- Audio CD (9 July 2002)
- Number of Discs: 1
- Format: Import
- Label: Japanese Import
- ASIN: B000066DXM
- Other Editions: Audio CD | Audio Cassette | Vinyl | Mini-Disc | MP3 Download
- Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (85 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 766,062 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Calling it a day in early 1999 was probably the best thing the Verve ever did, as it meant that they quit when they were at the pinnacle of their success, sparing their faithful followers an unsightly degeneration. Urban Hymns is a fitting final testament to Wigan's favourite sons, as Richard Ashcroft and Nick McCabe temporarily buried the hatchet and reformed one of Britain's greatest songwriting partnerships since Lennon and McCartney. From the unmistakable introductory chords of "Bittersweet Symphony" to the sheer pop perfection of "Lucky Man" via stoner rock-outs like "Weeping Willow" and the call to arms that is "Come On", every track justifies its presence by being part of a cohesive whole. Their previous album A Northern Soul was already marked down in the annals of rock history as a classic; Urban Hymns surpasses it and then some. --Helen Marquis
Review
Given the video parodies that followed, it’s easy to forget just how majestic Bittersweet Symphony looked and sounded in 1997 (video on YouTube). Or to see how an every-bloke – albeit an extraordinary looking one – like Richard Ashcroft could have made walking down the road appear quite so mesmerising. He wasn’t even the first to master the pavement-based, thousand-yard stare (Shara Nelson did it first, achingly beautifully, six years earlier - video on YouTube), but the sheer levels of swagger involved tell you all you need to know about Urban Hymns. Our Richard has a leather jacket on; he couldn’t give a smallest of monkeys. But wait – inside he’s all broken, and that heart of his is bleeding to an epic, orchestral soundtrack that doesn’t just recall The Stones’ The Last Time, it actually owes them a fistful of royalties. He’s not really tough, he’s sad! He’s just like you, man!
Of course, it rather cheapens things to class this as album for emotionally stunted British chaps. But if you had grown up – and out of – bellowing about cigarettes and booze with Oasis, and if you had spent the Saturdays of your youth enjoying four-to-the-floor bangers in warehouses, lyrics about drugs that don’t work may well have struck an almighty chord (even if Ashcroft was really writing about the death of his father, rather than faulty disco biscuits). So perhaps the huge number of fans who flocked to buy Urban Hymns (over eight million in the UK alone) were people with kids and problems and real-life worries. You know, grown-ups.
The thing is, Urban Hymns still sounds thrilling. Taking a rock blueprint many had failed at (The Stone Roses did their best, paying homage to their beloved Led Zeppelin with Second Coming – but it’s a far more emotionally oblique proposition), The Verve created an album that soars with autumnal melancholy. And they get away with it, largely because of the contrast. Grand daubs of baroque rock and massive, sweeping arrangements sit side by side with heartbreaking declarations of failure (“I just can’t make it alone” / “I’m on my knees” / “I ain’t got no lullaby”). And it’s such a strange mixture, both imposing and vulnerable. But it does know which buttons to push. Because those huge, eminently chantable choruses really are just the very thing – whether you’re staggering home after last orders, or just trying to stay toasty on the terraces. --Wendy Roby
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
30 of 30 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Urban Hymns - for me the greatest record of all time. If I can somehow convey at least a part of the reason why I believe this to be true, I'll have done well. Because it's hard to put into words how good this album really is. Both musically and lyrically, it is as close to perfection as I think any record will ever get.
There are four very famous songs on here, but they are just one dimension to Urban Hymns, there is so much more to this record than the first four singles. Even so, each is outstanding. Bitter Sweet Symphony is emphatic, euphoric and exhilarating. The strings begin, but once the beat kicks in it sends a chill down my spine. Sonnet is sweet, a beautiful acoustic song. The Drugs Don't Work was number one on the day of Princess Diana's death. It has another beautiful acoustic melody, but The Verve are so good at adding depth to their songs, this is them at their best. And Lucky Man, if I had to choose, this is my favourite song on the album. It has been such an inspiration to me at difficult times of my life, whenever I feel low I can play it and it reminds me of who I am.
Then there are the nine other songs here which really make the album into what it is - a masterpiece. That word is overused a lot in music but here it truly does apply. There are three songs I'd like to point out here, which show that The Verve are more than just a one man show, and that they know how to rock out as well. The Rolling People is a huge song, full of spark and craft, "here we are the Rolling People, can't stay for long, we gotta go." Weeping Willow is the hidden gem on this record, if you aren't paying attention it can pass you by, but stop and pause to listen to this because I assure you it will grab you and suck you in. This is one of the most intense songs I've ever heard. I'd been playing this album for seven years before I discovered how great Weeping Willow "the pills under my pillow" really was. Then there is the raging climax - Come On. It is completely different to all that went before because rather than encouraging you to reflect, it encourages you to stand up and shout, with a fist in the air, "**** you - Come On!" I cannot think of a better way to end an album like this, one that takes you on such a life affirming journey, than to finish with such a jubilant celebration.
And still, there so many more great songs on Urban Hymns... "I'm gonna keep Catching That Butterfly in that dream of mine... in a Neon Wilderness, he was restless... there ain't no Space And Time to keep our love alive... maybe One Day we will dance again... good times are hard to hold, This Time I'm gonna find... into the half light, another Velvet Morning".
Altogether, these thirteen songs make up seventy-six minutes of pure genius from start to finish. It represents a great year in modern history, 1997, a year of hope; expectation, celebration and tragedy; but in the end, this album is completely timeless. I love it.
There are four very famous songs on here, but they are just one dimension to Urban Hymns, there is so much more to this record than the first four singles. Even so, each is outstanding. Bitter Sweet Symphony is emphatic, euphoric and exhilarating. The strings begin, but once the beat kicks in it sends a chill down my spine. Sonnet is sweet, a beautiful acoustic song. The Drugs Don't Work was number one on the day of Princess Diana's death. It has another beautiful acoustic melody, but The Verve are so good at adding depth to their songs, this is them at their best. And Lucky Man, if I had to choose, this is my favourite song on the album. It has been such an inspiration to me at difficult times of my life, whenever I feel low I can play it and it reminds me of who I am.
Then there are the nine other songs here which really make the album into what it is - a masterpiece. That word is overused a lot in music but here it truly does apply. There are three songs I'd like to point out here, which show that The Verve are more than just a one man show, and that they know how to rock out as well. The Rolling People is a huge song, full of spark and craft, "here we are the Rolling People, can't stay for long, we gotta go." Weeping Willow is the hidden gem on this record, if you aren't paying attention it can pass you by, but stop and pause to listen to this because I assure you it will grab you and suck you in. This is one of the most intense songs I've ever heard. I'd been playing this album for seven years before I discovered how great Weeping Willow "the pills under my pillow" really was. Then there is the raging climax - Come On. It is completely different to all that went before because rather than encouraging you to reflect, it encourages you to stand up and shout, with a fist in the air, "**** you - Come On!" I cannot think of a better way to end an album like this, one that takes you on such a life affirming journey, than to finish with such a jubilant celebration.
And still, there so many more great songs on Urban Hymns... "I'm gonna keep Catching That Butterfly in that dream of mine... in a Neon Wilderness, he was restless... there ain't no Space And Time to keep our love alive... maybe One Day we will dance again... good times are hard to hold, This Time I'm gonna find... into the half light, another Velvet Morning".
Altogether, these thirteen songs make up seventy-six minutes of pure genius from start to finish. It represents a great year in modern history, 1997, a year of hope; expectation, celebration and tragedy; but in the end, this album is completely timeless. I love it.
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
the history of the verve (previously without 'the') is a quite extraordinary journey that produced two under rated albums ('storm in heaven' and 'northern soul'). The journey in the early 90s took its toll ...forcing verve to split after the fantastic single 'history' in 1995.
its unclear how they started up again two years later but my guess is cos the genieus that is richard ashcroft wrote songs such as 'bitter sweet symphony', 'sonnet', 'lucky man', 'drugs dont work', 'space and time' and decided it would probably be a good idea to record these songs. i reckon it was probably a wise decision as this is without doubt a classic that will still sound fantastic in years to come.
it seems after years of trying to make the big time the two year break was what ashcroft and the boys needed.anyone who has heard the fantastic b-side 'so sister' will realise how strong the album was for it not to be included.'catching the butterfly', 'weeping willow' and the amazing 'this time' will never tire from my cd player. not a bad track on the album at all and from the opening song 'bitter sweet' to the closing number 'come on' the verve finally achieved their place in history....and then split up again!
its unclear how they started up again two years later but my guess is cos the genieus that is richard ashcroft wrote songs such as 'bitter sweet symphony', 'sonnet', 'lucky man', 'drugs dont work', 'space and time' and decided it would probably be a good idea to record these songs. i reckon it was probably a wise decision as this is without doubt a classic that will still sound fantastic in years to come.
it seems after years of trying to make the big time the two year break was what ashcroft and the boys needed.anyone who has heard the fantastic b-side 'so sister' will realise how strong the album was for it not to be included.'catching the butterfly', 'weeping willow' and the amazing 'this time' will never tire from my cd player. not a bad track on the album at all and from the opening song 'bitter sweet' to the closing number 'come on' the verve finally achieved their place in history....and then split up again!
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Urban Hymns, quite simply one of the most ingenious and underrated albums ever produced in the history of music. Northern Soul was a superb album in itself, undermining Ricxhard Ashcrofts view that it would take them three albums to produce a good one. It took them two to produce a good one, three to produce such a stunning and moving one as Urban Hymns. With Ashcroft taking over most of the lyric-writing, and McCabe able to concentrate on his superb guitar playing skills, Urban Hymns became the theme tune of summer 1997, with Bittersweet Symphone being the song which made people stand up and recognise the Verve for wha they are. Followed by The Drugs Dont Work as a released single. This was a tune that was beautiful, haunting and sad. Other great tracks on this album incude the marvellous Sonnet, the uplifting Lucky Man, ansd surely one of the greatest songs never to have been rerleased as a single, Velvet Morning. This is the album of the 1990's and dare i say it, one of the best 10 albums ever, and in years to come will be seen as a breakthrough album for a group who werent able to prove their greatness after their split a year later. This album is unmissable. Buy it now and your life might just change!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
One of the finest albums ever made
1997 saw big releases from Radiohead, Oasis, The Prodigy and The Verve. For my tastes, as a so called `old school' indie lover of earnest people making `jingly jangly' music of... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Picnic
Excellent of its genre
I've only just discovered this album in the last few weeks - about 13 years after everyone else. It had a strong instant appeal and the more I've listened to it, the more I've... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Dr. W. H. Konarzewski
Hymns
This was one of the albums I really wanted for ages and then I bought and I wasn't dissappointed. The album is dominated by four great songs, Bittersweet Symphony, The drug's don't... Read more
Published 22 months ago by Ben Nicholson
not my best purchase
despite being "one of THE cds to own" I wish I had of passed on this I've listened to cd loads of times, but only like the songs The Verve released
Published on 11 May 2010 by L. Goodman
A Classic Album
I remember the first time I listened to this album. I was at a party and the girl who was having it drank too much and passed out, unfortunately we ran out of alcohol so I said I... Read more
Published on 22 Mar 2010 by Andrew Brawley
Psychadelic and full of feeling
every time i listen to this it seems to be just as good as the very first time. Urban Hymns has some beautiful lyrics and chord sequences. Read more
Published on 13 Dec 2009 by T. E. Roberts
Iconic masterpiece, pure brilliance.
THE album of the 90's, nothings came close since, beautiful lyrics enchanting melody's and so uplifting it never fails satisfy. Read more
Published on 7 Sep 2009 by Brian S. Northey
Poor Verve offering
Essentially a Richard Ashcroft solo album this can only be described as a let down after the genius of the Storm in Heaven and Northern Soul albums. Read more
Published on 19 July 2009 by Mira Prospekt
This UK pressing is far superior to the 2008 Capitol vinyl
I had recently purchased the 2008 Capitol re-issue of Urban Hymns on vinyl. Although there are quite a few decent pressings from Capitol, this didn't appear to be one of them. Read more
Published on 16 July 2009 by Stephen "Podhi" Burke
The album that Be Here Now should have been.
In 1997 bands like Blur,Oasis,U2 and Radiohead were releasing long awaited albums, it's more suprising that the band who would come out of 1997 on top of the world would be a band... Read more
Published on 29 Jun 2009 by T.K
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