Richard Ashcroft discography

An updated list of Richard Ashcroft's discography is maintained on Wikipedia. 

Single Release
03-Apr-2000 - A Song For The Lovers uk

Single: Label: HUT RECORDINGS. UK Chart #: 3. Formats: UK Cat #: HUTT128 : 12 " Single Released 03/04/00, UK Cat #: HUTCD128 : CD Single Released 03/04/00, UK Cat #: HUTC128 : Single Play Cassette Released 03/04/00 (more info)

As one of the most overpraised and self-important Britrock icons of the last decade, Dickie's solo debut should have been a steaming turd on a silver platter, at which point hate-choked cynics like me would have thrown up our arms in told-you-so triumph. But this is actually, pretty good, the sneaky bastard. Damn. An orchestral flourish, a fiery flamenco strum, and suddenly Rich is howling sangria-fuelled sweet nothings at the starry Spanish sky. Imagine Bernard Butler joining the Gipsy Kings, but slightly drunker.

On '(Could Be) A Country Thing, City Thing, Blues Thing' Ashcroft's voice is rich and full of wonder as slide guitars melt around him, though admittedly the disjointed cosmic warble of 'Precious Stone' is generic pre-fame Verve at their most blurred and blustery. Still, the lad's back to reclaim his throne as passion-fired campfire minstrel of the year. Can you hear the drums, Fernando? - NME (Stephen Dalton, 01-Apr-00)
  1. A Song For The Lovers (Album Version)
  2. (Could Be) A Country Thing, City Thing, Blues Thing
  3. Precious Stone 

Single Release
12-Jun-2000 - Money To Burn uk

 Single: Label: HUT RECORDINGS. UK Chart #: 17. Formats: UK Cat #: HUTT136 : 12 " Single Released 12/06/00, UK Cat #: HUTCD136 : CD Single Released 03/04/00, UK Cat #: HUTC136 : Single Play Cassette Released 03/04/00 (more info)

Part two of 2000's most anticipated solo career, from which we can deduce that: a) Ashcroft still thinks his wife's absolutely brilliant; and b) he continues to believe - as at The Verve's death - that BJ Cole on pedal steel is absolutely brilliant, too. 'Money To Burn' is a curious single, self-conscious where 'A Song For The Lovers' was euphoric, as he affects an Elvis yodel and his glamorous array of session musicians hesitantly try to recreate one of Spiritualized's space Gospel knees-ups. With loads of pedal steel, obviously.

The result is a mess of good ideas that never quite gel, a big celebration of love that feels oddly clinical and unmoving where it should be unhinged and ecstatic. Safer ground is found on track two, 'Leave Me High', where - surfeit of bloody pedal steel notwithstanding - he goes off on one of his higher-than-high tangents (think 'Life's An Ocean' or 'Catching The Butterfly') and the musicians seem to be guided by spirit rather than score. The mountains and rivers of the lyrics are places he's visited many times before, but Ashcroft still does the questing visionary at one with the wilderness routine far better than most, even now. B-side of the week, quaintly enough. - NME (John Mulvey, 08/04/00)
  1.  Money To Burn (Album Version)
  2. Leave Me High
  3. XXYY

Album Release
26-Jun-2000 - Alone With Everybody uk

Album: Label: HUT RECORDINGS. UK Chart: 1. Formats: UK Cat#: HUTDLP63 : 12" LP Released 26/06/00 UK Cat#: HUTMCX63 : Single Play Cassette Released 26/06/00 UK Cat#: MDHUT63 : MiniDisc Released 26/06/00 UK Cat#: CDHUTX63: CD Album Released 26-Jun-2000 (more info)

"...A quality set of long, slow ballads, heavy on the strings....Ashcroft has superhuman levels of sullen charisma..." - ROLLING STONE (7/20/00, p.142) - 3 stars out of 5

"...An album of sweet symphonies....Piled high with strings and choirs...[the album] has flashes of sublime beauty....A promising...second wind." - ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY (7/7/00, p.130) - Rating: B+

"...Elaborates on the same elegance he initially allowed to die with the Verve's disbanding....extracting life, hope and soul from its aura..."- MAGNET (8-9/00, p.67)

"...A classic songwriter who voyages deep into his heart....[He] has successfully made the transition from band member to solo act..." - CMJ (6/26/00, p.3)

"...As wired and edgy as you'd expect....veering between classic singer-songwriter fare and dark, cut'n'paste groove-rock...coming across as a more ambitious, more personal retort to URBAN HYMNS..." - MOJO (Publisher) (7/00, p.101)

"...His unswerving belief in music's potency has enabled him to produce songs that have perfectly communicated his ongoing voyage of personal discovery....it's a gift that hasn't deserted him here..." - NME (Magazine) (6/24/00, p.41) - 8 out of 10

Ranked #20 in NME's "Top 50 Albums Of The Year" - NME (Magazine) (12/30/00, p.78)
  1. A Song For The Lovers
  2. I Get My Beat
  3. Brave New World
  4. New York
  5. You On My Mind In My Sleep
  6. Crazy World
  7. On A Beach
  8. Money To Burn
  9. Slow Was My Heart
  10. C'mon People (We're Making It Now)
  11. Everybody

Single Release
11-09-2000 - C'mon People (We're Making It Now) uk

Single: Label: HUT RECORDINGS. UK Chart : 21. Formats: UK Cat #: HUTT138 : 12 " Single Released 12/06/00, UK Cat #: HUTCD138 : CD Single Released 03/04/00, UK Cat #: HUTC138 : Single Play Cassette Released 03/04/00 (more info)

Whoa, man, it's hard being a part-time messiah. Just ask Richard Ashcroft. Since Ashie's made an honest woman out of Kate Radley, even the most casual observer must harbour suspicions that domestic bliss is hardly a fount of boundless inspiration. So yeah, whoa yeah, 'C'mon People (We're Making It Now)' - what's all that about then?

A touching ditty penned to commemorate the building of a Wendy house? A jaunty tune to whistle to Kate while she's mashing up banana for lil' Sonny's din-dins? Something for Chris Moyles to segue into The Corrs come drivetime? God, it feels shameful to diss Ashcroft - he's undoubtedly got that precious, unquantifiable something that elevates him above the dismal singer-songwriter crop. But right now, his is a hollow gospel, the sound of sporadic genius prolapsed senselessly into bland FM-rock sludge. Yeah yeah. Whoa yeah. Ho hum. - NME (Louis Pattison, 26/09/00)
  1. C'mon People (We're Making It Now) - Album Version
  2. Make A Wish
  3. For The Lovers

Single Release
07-Oct-2002 - Check The Meaning uk

 Single: Label: HUT RECORDINGS. UK Chart : 11. Formats: UK Cat #: HUT161 : 7" Single Released 07/10/02, UK Cat #: HUTCD161 : CD Single Released 07/10/02, UK Cat#: HUTDVD161 : DVD Single Released 07/10/02 (more info)

"Dick, John Squire, Ian Brown, Morrissey. Hey, there's enough past-their-sell-by-date Mancs out there to start a football team. A team composed entirely of arrogant, over-rated and burnt out has-beens, desperately chasing former glories. Bit like Man Utd. Only prettier. No, seriously, why do we put up with these dead horse flogging piss-takers? We rightly mock those mugs conned by the mock-pop schlock-flogging likes of Atomic Kitten. And yet we give these former "indie" heroes chance after chance after chance. And they just get shitter and shitter. And (+i)still(-i) we won't let go. We must be mad. This is bog-standard post-Verve Ashcroft. Arrogant, sneering, pseudo-profound "cosmic" lyrics set to soporific muzak. Unbelievably bad." - NME (Steven Wells, 11/10/02)

7" HUT161

1. "Check the Meaning" (edit) - 4:32
2. "The Miracle" - 3:50

CD HUTCD161

1. "Check the Meaning" (edit) - 4:32
2. "The Miracle" - 3:50
3. "Check the Meaning" (Chris Potter remix) - 5:10
4. "Check the Meaning" (alternative video)

DVD HUTDVD161

1. "Check the Meaning" (album version) - 8:04
2. "Check the Meaning" (video)
3. "You On My Mind In My Sleep" (4Scott Live Performance)


Single Release
06-Jan-2003 - Science of Silence uk

Single: Label: HUT RECORDINGS. UK Chart : 14. Formats: UK Cat #: HUT163 : 7" Single Released 06/01/03, UK Cat #: HUTCD163 : CD Single Released 06/01/03, UK Cat#: HUTDVD163 : DVD Single Released 06/01/03 (more info)

"Although the new messiah probably won't come from the home of Rugby League, of late Ashcroft's been setting himself up as a sort of shamen and, to assert his position as the people's philosopher, 'Science Of Silence' is soaked in the kind of weighty orchestration that is shorthand for Serious Artistry. It's great, in a Radio 2-friendly Jimmy Webb/Neil Diamond way. The whole affair's hamstrung by the lyrics, though: "We are on a rock/Spinning in infinity" is hardly going to make us renounce all worldy goods and move to a mountain outside Wigan." - NME (Pat Long, 19/12/02)

7" HUT163

1. "Science of Silence" (edit) - 3:53
2. "Get Up Now" - 4:17

CD HUTCD163

1. "Science of Silence" (edit) - 3:53
2. "Get Up Now" - 4:17
3. "Check the Meaning" (The Freelance Hellraiser Remix) - 4:06
4. "Science of Silence (video)

DVD HUTDVD163

1. "Science of Silence" (album version)
2. "Science of Silence (video/live performance)
3. "Bright Lights" (film footage)


 Album Release
21-Oct-2002 - Human Conditions uk

Album: Label: HUT RECORDINGS. UK Chart: 3. Formats: UK Cat#: HUTDLP77 : 12" LP Released 21/10/02, UK Cat#: CDHUT77: CD Album Released 26-Jun-2000 (more info)

"...Ashcroft's mastery of balladry makes 'Buy It in Bottles' his best since the Verve's 'Lucky Man'..." - ROLLING STONE (3/6/03, p.68) - 3 stars out of 5

"...Stunning pop for pale after-party people..." - SPIN (3/03, p.118) - 8 out of 10

"...Though elaborately orchestrated, the songs retain their intimacy, communicated in Ashcroft's vocals, which, over the years, keep getting warmer..." - ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY, Rating: A, (3/7/03, p.73)

"...The orchestration is fantastic...there is nobody in British pop who does those string-laden crescendos more convincingly than Ashcroft and his arranger Will Malone..." - UNCUT (11/02, p.114) - 3 stars out of 5

"...Ashcroft has gradually made the shift from staring inward to looking outward, as his songs have taken on an increasingly cosmic scope..." - CMJ (12/02/02, p.7)

"...Charms with its hungry troubadour's idealism."- MOJO (Publisher) (11/02, p.102)

  1. Check the Meaning – 8:04
  2. Buy It in Bottles – 4:39
  3. Bright Lights – 5:15
  4. Paradise – 5:37
  5. God In the Numbers – 6:58
  6. Science of Silence – 4:15
  7. Man On A Mission – 5:29
  8. Running Away – 4:16
  9. Lord I've Been Trying – 5:23
  10. Nature Is the Law – 4:55

Single Release
07-Apr-2003 - Buy It In Bottles uk

Single: Label: HUT RECORDINGS. UK Chart : 26. Formats: UK Cat #: HUT167 : 7" Single Released 07/04/03, UK Cat #: HUTCD167 : CD Single Released 07/04/03, UK Cat #: HUTDVD167 : DVD Single Released 07/04/03 (more info)

"Commonly the rousing stadium-filler in both prowess and delivery, it's reassuring that following two conscious stabs at epic - the equally noteworthy 'Check The Meaning' and 'Science Of Silence' - that Dick is back with a work of the understated, and perhaps a not-so chart-savvy release.

'Buy It In Bottles' continues Ashcroft's life-long quest in putting the world to rights - outlooks shared on nature, the common good of man et al - and is lavishly coated in mesmeric strings and the sort of vocal-performance that proves the kid's still got soul, and the unique verve and fervour that we always warmed to all those years back. The moment the content becomes any less drippingly delightful than this, then we'll know we've lost a special thing." - ROCK FEEDBACK, 3 stars out of 5

7" HUT167
  1. "Buy It in Bottles" (single edit) - 3:51
  2. "Don't Take Me In" - 4:07 
CD HUTCD167
  1. "Buy It in Bottles" (single edit) - 3:51
  2. "Don't Take Me In" - 4:07
  3. "The Journey’s Just Begun" - 6:41
  4. "Buy It in Bottles" (video) 
DVD HUTDVD167
  1. "Buy It in Bottles" (album version) - 4:39
  2. "Buy It in Bottles" (alternate video)
  3. "Buy It in Bottles" (live performance footage)