunting vocals. The entire album works much the same way--suggestive, but vague, lyrics; ever-climbing squalls of guitar noise; repeated crescendos rising and falling like the tide. Other highlights include “The Sun, The Sea,” which definitely puts the ‘rock’ back into psychedelic rock and “Butterfly,” which builds off a blues riff into a majestic, ascendant crescendo.

It’s most certainly not ‘poor’ lyrics by Ashcroft that make this McCabe’s album; they are as witty, wry and evocative as on any Verve album. The guitar work is simply that magnificent. More melodic than My Bloody Valentine; bluesier than the Stone Roses; The Verve are as a unit, rather than as Ashcroft’s backups--are at the top of their form on their debut album.

Players:

•     Simon Jones – Bass, Vocals
•     Richard Ashcroft – Bass, Guitar, Percussion, Vocals
•     Simon Clarke – Flute, Horn Arrangements
•     Kick Horns – Horn
•     Yvette Lacey – Flute
•     Roddy Lorimer – Horn Arrangements
•     Nick McCabe – Guitar, Piano, Accordion, Keyboards
•     Peter Salisbury – Percussion, Drums

Tracks:

1.     Star Sail
2.     Slide Away
3.     Already There
4.     Beautiful Mind
5.     Sun, the Sea
6.     Virtual World
7.     Make It Till Monday
8.     Blue
9.     Butterfly
10.     See You in the Next One (Have a Good Time)

• Source: Must Hear, Tim Rollins

The truth behind the Stowe performance

I hadn't reported this previously and I do so now because I remember there being a great deal of confusion surrounding Richard Ashcroft's performance as a "solo" artist at this event, the same month Verve's fourth album Forth was released.

On August 20, 2008, The Last Days of Summer event organizer Paul Reaney confirmed: “We can finally reveal that Richard Ashcroft is the secret addition to The Last Days of Summer line-up. At this time, we would also like to confirm that this in no way affects Richard’s relationship with The Verve. The fact that Richard is performing a solo gig on the same day that The Verve release their new album is completely co-incidental, Richard agreed to play The Last Days of Summer toward the end of 2007. He will be allowed to perform some of The Verve’s songs with his band, but this is very much a solo gig”

On his solo plans, Ashcroft recently noted: “I will continue my solo stuff. But it seemed a shame to leave this (The Verve) thing dormant when there is so much talent there."