A Northern Soul

A bit dull all the songs kind of blended together into a boring miasma

Watching Paint Dry, the soundtrack. I’d almost respect it, if the Verve had intended to make me feel like my brain folds were being smoothed from boredom. I’m still not entirely convinced they didn’t just put a saltine cracker on a record player and let the needle drop.

The verve are far too average to have more than one album on this list. Frankly, this can be set for most artists with more than one album listed.

Before listening I didn't really know The Verve for anything other than Bitter Sweet Symphony, and after listening I can see why. I'm definitely not a fan, and will not be listening to this album again. Nothing really stands out about this album, it just feels a bit empty.

Not a fan. Can't quite put my finger on it but the singing seems off trying to be melodic(inside a tunnel- some kind of distracting echo) over weird screeching guitars. Like the the band each recorded something on their own and then they mashed together whatever they came up with. No harmony in the music and just seems disconnected to the singing.

No notes

Never realized how in-the-same toy box The Verve and Radiohead were at this time

I don’t understand why the verve were not more popular in the 90s

Not as polished as Urban Hymns, but a solid album nonetheless. Not really in the best place while listening, but it seemed to compliment where I was well.

Awesome neo-psychedelic album, definitely inspired some Radiohead vibes.

It was really good. TIL I like the Verve.

Possibly their finest moment.

Ahh here we go ladies. Finally some music with more prowess than my hand. Superb all the way through

well, i am definitely a sucker for dreamy guitars, as i believe i've mentioned in other reviews. this album delivers those in heaps, which i super appreciate. closing track is easily my favorite, though i found i liked a surprising number of others on this album. i of course only knew of them through their massive late-90s hit, which i did actually love, but please don't tell anyone that. i ended up feeling like this album gave me permission to love that track, and probably a lot more by them. i think the real takeaway here is that i'm a fan of northern england in general. that seems to be a running theme.

Ok, this was pretty rocking - did not fit my preconception of what The Verve sounded like. It pairs pretty well with Spiritualized's "Ladies & Gentlemen..." which came up on here recently, for being a bit droney wall-of-sound-style rock. Fave track - "A New Decade". I'm definitely up for more listens to pick out other faves though...

Sounds a U2 cover band. Not great

Nothing happens for 54 minutes. This band has never done anything worthwhile. Their hit isn't on this record but even that is a ripoff where the verse and chorus are the exact same.

For an album that has a lot going on sonically, this was really boring.

I'm mostly only familiar with The Verve because of bittersweet symphony, a song that I really love. I'm sure I've listened to the album that song was on before but I haven't listened to their other music much. It's right up my ally.

The goat.

I recently reviewed Urban Hymns by The Verve, and (spoiler alert) found it to be a load of boring, over-produced todge. But Urban Hymns at least had two pretty strong songs in Bittersweet Symphony and The Drugs Don't Work. A Northern Soul does not benefit from _any_ songs nearly that strong. Nothing on A Northern Soul is worthy to touch the hem of Bittersweet Symphony or The Drugs Don't Work. I find the songs amorphous, vague, unmemorable with turgid lyrics. A record company rep visited them in the studio, stating that he realized "that here was a band that were in the throes of excess. They were on the brink of collapsing or damaging themselves but at the same time hearing songs like 'A New Decade' or 'History' – you just heard that tension, almost darkness that was there. There were the classic highs and lows of a really drugged-up session and that was reflected in the music." Not a good thing, guys. The resulting album is an unfocussed, meandering, pretentious, rambling miasma. Andy Gill at The Independent lambasted the album, saying it was the audio "equivalent of crushed velvet flares sagging over scuffed plimsoles", adding that hearing the album was "undoubtedly the longest hour of my life so far." He said the band incorporated the "worst aspects of both the progressive guitar rock that is their clearest historical precedent, and the baggy scene that was current at their inception: sluggish and preposterously self-indulgent" There is bloat on this album; songs are too long and the meandering instrumentals remind me of incessant Jimi Hendrix jam sessions, slathered in delay and reverb, but with no discernable point or direction. 1.5 stars

old favorite

Never really listened to The Verve outside of that one hit they had in the 90s but I really liked this album. One of the best so far.

Awesome!

This does feel a little samey after a while but the overall sound is supercool. I really hate bittersweet symphony so it's nice to finally have an intro to the verve actually sound like this shits great

Masterpiece

cool

Awesome album. It’s just a little long and could do without a few of the slower songs to help the pace. As a whole this is one of my favorites from this list so far. 5

I was really into this about 15 years ago; I loved its combination of Spacemen 3 psych, shoegazey rock, and baggy tunes. Not a fan of The Verve's later work ("History" feels like a dry run for "Bittersweet Symphony"), but this is great.

Biased again. Such a great, deep, atmosphericly but still pop-relatable sound. Ashcroft helped this ambitious Psych-Rockers to be digestible on a larger scale without selling out and - even more important - being forgotten like most of the 1 in a million Britpop outfits at that time. 4.7

I'm only familiar with Bittersweet Symphony so I was curious what their other stuff sounds like. I would listen to this again and again.

Brilliant choice to include this 5 star album and not Urban Hymns. Best of Britpop, forget Blur/Oasis. The First two albums of the Verve are brilliant, as is the sampler No Come Down. Butterfly, and of this album On Your Own and A New Decade and the amazing History, and of No Come Down the live version of Gravity's grave all make me bloody annoyed that I never some them live! What was I thinking?

Great album.

I have always loved this album and listened to it often. As I get older, I do struggle to listen to it too frequently as the backend is very good but a bit mellow. I like pretty much every song, yet find myself having difficulty adding it to my collection. Still, there isn't a misfire on this album even if some of the songs go too long. This is the kind of music that requires repeat listenings and eventually it creeps into your soul and you find yourself singing "Stormy Clouds" randomly. The instrumentals are probably not necessary but all the songs with words are great. Highly recommend this listen as this is the more interesting and prog-rock version (not really) of brit-pop. "History" foreshadows where the group would go next and is just a great song.

A very nearly lost classic of britpop, since they split up shortly after it was released. They went on to be massive, and rightly so, but this album slhas an innocence and naivety that their later work slightly lacked. 'History' is probably my favourite song by the verve, and one of my favourite tracks of the 90s in general

Loved it. Reminds me of Iasis and Toad the Wet Sprocket.

Love it, great music

I love this album. Apart from brainstorm interlude and drive you home, which I tend to skip each song has something which always makes me want to listen again. Nick McCabes guitar work is outstanding. Checkout the acoustic version of On Your Own. Brilliant version which is good to play along to.

Excellent stuff

Surpreendente. Ouvir mais vezes

Less a collection of songs than a landscape of sound This blew me away Only knew them from Urban Hymns really (which is both as brilliant as this and more accessible) but this was a fantastically immersive listen

This album is brought to you in part by… drugs. Most people probably know The Verve through Bittersweet Symphony and their psychedelic pop masterpiece Urban Hymns, for good reason. And while the follow-up to A Northern Soul is almost inarguably their magnum opus, this album is far from a write off. It’s pretty wild and trippy, paranoid and hazy from the drugs that the band openly consumed during its creation. It’s probably one of the better drug albums ever made, up there with Station to Station and Maggot Brain in terms of albums that drugs played a key part per the artists who made them. The guitar work is great and Richard Ashcroft’s voice is perfect for the atmosphere created by the music. It’s not an every day listen, but every time I've listened to this album I come way thinking “damn this is good”.

The instrumental tracks were v good and atmospheric - I would defo listen to these again.

С первых двух треков слушается необычно круто и атмосферно, надеюсь дальше также будет очень нравится

This bunch of pricks assaulted my nan. Kicked seven shades out of her and left her for dead. Luckily she survived, sought revenge and tracked them all down one by one...and then gave them all hand jobs. Slag.

I've been waiting to hear a British alternative/rock album like this. A good mix of standard alternative with just the right amount of rawness and experimentation. I felt like only a couple songs didn't stack up to the rest, which was surprising since this album is over an hour.

This was pretty good. The Verve seem underrated, usually relegated to their one or two big hits. Solid piece of work.

Good, not greatest

Dachte erst mein Laptop is im Eimer, aber der Song geht erst nach 20sek los. Ab dan 1a geiler BritPop. Habe außer Bitter Sweet Symphony noch nix von den dudes gehört, daher umso glücklicher, dass das Album dabei war. Habs glaub 3 mal gehört jetzt das Album und es wird nicht langweilig. Brainstorm Interlude nervt a weng aber sonst solid. Weil kein Mega Banger drauf war 4*

пойдёт

Great album, would have listened to it before

Northern Soul was, as expected, an edifice, anchored with even hands at sweet nostalgic Britpop, psychadelia, and a melodramatic synthesis of shoegaze. That pinnacle, and the plainer, sadder influence of rock, suits me plenty. We're just before or maybe at the moment of collapse, in the last memory of strings' ability to inflate songs like these. Admirable, containing their own mockery.

Better than urban hymns

Good one

Kind of visceral in a way. Honestly wasn't expecting this kind of album. But I mean, look at that album art, that dude is MAD FIERCE.

Having only really embraced Urban Hymns, I found this to be a very enjoyable listen! Will revisit it later, but on first listen there were no pieces that immediately jumped out as memorable, but as an album it definitely had an excellent flow and feel.

I love this genre a lot! But this album didn't really have anything special.

A logical next step after the psychedelic haze of A Storm in Heaven, A Northern Soul finds The Verve placing their hearts on their sleeves both musically and lyrically, hanging their hats on their brand of intensity and overt epicness. One wouldn't think by listening to this that they were on the verge of falling apart around this time, but they were and sounded majestic whilst doing so. Bittersweet, really. Favorites: A New Decade, This is Music, On Your Own, So It Goes, A Northern Soul, Brainstorm Interlude, Drive You Home, History.

Spotify version is hella long. Good gloomy music, can feel the influence it had. Songs are differentiated well but still very similar across the album. Rainy day perfect.

It’s a really good album. I also see why none of these tracks hit big, none of them really stand out.

Solid 90s

That was a pleasant surprise. So much better than Urban Hymns.

Another great Verve record, a guitar-driven alt rock record still relying a lot on shoegaze but also on Britpop contemporaries, with pop songs like "History" showing their direction in Urban Hymns. Sometimes sounds like trip hop ("Life's an Ocean") or Mazzy Star-style dream folk ("Drive You Home"). Has a lot of repetition, and a few weak songs, particularly "No Knock On My Door." They're really carried by the production, since I found the bonus tracks to be really boring generic 90s alt rock (albeit softer and lusher). But a good record overall with a strong opener and closer, and plenty of highlights. Favorites: This is Music, On Your Own, A Northern Soul, Stormy Clouds

Once I got over the fact that there was a Verve album on here that didn't include Bitter Sweet Symphony, a song I hate but is like the only thing I know the Verve for, I thought it was just a discount Oasis album and nothing more. While it kind of still is that, I actually really enjoyed this album. I loved the bombastic production, especially on This Is Music, and the vocals basically sound like a Gallagher but whatever; more Oasis isn't bad. This is definitely one of the most surprising albums I've gotten recently.

Really enjoyed the various styles throughout the album.

Lower end of a 4. Lacks the bangers of Urban Hymns and all a bit samey

Pleasantly surprised

Slow ass Oasis

First half good, second half kinda depressing at times

The Verve are always great. Really like their sound and mix of styles

This moody vibe hit me at the right time

Nice album! Really enjoyed the overall sound of it.

The textures of these guitars make you feel like you’re in a float tank of tone. Reminds me of the tone of “Let It Be” era Beatles (obviously not a coincidence). Good to throw on for its vibes, but not music I feel emotionally connected to.

It's OK. Some angsty cover images though

I'm listening....

Great album. You can tell the band had ambition and an idea of how they wanted to grow their sound and it worked. The ballads are solid (which The Verve is known for after Urban Hymns), but the rockers are the stars on this record.

Drugged and brilliant.

classic Verve, half interesting half boring.

Nice to listen to, maybe will return to

Grungier oasis.

Precies wat steviger dan ik van The Verve verwachtte. Maar echt memorabel is het niet

Oh more Bri-ish innit?

Big U2 influence. Reprise at the end got really spacey.

Nice one, but not even comparable to Different Class, Dog Man Star, The Great Escape and Morning Glory

trying to figure out what sets this album apart from other bands with similiar sounds in the 90's. Brainstorm Interlude is elevated rock. Similarly, History and Life's an Ocean.

Has a distinct mid-90's Alt-Rock feel. Atmospheric vocals layered on flowing guitar and beats.

liked this album, loved a few songs, others weren't good

Liked much more than I expected...much less obnoxious than Urban Hymmns, which I liked at the time, but find harder to enjoy as an adult

A good listen, I like how they commit to a sound, the ballady contemplative aggression, sprawly guitar soundscapes. At times their vocals get pitchy in a distracting way, particularly some of the falsetto moments. But the albums seems to foreshadow the indie guitar stuff that would become so popular in the early 2000's. In fact, I just listened to an album today, from 2022 (Waiting to Spill by The Backseat Lovers), that I wondered whether it would exist without bands like The Verve helping define and popularize that sound.

looooove apparently shoegaze?

Sometimes there is more to a one hit wonder then you think. This was good and reminded me a lot of Oasis in that it took 1960s sounds and modernized them for the 1990s (though less pop and more Pavement than Oasis). I enjoyed it.

The Verve is so cool. So is the Verve Pipe - though maybe not quite as much. They are, in fact different bands for anyone still wondering. This is like mean, gritty Oasis and I love it.

I was very pleasantly surprised. This is an album I will listen to again and come back to.

I like this album. It definitely feels like it was inspired by and inspired other 90s groups and albums, like U2 and Toad the Wet Sprocket.

I’m a huge fan of urban hymns not sure why Iv never listened to this before, it’s also brilliant history the stand out song, but the rest of the album just not quiet the same level of urban hymns.

4/5. A bit overblown, and stuck in the 90s, but definitely one of the most impressive and gratifying Brit-pop albums

Don't really know much of The Verve other than Bittersweet Symphony, but I liked this quite a bit. Very psychedelic/Brit-pop sounding. Reminded me a bit of U2, a bit of Oasis, a bit of the Stones, and a few other things mixed in. 4 stars.

This is indeed one of the indie albums of all time. 4 stars.

Good album in its day.

Door de nummers die ik al kende (zoals The drugs don’t work), verwachtte ik iets futloos. Gelukkig had ik het mis.