26 November 2021
12 November 2021
Exclusive - Acoustic Hymns, Vol. 1 review
Ever since The Verve’s breakup after the multiplatinum Urban Hymns in the late ’90s, frontman Richard Ashcroft’s career has been strewn with puzzling decisions. Even as one of the finest singer-songwriters of his generation, without the band he’s struggled with production and arrangement, squandering many potentially great songs.
The area where Ashcroft has most consistently excelled is live solo acoustic performance, eschewing hired hands to highlight his craft in purest form. So the announcement of an acoustic collection promised a major addition to his catalog—revisiting tracks that hadn’t been fully realized while revitalizing familiar classics.
Instead, the new Acoustic Hymns, Vol. 1 is a strangely extraneous rehash of mostly Urban Hymns-era material closely approximating the originals. It isn’t bad—lavishly produced with Ashcroft singing at his usual high standard—so much as a redundant missed opportunity.
Plenty of artists have revisited their hits for artistic or contractual reasons, uncovering new shadings or taking the songs in different directions, but with few exceptions this set faithfully imitates the originals to lesser effect. And while these recordings may utilize acoustic instruments, the production is as mannered, overdubbed and string-laden as on any of Ashcroft’s previous albums.
Take “Sonnet” and “Lucky Man,” for instance, singles from Urban Hymns. They’re beautiful songs, and Ashcroft sings these new versions beautifully. But they’re so close to the originals that they emphasize the absence of The Verve without developing their own groove. In live solo performance they can take on a shamanic quality at least as compelling as on the iconic recordings, but little of that comes through here. If playing in the background, few would notice that these are even different versions, if less viscerally satisfying.
Some of the tracks are more obviously different, and not for the better. “Bitter Sweet Symphony” abandons the big drums and infamous sample, losing much of its momentum. “A Song for the Lovers” adds a somewhat intriguing 30 seconds of romantic atmosphere before settling into a less captivating recreation of the original, while “Break The Night With Colour” lurches to a noisy conclusion.
On a few songs it works: “Weeping Willow” is successfully recontextualized among Ashcroft’s array of late-night confessionals, and “One Day” unassumingly comes from an older and wiser perspective. “Velvet Morning” gains a striking new outro. But almost everyone will still prefer the originals.
What’s frustrating is that Ashcroft is often at his best performing acoustic, dating back to early Verve radio sessions, routinely putting his studio recordings to shame. Simply turning on a microphone would have yielded far better results, but we’re left with a decent enough pseudo-greatest hits missing several key songs, even as his neglected back catalog deserves much more attention.
If there is to be a Vol. 2, it deserves a more adventuresome approach, with deeper cuts more thoroughly reimagined. How ironic that an album of so many of Ashcroft’s greatest songs could turn out easily the weakest of his career.
Grade: C
Bitter Sweet Symphony – A solid retread of Ashcroft’s biggest hit, but just a touch too slow. There’s some nice vocal multitracking and percussion throughout.
A Song For The Lovers – Slightly too on-the-nose Mediterranean intrigue introduces a performance exceedingly close to the original, but a little less lush.
Sonnet – A good performance of an Urban Hymns-era classic too close to the original to benefit from the comparison. Ashcroft sounds great, even better than in 1997, but the song doesn’t quite soar without The Verve’s contributions.
C’mon People (We’re Making It Now) – A major missed opportunity given how much better solo performances have been compared to the middling single, as this new take sticks closely with the old arrangement. Having Liam Gallagher guest star is an interesting novelty, but he and Ashcroft lack much in the way of chemistry or interplay.
Weeping Willow – One of the few tracks on the record distinctly different from the original, replacing Nick McCabe’s churning guitars with moody strings. A definite highlight, and a damn shame more of the album didn’t take this approach.
Lucky Man – Another solid performance so similar to the original so as to magnify the missing Verve magic. Richard Ashcroft can make stadiums of grown men cry by playing this alone on an acoustic, and yet opted for a lesser soundalike.
This Thing Called Life – The most surprising inclusion, an obscure entry off the United Nations of Sound LP from years after anything else on the collection. It’s a strange selection, a dynamite chorus stapled to somewhat awkward verses and overly similar to the original, but the album’s one reboot that betters its predecessor.
Space & Time – Another missed opportunity that too closely approximates the original, except for some oddly out of place horns. The song builds to a slightly country-flavored new outro that would make more sense live than in the studio.
Velvet Morning – To its credit, one of the few songs much different than twenty-some years ago, building to a lovely new outro. The band does a good job conjuring a countryish atmosphere and Ashcroft delivers a tremendous vocal performance not through a megaphone as in the original. The problem is that the megaphone distortion and Verve guitars were key to the song’s defining wooziness. Still, easily an album highlight.
Break The Night With Colour – Another somewhat surprising inclusion, one of only two songs on the album not dating from the Urban Hymns era, and also way too similar to the original—at least until it shifts to the noisy outro that Ashcroft typically performs in concert, far less elegant than the original fade-out.
One Day – Now this is more like it! Genuinely stripped down, distinctly different from the original, and sung with the wisdom of years. The entire album should have been along these lines.
The Drugs Don’t Work – Not an improvement on the original but a rawer take perhaps more attuned to 21st century sensibilities (and media placements). More interesting than most of the record and a decent conclusion to a disappointing LP.
Frankly, the impetus for Vol. 1 was likely more economic than artistic: streaming royalties. The bulk of Ashcroft’s come from four singles on Urban Hymns that he largely wrote but must share with estranged bandmates, plus the Stones until recently, and then to a lesser extent other Verve-performed tracks. To the extent that digital and physical sales still matter, the only package previously offering his biggest songs (besides Urban Hymns itself) was The Verve’s This Is Music singles compilation, which emphasizes Ashcroft but lacks any solo material.
So glossy studio versions of his big tracks with The Verve, but now officially by Richard Ashcroft, are presumably a lucrative prospect, and probably explain the strange soundalike redundancy of many of the rerecorded songs from Urban Hymns. Perhaps they will become the standards offered by algorithms, even if less compelling than the originals. If Ashcroft does record another acoustic collection, it will be more for pride than revenue.
Here are 22 songs for a prospective Vol. 2, several of which really should have made Vol. 1, that could readily make up a new classic:
See You In The Next One (Have A Good Time) – The composition that more or less marked Ashcroft’s initial emergence as a singer-songwriter back in 1993, it received a number of solid solo acoustic performances during the ’98 tour.
On Your Own – Anticipating Urban Hymns, but with more angst, the A Northern Soul single that heralded Ashcroft the troubadour replacing Mad Richard the psychedelic frontman. A piano-driven acoustic version was released by The Verve as a b-side.
History – The Verve’s final single and biggest hit at the time of their first breakup, a searing lament Ashcroft has routinely nailed over the years.
Misty Morning June – A lovely unreleased gem from the early Urban Hymns sessions, would fit perfectly with Ashcroft’s more pastoral solo material.
Never Wanna See You Cry – A promising but underrealized Urban Hymns b-side that could benefit from Ashcroft’s deeper, craggier vocals a quarter-century later.
You On My Mind In My Sleep – One of the highlights from Ashcroft’s solo debut, but at least as overproduced as the rest of the album. An acoustic radio version released on a promo points the way to a new arrangement combining the best of both.
Money To Burn – A fun Vegas-era Elvis pastiche that got inflated into a dubious imitation of Spiritualized, resulting in a mediocre single, but ripe for rawer reinterpretation.
Check The Meaning – One of Ashcroft’s all-time greats, but a poor choice for his solo magnum opus Human Conditions’ lead single. Always a highlight of his acoustic sets and a song that deserves more recognition.
Buy It in Bottles – An almost-great single from the underrated Human Conditions that would be child’s play to upgrade, one of Ashcroft’s near-classics that most demands revision.
Science of Silence – Arguably Ashcroft’s greatest solo composition, another almost-classic single suffering from bloodless production. It should have been a massive hit, regardless, and warrants more exposure.
Nature Is The Law – A profound spiritual meditation that concluded Ashcroft’s second—and best—solo album, but that suffered from cloying overdubs courtesy of Brian Wilson. An ideal choice to revive.
Music Is Power – One of Ashcroft’s better-known anthems, originally built off a Curtis Mayfield sample, and consistently a highlight of his acoustic sets.
Words Just Get In The Way – An underrated single from Ashcroft’s third solo album, Keys To The World, that would benefit from grittier, more countrified production.
Keys To The World – The title track of Ashcroft’s third solo LP suffered from an instantly-dated electronica arrangement that ruined an otherwise excellent song. Rare acoustic performances were almost shockingly better.
Rather Be – Perhaps the best of the Ashcroft-centric songs on The Verve’s reunion album Forth, and its second single. One of Ashcroft’s stronger compositions, but one he’s never performed solo.
Mona Lisa – At one point a contender for Forth, the band just couldn’t quite make it work, at least on the bootleg recording in circulation. But the bones of a better song are there.
Are You Ready? – The lead single from the United Nations of Sound project, the original was a somewhat generic Britpop jock jam, but occasional acoustic performances revealed a more compelling composition.
She Brings Me The Music – A promising but seemingly unfinished devotional from the frustrating United Nations of Sound album that was undermined by an incongruous outro and Ashcroft’s pneumonia during recording.
Glory – An underrated tune from United Nations of Sound that suffered severely from inexplicable overdubs, and wouldn’t take much to vastly improve.
They Don’t Own Me – One of the highlights of Ashcroft’s excellent comeback album These People that’s become more and more relevant in ensuing years. The song is too subtle to work in live performance, but ideal to revisit in a studio setting.
Hold On – The electronic arrangement of These People’s second single arguably overshadowed one of the best anthems Ashcroft had written in years, which could easily fit other sonic contexts.
Surprised By The Joy – One of Ashcroft’s finest singles, and the highlight of his last album Natural Rebel, that held up well in acoustic performance.
04 November 2021
Those of us who had IT originally have still got it, says singer-songwriter Richard Ashcroft
It’s two days after Richard Ashcroft headlined London’s Royal Albert Hall and the former Verve frontman is still celebrating one of his most incredible solo shows.
It had been a momentous night for fans and the singer.
“It was just such a release of emotion that the next morning I woke up with a headache, but I didn’t mind,” he says as we chat from his Herefordshire home.
“It was a really special one and worth the headache. After what people have been through over the past 18 months, it was such a release, and I was happy to be a conduit for that.
“My own gigs were my first gigs back, too — it had been a long time since I’d been to a gig.”
And if Monday’s roof-raising salute to the Wigan songwriter’s music wasn’t enough, his album Acoustic Hymns Vol 1 is at No2 in the midweeks behind Ed Sheeran.
“I don’t think my label expected the record to be where it is right now in the charts, so I think you might see a few adverts for it in the next few weeks,” he says, with a laugh, down the phone.
“I wanted the album and gigs to be an escape from the pandemic. I know it’s the worst time ever to put an album out. And I don’t think my record company have even been in the office for 18 months, but I think it’s great that these tunes are back in the frame right now.
“It means we are cracking on. It’s been a crazy year. It’s been a mad one but getting music back helps each other. Music has power and people feel very vulnerable right now.”
Ashcroft, who is married to former Spiritualized keyboard player Kate Radley and father to sons Sonny, 20, and Cassius, 17, says making the album has allowed him to reconnect with his fans.
He says: “I’ve got the ability to close my garden gate and go, ‘Right, see you world’. But I didn’t want to do that.
“Music connects family and fans and realising that has fired me up. Having Sonny play guitar on Bitter Sweet Symphony at the Albert Hall made me proud. I want to keep going.”
The songwriter adds: “I needed to play music again after this crazy time and that’s why I put out the John Lennon song — a cover of Lennon’s 1973 protest song Bring On The Lucie (Freda Peeple) — in February.”
Ashcroft says he came up with the idea to re-record some of his classic songs about five years ago.
These included The Drugs Don’t Work, Lucky Man, Weeping Willow and Sonnet from The Verve’s masterpiece third album Urban Hymns, plus brilliant solo hits like A Song For The Lovers and Break The Night With Colour.
He tells me: “The concept was to re-record these songs with (string arranger) Wil Malone.
Then he and a band would take Acoustic Hymns to cities like Milan and New York and venues like the Sydney Opera House.
“But then I put out (2018 studio album) Natural Rebel before it.
Then a conversation started with the Rolling Stones about recording Bitter Sweet Symphony acoustically with no sample in it and could we start renegotiating that song?”
The 1997 Verve anthem originally featured a sample from the Andrew Loog Oldham orchestral cover of the Rolling Stones’ The Last Time.
Stones manager Allen Klein argued The Verve had used a larger sample than was agreed. A lawsuit then followed and Ashcroft was forced to give up the song’s royalties.
But in 2019 Mick Jagger and Keith Richards gave up their rights to the song.
That May, a delighted Ashcroft revealed the news when he won an Ivor Novello for Outstanding Contribution to British Music.
“Mick and Keith signed over all of their part,” recalls Ashcroft. “And the dominoes fell my way. I wasn’t expecting that, especially before I’d even recorded this new version.
“But when I won the Ivor Novello I announced the news that Bitter Sweet Symphony was coming home.”
The song, which reached No2 and remained in the charts for three months, closes Ashcroft’s live set
He says: “It was a shame that all happened as the song is enormous. It’s a monster. I’ve played it around the world and seen its effect on people.
“I once got lost in Mexico on my way to a festival. The driver took us down a side street and there was a huge Bitter Sweet Symphony mural. If he hadn’t taken the wrong turning, we never would have seen it.”
Acoustic Hymns includes a new version of C’mon People (We’re Making It Now) which Ashcroft recorded with his good friend Liam Gallagher. And the former Oasis singer’s comeback is something Ashcroft is proud of.
“It’s great that Liam is selling out Knebworth. The ones who had IT originally have still got it, you know what I mean?” he says.
“When I played Finsbury Park with him (in 2018) I was like, ‘Liam, we are BACK!’ It was amazing.
"Kids were coming up to us saying it was the first time they’d seen us live. Yet critics will say, ‘A 21-year-old has no interest in a gig by a 50-year-old guy in his crazy Swarovski crystal jacket’.
“This idea that once you’re over 30 you lose your relevancy and won’t be played on the radio is absurd — that includes some of the best musicians and songwriters out there. We might be reaching our peak, for all they know.
“Kids are obsessed with music and are open-minded. I’ve seen that the audience was changing at my gigs.
“Me and Liam have got a second wind –– the sails are full and the ship is flying and I’m fired up to play more shows and keep this sailing.
“The problem is that we don’t celebrate when people are doing well in music.
Look at Ed Sheeran, I’m buzzing at how huge he is here and in America. We can be too cynical about people who are doing all right. Let’s stop knocking him. He’s British and I know how hard it is to be huge in America.”
Ashcroft is a firm believer that technology has taken over music and takes away the real sound of a singer.
“The problem with singers today is autotune,” he says. “We don’t hear real voices any more, especially in American music.
“There’s hardly any song released with someone physically singing down the microphone without a load of stuff added on it.
“No one knows what you actually sound like if you don’t establish your authentic voice from the start.”
Ashcroft says he has always had to deal with critics and haters — and despite success, he will always feel an outsider.
“Over the years I’ve always felt a resistance,” he tells me.
“People didn’t want to acknowledge me. I was the guy who had his cake and ate it. I’d been in a big band and then success as a solo artist so they’d stick the knife into me.
“But I was playing in Tokyo and Argentina where crowds were bouncing at every show. It’s time to be celebrated. I can sing live, I’m a good performer — look at the Royal Albert Hall. But I’ve dealt with it before.
“They used to call me ‘Mad Richard’. They’d take the p**s out of my accent and make my words colloquial. But I’m used to it.
“One time I was looking into the window of a sunglasses shop and Kate was in a charity shop next door. This woman ran in and said to lock the doors because of the man. Kate realised they were talking about me!
“I’ve had it in New York too. I was stopped by a hotel bouncer, yet they’d let the people I was with in. I was being stopped even though I was paying the bill.
“I’m the skinny kid from Wigan. Maybe it’s the Northern accent but I’ve had to prove myself all the time.”
Ashcroft has been open in the past about suffering from depression. Today he acknowledges that many people have suffered with their mental health in lockdown and we need to talk about having a coping strategy.
“We are living in this new reality and we need to be able to deal with it,” he says.
“Years ago, Liam said, ‘If you’re not mad in this world, then you are not living’. And I get that.
“We’ve just got to be careful that real-life feelings and emotions that are very painful don’t get confused with illness. People will hurt your heart and that’s life.
“I look at Tyson Fury and what he’s been through and how he came back with a focus. Now he’s on top of the world from the bottom of the pit. He didn’t just tell the world about how low he’s got, he showed there’s hope too. That’s inspiring.”
The video for This Thing Called Life includes a stream of personal family photos.
Ashcroft refers to the promo as “my story” and adds: “A lot of this is like a mental struggle, connected to our physical health. It’s been a crazy year but as individuals we can help each other. I have my wife Kate and my two sons. I’m lucky.”
Ashcroft turned 50 in September and says his milestone birthday made him reflect. He says: “You know how much potential you’ve got ahead, what you want to do, who you want to be around and who don’t you want to be around.”
He adds: “I’ve been inspired by music and what I want to do next. I started this other project which was more sample-based — the complete opposite to what I’ve done before.
"But having made this album and felt the vibe at my recent gigs, it’s pushed me to want to go into a room and write ten absolute monster tunes.
“The gigs have sent me off the edge. They’ve made me think, ‘Rich, you do this really, really well. Why don’t you try and do what you do but even better?’
“I also want to stretch out of genres. I don’t like being put in a genre.
“I don’t want to be just known as somebody creating acoustic music, as I like electronic things too. Hopefully whatever I do next will be eclectic but still me.
“All I know is that playing these shows has meant taking this massive deep breath because each show means going on this huge emotional rollercoaster with everyone in the room. Each song has its own universe.
“And I’ve missed that.”
- Source: The Sun, Jacqui Swift