A Northern Soul

It's fairly middle of the road stuff. Dragged down by longer songs that don't really go anywhere. The title track is a bit better, with a heavier groove, and at least Brainstorm Interlude is trying to do something different with a more psychedelic sound. Overall, too long and not enough here to warrant a repeat listen. Highlights: On Your Own, History

Dull, poorly mixed wall of noise with some weak singing, definitely not for me

A couple good songs but that’s the story of the Verve.

i think i'm supposed to really like it but its quite dull. history is obviously very good mind you

Calling this dirge is generous, as is a 2* rating

Looong and whiny. I had enough of The Verve with Urban Hymns.

The instrumentation is always good and enjoyable enough, but the vocals really just plod on and feel apathetic. Hard to stay engaged and not feel like I'm waiting for it to be over.

Do not like

There's a decent sound here, but it just doesn't go anywhere.

A Northern Soul was good, the rest really rather dull. Everything sounded murmured through a tunnel. Not for me. Presume Urban Hymns is better.

Rock, 1995 -> 2

I was pretty optimistic about this one. I had known the Verve as a one hit wonder for Bittersweet Symphony which is one of the best songs I've heard and still regularly makes me cry after it came on while taking my cat to the vet for the final time. At any rate, mid-90s British alternative is basically a cheat code to being a great album for me, but this wasn't it. It doesn't even have the one song I expected. All the songs were fairly boring, slow, generic. I couldn't even focus long enough to see if it has clever or interesting lyrics. I suppose the one song I know is also a bit melancholy as well, but I'd hoped that to be an exception. I think on paper they compare pretty favorably to Oasis, but it is like the difference between WWE and TNA wrestling. Quite a disappointment that lasted longer that I wanted, but I made it through. Favorite track "History" 1.5/5

Quite boring and uneventful

Thank God Pulp and Blur exist to save Britpop from this stuff.

Kind of meh, like oasis but with boring songs. Didn’t finish

Ehhhh

Didn’t love it

Would I listen to it again: no Do I like it: no

niente di spettacolare, sono un po' tutte uguali. mi aspettavo di più, basandomi su Bittersweet Symphony, che è l'unica loro canzone che conosco. un po' deludente.

-this is britpop at its most britpop i think… -Personally not a fan of a lot of this, I think some songs go on too long and my god his voice in some of the songs…. -I like the darker, angsty aspects of it best -Favorites are On Your Own, History, and Life’s An Ocean

This was ok. Nothing about it really grabbed my attention and I found myself struggling to focus on it much. There was nothing that made me hate it either though. I wouldn't ask someone to turn it off/change it if they wanted to listen to it, it makes fine background music. But I doubt I'll be doing more than my second listen (which I am doing for everything) for this.

I am so disappointed with this album, I genuinely thought I liked The Verve but that was so dull.

Due to the Verve's initial take on Britpop being a more psychedelic fever dream with noisy guitars and wailing vocals, it at least is understandable why they were big enough to score airplay by the time of Urban Hymns. It stands out among the crowd, and really shares more similarities with acts like the Flaming Lips or Mercury Rev than Pulp or Blur. In doing so, I find myself liking this album more than their later projects, as it feels a bit less forced, like they weren't just trying to cash in on a trend to make money. However, it still is incredibly boring, with at least half the album being repetitive, nearly ambient guitar playing backed by otherwise boring instrumentation, and lyrically the album is as simple as possible. Part of the fun of 60s British psychedelia was its quirk, its self-awareness. Acts like the Beatles and the Kinks knew it was weird and overwhelmingly British, but many groups from the 90s seem scared to embrace that, save for acts like Pulp or the Divine Comedy if you count it. I'm all for serious, mystifying music, but you have to try a bit harder than this record is. No one song stands out, and over the course of this hour-long record you'll encounter what feels like the same six-minute flat circle song about ten times, with slight variations that allows some tracks to be definitively BETTER, but still not good. It's fine, if you like it, I understand it, but it still has to be one of the weakest showings from this era. Perhaps still better than anything Oasis ever put out, though.

Again the wrong album selected. Urban Hymns was the one to choose

Okay

This was dreadfully boring! I knew one song, extra star

After also getting Pavement and Smashing Pumpkins this week, I'm afraid I can no longer care about this

very british

Oh well. After back-to-back easy 5's, I guess I was overdue for another 80s/90s English alternative band. Bummer.. All I know of The Verve is “Bitter Sweet Symphony”. That takes a good little hook (13 notes), repeats it for 6 minutes, beating any joy out of it and driving me to distraction. This is the previous album to that, but it pretty much repeats the formula without the hook. At best, boring. At worst, a little irritating. 2/5

Боже, какой же ужас. Не переношу скрежетание металла в ушах. This is music еще более-менее, но остальное больше не хочется включать никогда в жизни.

Mom!!! The lads are at the door again trying to sell us Britpop!! They’ve been here for almost an hour and it doesn’t seem like they’re leaving any time soon. Yes, I’ve already told them we’re not interested. Yes, they did bring up the fact that we liked Blur. No, they are not as good as Blur. Yes, they sound like a Econ major’s dorm room in 1995. I mean, what they showed me wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good, either. Just a lot of noodling chaos. Yeah, I think they’re very high. Okay, they left!! But I think they’ll be back next week with more of the same. Yes, I’ll just close the blinds and turn off the lights next time so they don’t know we’re home.

This album is exactly the type of music it's trying to be, which is good. It just doesn't particularly grab my attention

Not nearly as bad as some of the 1 star reviews will have you believe.

1995 fue año de discos excelentes: The bends, Whtat´s the story, Different class, To bring you my love, Grand Prix, Electr-O-Pura, Mellon Collie, Tindersticks II, Washing machine, Forever blue, Post, Brown sugar, Maxinquaye, Pygmalion... Debuts de Wilco, Garbage, Foo fighters, Supergrass, Elastica, The Chemical Bros, Pacers, Mojave 3... ¿Qué aportó este disco de los entonces poco conocidos The Verve? Pues bastante poco, pasaron de la psicodelia de su anterior album, A storm in heaven, a combinar guitarras más propias del BritPop que por entonces arrasaba en el planeta. Lo hicieron sin renunciar a su estilo, ni al consumo de estupefacientes y sustancias lúdicas, lo que les permitió salir airosos de este envite sin perder su identidad (So it goes o la titular A northern soul, suenan fenomenal aún hoy en día). Las mejores canciones son las delicadas On your own y History (antecedente claro de Sonnet). Es un fabuloso disco muy disfrutable, pero lejos de estar entre las 1000 mejores obras musicales del rock. Habría que esperar a su siguiente paso...

Nog meer Britpop, maar veel wijzer word je er niet van. Schreeuwende gitaren met veel vervorming, met andere woorden, herrie. Bij Oasis werd dit nog gecompenseerd door interessante composities, teksten en zang, maar dit grommelt voorbij zonder veel zeggingskracht. Saai, volgende.

The creator's love for britpop continues. I feel sorry for the confused yanks going through this list, the same way I feel sorry for myself when the 200th terrible country album appears. Pretty bland stuff from the verve. I've honestly never met anyone in 35 years of living in the UK that has ever mentioned the verve, nevermind it being a positive opinion. I feel drained of energy after this. It's as if Pearl Jam did a 90s album without a single catchy riff or lyric. 2.5*

'Richard Ashcroft. He's so talented' Everyone in 1995

It sort of just happened. There was no real power in the songs.

Bad 90’s trend: overlong, repetitive, generic-sounding albums full of overlong, repetitive, generic-sounding songs. The ability to fit more music on a CD was a huge negative factor on the quality of some albums.

It was okay

Britpop que não me incomoda, mas um disco com mais de 60 minutos ficou cansativo.

Yeeaahhhh... non-specific, melodramatic lyrics with really noisy and hazy guitars is not a recipe for enjoyment in my book. 3/10

Very meh. This band sounded like they were actively doing drugs while recording the album.

A fairly long album in the which the sounds of the songs and the arrangements don't seem to differentiate themselves all that much. It became boring pretty quickly. Every time the band starts to do anything interesting sonically, Ashcroft's voice comes in and ruins it. It seems like Ashcroft was writing and performing one album in his head, and the band were writing and performing something else entirely. The self disconnection as symbolized by the disconnection of the voice and lyrics from the music could have been an interesting idea but here it doesn't really work. Features stupid lyrics that sound like they came from a 12 year old, with nonsense like "Oh, the bed ain't made but it's filled with hope, I've got a skin full of dope". We get it, your THE VERVE. You've beaten the irony so much by this point, that it should have formed into steel resolve. Get on with it. I don't find this interesting when Thom Yorke does it, and I don't don't find it interesting when Richard Ashcroft does it. I enjoyed "Reprise" (Because Ashcroft finally shuts the heck up and lets the music speak for itself). It is a shame that more of the album were not instrumental. I might have enjoyed it more. The sonic chemistry between Nick McCabe (guitar), Simon Jones (bass), and Peter Salisbury (drums) is undeniable on this track. Shame those guys didn't kick out Ashcroft out of the band and stay together. It might have been interesting to see what that could have become. I'm giving it a 3 primarily for the work of the engineers and producer who did the best they could with what they were given and to be fair do create a bit of lush sonics at times.

I loved 'Urban Hymns' in my teenage years. So, naturally, I went out and bought The Verve's other two albums... and barely listened to them. I can't say that hearing this now leads me to regret not giving 'A Northern Soul' more of a chance. It's similar in style to it's successor, but lacks the hooks to engage you and make you want to dig deeper. Maybe this record has depth and would benefit from persistence, but if I've not bothered in 25 years I can't really see it happening now. It's just a little bit boring. Rating: 2.5/5 Playlist track: History Date listened: 14/03/24

Ooh look! All the parts of Radiohead that I didn't like with none if the parts I did!

This just didn’t really grab my attention in any way. It sounded very 90s and kind of like they were trying to sound like Radiohead.

I'd tell 'em to get on antidepressants but they'd tell me 'the drugs don't work' or something like that.

While I was listening to this, I thought, "Wow this really sounds like a combination of U2 and Oasis." That thought seemed familiar and it turns out, that's what I had written for my review of Urban Hymns. That said, I like U2 and I love Oasis so their lovechild should appeal to me, right? I just find this so boring, though. U2 and Oasis occasionally pick up the pace whereas The Verve just drones along at the same ambling pace.

Мид, даже чуть скучноватый альбик, но к концовке стало интереснее, 2+

The music isn't bad, but it felt dragged out, every song being 5 or 6 minutes long. I like when the use stringed instruments in the mix. Good voice. But nothing too memorable. Wasn't as good as Urban Hymns (other album of theirs I already got). Favorite track: Life's An Ocean

First half sounds similar to 90's U2 and I don't care much for it Best song even though it was long and drawn out was "Drive You Home"

En kyllä saanut tästä mitään irti. Tylsä. Missä brittipopenergia? Tai oli sitä laulussa kivasti, mutta biiseissä ei ollut imua. Sitä oli kyllä yritetty. Reprise-kolistelu lopussa lähinnä masensi yleiskuvaa. Äänimaailma kyllä miellyttää.

En este, su segundo álbum, The Verve avanzan por el camino psicodélico hacia el rock épico que llegará en sus trabajos posteriores. Tiene temas notables, como "Life's An Ocean", "On Your Own" o "So It Goes", temas que retoman el clásico tema del desencanto y la pérdida. Pero sobre todo destacaría la evocadora "History".

I've developed a theory that there are few albums longer than 45 minutes (35 actually) that are good, great or even a must listen to before I die. The Verve's 'A Northern Soul' does nothing to change my mind. this is an okay album and even if having a gun held to my head this wouldn't be an album representative of those 1,001 albums. 1990s BritPop/Alt must've had an Oasis filter that they pressed the button to get the same sound. 2/5.

It’s ok but a bit boring. :D

I was hopeful and ended up bored

What’s the purpose of including an album that’s just Urban Hymns without ”Bittersweet Symphony”?

This'd probably blow my mind if I'd never heard Radiohead or Oasis or Blur or Pulp or Spiritualized or My Bloody Valentine in my entire life.

2.5 Feel like I have heard this album done a million times before, nothing new about it

Just drowned on

Boring 2/5

I dont even remember listening to this album, thats how forgettable it was Significant 36/111 Liked 17/111 Added 4/111 NNN

The band reminded me of a high school band. Just wasn’t into the music or album.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORING Made sure that was long & drawn out, just like this album.

A lot of the songs felt like they would kinda just like drag on. Some cool sounds but overall I wasn't really feeling it.

Not really a fan of this one unfortunately.

The perfect album. Perfect representation of what bored me in the 90s. Not bad, but just background music. It drones on. I though this would be a 3, but the droning got to me.

Brought back to the essence there are some good songs in here, but the delivery is way too pompous and tedious to reveal that.

Meh

Yawn

Didn't do much for me

I thought for some reason I'd enjoy this. Boy, was I wrong.

Another unremarkable album.

Largely dull 2nd album from Britpop indie Verve. History is ok. Most songs have the same rhythm and are too long.

I did not care for this too much. Some of it was okay but it got old.

It sure ain't no Urban Hymns. Found it a little too raw and a bit boring. 2.5

I remember distinctly as a kid growing up in the 90's that I assumed computers made all the music that I heard on CDs. It was always way too perfect and didn't sound like any kind of music I had heard in person. I was 7 or 8 when I realized that wasn't true, but it's still why I was always more attracted to Jazz, Classical, and older rock music. Singer songwriters also became much bigger for me later in life. This album from the Verve is a horrible example of that kind of music. It's just walls of sound generated by distorted instruments with lazy vocals laid over top. There is no harmonic movement, no interplay between the band, and no breath to it all. It's a palatable sound, but not an interesting one.

2.5

I couldn't get into this album. All of the songs sounded the same and I had a hard time getting through it.

typical brit pop/rock stuff, some decent tones I guess, but otherwise it's just bland and boring to me, focus on lyrics I think, which is not my thing, Life's an Ocean has a cool groove and interesting sounding drums

Meandering and shapeless.

This album is like a long drawn out dream where you are stumbling along slowly, bored, but with some vague sense of dread, and you just can't quite wake yourself up. Not a way I want to spend an hour. Ha! I was pretty sure there was another Verve album on here (why am I listening to a second!?!?) and my review for that one was "After that it's like a dream where you are stuck in molasses trying to get out but moving so slooow. Torture." In 600+ reviews these are the only two where I say the album is like a bad (or any kind of) dream. Guess I find The Verve to be a bit of a nightmare.

I actually like the Verve, but this isn’t particularly good work, sure you have some decent songs, but the majority of them just kind of blend together and feel a bit dull

Boring yet pretentious. History is the only semi-standout for me.

Long, dreary, drawn out notes, blah vocals. I liked Bittersweet Symphony but this was a disappointment. Also the cover kinda creeps me out cuz they look like vampires. And not the cool kind of vampires, the skinny white guys living in a castle for 500 years kind of vampires. Best song: A Northern Soul

4/10. These guys seriously have two albums on the list?

Meh.

If I'm ever craving extremely average music, the Verve always have me covered. Reliable bunch of chaps - would give them a kiss on the cheek.

I've never liked Oasis or this sort of music particularly - it was alright at points, but of a dirge in others.

I listened to this album yesterday… And I can’t recall a single tune. It was decent britpop but featured nothing truly memorable. And the length? Oh shit… They could have easily cut 15 minutes had every song not been 1-3 minutes too long.

Big yawn. It’s OK indie but it does it need to be an hour long and do we really need two albums from these lads on this list?

Mediocre.

I'm not a fan of the droning guitar work, which seems uninspired and uninteresting. The album isn't terrible, but it's entirely forgettable like so much generic rock of the 90s.

First listen Saved 3/12 Top track: A New Decade

There seems to be a strong following for this album. The fans love it and it's included on many different lists of the best albums of all time. I'm sorry to say that I genuinely didn't see the appeal. It just sounded like a generic indie rock band shopping around for a record deal. The vocals were off, the music a bit dull. I'm clearly missing something here but I really don't know why it's so revered.

Boring. Its not "bad", but its boring and bland. 2/5

Un poco rollo.

Iha ok

why is it so long????

Competent Manc indulgence. Eat some baked beans with Worcestershire sauce for the culinary equivalent.

Best thing about this is that it allows me to drift into a nap

Listened to this two times now but it fails to leave any impression. I have no clue what the album sounds like

Urban Hymns was really good. This was not, it's just a bit boring and almost deliberately provocative to try to show how they're not defined by one record.

Everything's a bit slow, without the tunefulness and (ironically given the title) soulfulness of Urban Hymns. All the tracks are probably a minute too long (although tbh Urban Hymns was the same), and there's nothing on this album that's as arresting as the top 3 or 4 tracks from their earlier work. 2/5, washed over me pretty much completely.

Not really a sound I enjoy.

So very dull... tiresome beyond measure. Just drones on and on, no lively moments to lighten the mood, we're here to take Richard Ashcroft's breakup oh so seriously. Behaving like a proper artist when he's just a bore.

Ging mir nicht runter. 2-3 tolle Lieder "retten" das Album, das wars dann aber auch.

The information about this album here on the site is wrong. It should indicate that this is just an Oasis album with another name and not as successful as the others.

So much noise on this one. Really try to find a good tracks here but songs that I liked in the first listen didn't catch on second try. Therfore whole album is kinda rubbish to me, nothing stands as a solid point here. On Your Own best, Brainstorm Interlude worst track on the album.

As others have said, hard to tell one song from the next. Lyrics feel overly edgy and the best bits are when he stops singing.

Has a bit of a country music vibe to it. Especially On Your Own. Not really my thing, but good to explore The Verve a bit more outside of their most popular hits. It's easy listening I guess, but I don't see myself coming back to these songs. The song "A Northern Soul" is grating. I wanted to skip it but it became more tolerable after the intro. I was going to give this a 3 but I literally did not notice when the album ended, so it gets a 2.

Two decent tracks, the rest was music for Emmerdale characters to take heroin to

Meh

lol at times these vocals remind me of The Bonsai Predicament. Other times just straight snooooozefest

Pretty ignorable

This was a bit boring. And I don’t know why they put a The Verve album on the list that isn’t Urban Hymns. They don’t really seem relevant enough for that.

I found this a bit dreary

Not a fan. Real 90s vibes

Maybe when I was 25. Maybe.

Nah… they’re a one-hit wonder band and you can’t convince me otherwise.

I was pretty bored with this. It isn’t a wonder these guys are considered one hit wonders here in the United States. I was just mostly uninterested with it all here.

Boring and just a bit whatever

A Northern Soul is inoffensive and for the most part sounds nice, but it doesn't really offer anything of substance for me. A lot of the lyrics had me going "What does any of this even mean?" The vocals are pleasing to listen to for the most part, but I felt they lacked emotion. When matched to the melancholic nature of the lyrics, everything just sort of feels meaningless. There's sadness there, I can see it in the lyrics, but I can't feel it in the music. I did really enjoy the track "History," which was one of the only songs that actually stood out to me. The breathing at the end of A New Decade reminded me of the George Washington rap by Brad Neely: https://youtu.be/qv6OOuPI5c0 Most of the tracks, in my opinion, drag on and on with a lot of repetition. If you like it, that is probably a good thing! For me, however, it just felt like every song was overstaying its welcome. Overall, A Northern Soul is just okay. Maybe I just don't "get it," but I don't get it and I don't plan to re-visit. It's a two from me, dawg.

2.5 I only knew Bittersweet Symphony by these guys going into this, a song that has such a unique sound to it (unless you ask The Rolling Stones), that I wasn’t sure what to expect from their other work. Fortunately, this album starts off STRONG with an absolutely explosive blast of alternative rock in A New Decade, and while I got strong Oasis vibes (not a bad thing), it felt heavier than anything else that I’ve heard from that era of Britpop. So, I really thought I had a fun, enjoyable listen ahead of me, but man, that runtime quickly hits you in the face like some asshole violating the rules of a mosh pit. There are only three songs under five minutes… and they’re the first three. Not that anything after that is bad by any means, but I also didn’t find any tracks particularly interesting enough to warrant them going over that 5-minute mark, and subsequently, I found myself checking in semi-regularly towards the end to see if I was almost finished. Really feel like this had the potential to be something great with a better sense of pacing. The more I listen to, the more I’m convinced Oasis is to Britpop what Nirvana is to grunge or My Bloody Valentine is to shoegaze… the band every other band of the genre is compared to, and for me, as good as the genre gets. Speaking of, supposedly Verve frontman Richard Ashcroft dedicated the title track A Northern Soul to Noel Gallagher, which is a pretty cool nod to a great musician and contemporary, but I couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at the line: “So come on, come in inside of me/Let's spread it all around” I’m assuming that’s some kind of metaphor, but either way - Happy Pride everyone! Ok, one more note - I stared at this album cover for longer than I’d like to admit. This has to be an homage to Queen right? Not that the arrangement of four heads in a diamond shape is necessarily a definitive Queen thing, but I can’t think of another band that’s done so off the top of my head. Also, is it just me, or do the guys on both the left and the right look lowkey like the illegitimate offspring of Jack White?

Unfortunately, not the kind of music I want to listen to for an hour, or for songs to be 5+ minutes

I expected way more from the band who made bittersweet symphony.This album was such a dirge man.It’s an hour long and it just keeps going on with boring songs with too much reverb.It sounds like what I think people who don’t like Radiohead think Radiohead sound like.

I couldn’t possibly be more bored listening to this uninspired drivel.

Really didn't care much for this one. I'm still open to hearing it again, but for now, it's just a 2.5 / 5

I'm at least glad that Britpop is its own genre so I can easily tell when an album is going to suck. Not only are most of these songs boring but they are all too long.

I really didnt like this album. I had to skip through 1/2 way through some songs. Just whiny and drawn out.

Not doing a whole lot for me. Can see the influence on Alf rock though.

Ciężko było do końca dotrwać, bo wszystko jakieś takie nijakie i się zlało w jedną masę.

There's a good reason the only Verve song that matters is Bittersweet Symphony

Ooh look, an hour long album that's all slow rocky ballads! And what's more, most of the songs are over 5 minutes long!

Nautinnollista musiikkia.. Jää jälkeen aikansa suurille nimille...

I’m sorry this album was never good

Drags on a lot, most songs are a couple of minutes too long

Tää ei oo ihan paha. Ei osu muhun suoranaisesti mutta ymmärrän minkälaista levyä tässä tavoitellaan. Jos tähän sais vähän ruutia lisää ja jonkun kivan muiston niin sit oltais jo lähellä. Annan tälle 2 mutta tää olis lähellä kolmosta.

Huoh onpa jännä valinta bändiltä. Debyytistä tykkään ja kolmas levy varmaan listalla myös.

Tuskasta vaikuttaa kumpuavan, mut nyt en ihan saanut kiinni. Tavallaan ihan kiinnostavaa, progehkoa menoa, mutta vähän tylsäksi jäi. 2/5

I like the vibe of the music but there were just too many times the vocals were weak and discordant/shrill

A fitting title would be "An hour of sound". At least that'd give you the expectation that it is just sounds and not really music..

I know more about The Verve and the crazy love triangle between Richard Ashcroft, Jason Pierce and Kate Radley than I do about any of their music. This album does not have the hits on it that I am familiar with. In general this is fine, it's big and loud which was very distinctive of Britpop in the 90s. But it's not for me at all.

This album was longer than it should have been- his voice was a little sleazy and just something i’d have to listen to. Nothing was really WRONG with the album but it was boring!

Another mediocre Brit alt rock album. At least this one was really long.

There was nothing on this album that stood out. It isn’t bad, it’s just not memorable. I’m going to listen to Bittersweet Symphony now. That gets 5 stars!

I really enjoyed much of the music. Some great, effects-drenched Neo-psychedelia. But that singer. Completely lacking in any sense of melody or even hooks. He sounded like a two-bit Bono with a dash of Jim Morrison, but without any of the talent or charisma of either singer. And he just wouldn't shut up. For that reason, I really dug that instrumental last song, "Reprise." Reminded me a bit of "Drown" by Smashing Pumpkins. 4 for the music. 1 for the singer. 2 for the songwriting.

Never been a huge Verve fan, and this album didn't do much to change that. If anything, seeing Cody Smit McPhee's dopplegangar at the bottom of this album cover makes things even more scary. I'm not sure what they were going for in this album, felt very similar to a lot of other middle of the road rock albums we've heard on this list.

Ever so slightly better than the Boo Radleys album we got the day before, but still not moving the needle. Three albums in a row that I would axe from this list. We already had the other Verve album with Bittersweet Symphony (which I think I liked more, but looking back, it was also a 2.5 for me), why do these guys deserve a second placement over great artists who aren't even on here once? To pick a random but dramatically more monumental album, swap Kaytranada's 99.9% in for this one. Yawn. Favorite tracks: No Knock on My Door, (Reprise). Album art: They're doing the Queen thing. I don't even know if Queen originated that but that's all I see. 2.5/5

Boring. All songs blend.

Maybe it was just a bad day but I found this really grated on me - I didn't like the music or the vocals.

Only know of the band because of Bitter Sweet Symphony. This album was pretty dull and the songs blended together in an uninteresting huddle.

As long as this album was, nothing stuck. A second album from a one hit wonder. Why?

The same as Urban Hymns but without any good tracks.

I mean, they were not lying, it *is* music

This was about what I expected based on my limited exposure to the Verve, boring, so very boring. Further proof the curators of this list overdid it with their precious British acts. Oh well, on to the next. Hope it’s something interesting! 2 stars

It was fine, I guess. Nothing stood out or was memorable.

Omg, it was the same thing over and over and never ended

This was just bad

In my head, I always mix up The Verve and Pulp. Both are of that very North West England sound of the 90s to early 00s that I was surrounded by as a child, being from the exact area of the world. I’m not sure I recognise any song titles from this album though, so let’s listen. Songs I already knew: none Favourites: History, A New Decade I was hoping for much better from this album, knowing that Bittersweet Symphony and The Drugs Don’t Work are such good songs (neither of them are Pulp, right?), but unfortunately I just didn’t find this here. The vocals were sometimes good, sometimes awful. The guitar licks were sometimes catchy, sometimes grating. No songs were fantastic, yet none were awful. Overall, a very average and forgettable album that will likely just mesh into everything else in my mind. Doubt I’ll be seeking this album out again.

I have to say it, its a drag. Ashcroft has his moments but never a full album woth remembering.

Underwhelming

Not garbo but not great either. First Listen?: Y Fav. Tracks: --- Rating: 2/5

I've come to hate britpop but this had a bit more punch than I expected. Probably better than Urban Hymns but both could do with cutting 1/3rd of the tracks and making a listenable album experience.

A couple of days ago I got another Verve album and I could not, for the life of me, distinguish them. Same complaints I have: long and boring britpop from the 90s. Seriously after listening to these two albums this band has like 1 song they've rewritten over and over again. I dunno why both of these albums needed to be here when clearly they are the same fucking album. 1.5/5

Just okay. Whenever I go to the artist, the album that this website picks is never their top album or even their second top album. Interesting choices.

All music from the entire history of mankind to choose from, and here I am listening to yet more excessively British shit. 2/5.

Not my cup of tea. I really like Urban Hymns, but this one.. I am not convinced

strong disagree with 1001 author PS's final line. bittersweet is verve at their best. is it an overplay? yes. is it better than any track on this album? yes! that's how it got overplayed!

Some of these album selections really peg the book’s author as a British fella who came of age in the early 90s.

Huonolla tavalla raskas levy että pisteet taitaa parantua kun oli lyhyt palaveri välissä kesken kuuntelun. Huumeet ei selkeesti toiminu tämän levyn aikana...

like the sound but nothing stood out on first listen

A deathly dirge and the lovely History. Having done this and Urban Hymns I think I've realised that The Verve's string arranger is the only member with any real talent.

The album was just meh. It did not have The Verve's most well known song. The songs were uninspiring and unmemorable. There is no need to listen.

Una altra banda més que sobrevalorada. Cal reconèixer la potent imatge i el carisma de Richard Ashcroft, però la lisèrgia i psicodèlia revisitada pels '90 d'aquest disc és molt lluny de resultar encissadora. L'ambient està ben trobat, però no hi ha cançons. El posterior 'Urban Hymns' almenys tenia 3/4 temes demolidors. Aquest simplement no en té cap

2.4 - A muddled and bloated mess. Listening to this album is like watching my 4 year old fingerpaint. He’s eager to experiment with all the colors so he slathers them all on with abandon, smooshes them together such that his canvas ends up looking like a giant smear of diarrhea.

Best doctor prescribed cure for insomnia on this list yet. They should put "BETTER THAN AMBIEN" on the cover of this dull ass white people album

I in general LOVE 90's music...and have always considered myself a bit of an Anglophile. But this is boring. 1.5/5

never have gotten why people loved this album. Urban Hymns is the masterpiece, this would have never made me listen to the Verve again.

Meh.

No thanks

Meh, 90s manchester sound. Pretty generic. They didnt deserve the stupid lawsuit and Im glad the rollimg stones came to their senses and gave credit and money back to Ashcroft.

Some of the songs I liked, such as Stormy Clouds, but the generic alternative rock songs I didn't care for.

A volte il cantante ricorda Bono. Non trovo nulla che mi colpisca particolarmente.

Meh. Bleh

Started off promising but went downhill. Brainstorm interlude not good .

More drones than the Obama administration

Much preferred Urban Hymns... I gave that a 3 (harsh) so I guess I have to give this a 2 lol

Not quite sure why everyone thinks this has Radiohead vibes. If it does, it's but a poor imitation.

Si, estuvo bien.

First listen. Nothing stands out to me on this album. Every song is very forgettable. Maybe it will get better next time I hear it. 2/5 for now.

Un poco rollo.

I only knew The Verve for Bitter Sweet Symphony, and after listening this album I can see why. This was quite boring.

I can't say they don't know how to play their instruments but I can say I will never listen to this again. I'm not a fan of  dreamy music like this.

So, a few seconds after I listened to the Cardigans, I played this album. The differences were quite apparent: The (Verve) production is muddier; the vocals are hard to make out; the songs are less distinctive. To quote a reviewer, “The songs are long and have little structure, the production is murky and raw and harrowing, the tempo is unchanging to the point of testing endurance. There is no joy or even solace to be found in this record, only unforgiving turmoil.” I would add that “History” sounds like a prequel to "Bitter Sweet Symphony” and the lawsuits that followed. My mark might be a bit more harsh than normal, but I couldn’t score it within a point of The Cardigans.

I’m so done with 90s Brit-pop. They all sound like cheap Oasis knock offs and this was the least inspiring one yet.

2/5 Not really interesting, pretty boring

The Verve will always be low rent Oasis.

Meh

I love love english alt rock, but I don't think I'm a huge fan of this album :/ I'm pretty emo but this is too emo

Interesting at times but ultimately not really for me

It was alright. Nothing special for me.

Quite nondescript. Nothing outstanding here at all. Would rather re-listen to Count Basie tbh!

Richard Ashcroft can't hold a tune

2.5

A classic British alternative rock album from the 90's. It suits the themes of alt rock from the 90's perfectly, which ironically also makes the music so forgettable to me. Might as well just listen to any alt rock album from this time period to find the same sounds.

Not memorable.

clangy and messy

All sounded a bit generic to me.

Overly long, overly shit.

Fucking Wigan pie nonces. if it wasn't for 'this is music' then this album is knocking about in the colplay bin of meh.

Meh. Nothing special, some good songs.

Jaa ne

eh

Just a bit boring really.

This was a sensation back in the day, I recall the stir it caused whilst I were nought but a mere schoolboy. Utterly strange, given just how dull it is. Richard Ashcroft must be one of the most boring people in the music biz, and he's up against Moby and half of Blur for that accolade.

Northern monkey's have northern souls

Manche songs kann man hören, manche nerven mich. Ich bin heute generisch unterwegs. 2

This is a no go from me. So 90's and not in a good way.

Not really my cup of tea.

Meh

Nada especial ATTE: La neta

I have enjoyed The Verve in the past and like many, I've spent hours listening to the great Bittersweet Symphony. Urban Hymns as a whole has a large presence in my music history. This album did not grab me, and none of the songs really stood out for me. It's interesting to hear a stepping stone to a much greater album - but not something I would return to.

Bittersweet Symphony is all I need. This is way more verve than necessary

It's fine.

это ок. просто ок. если все предыдущие альбомы имели существенные элементы, из-за которых их НУЖНО слушать, то тут я таковых не увидел. вдобавок, здесь нет ни одной песни, которую я мог бы выделить себе на прослушивание отдельно. как итог, лучше послушать oasis или blur, у них всего больше.

"Bittersweet Symphony" is a great song, but beyond that I've never truly listened to the Verve. I am very aware that their frontman Richard Ashcroft is as offputting but secretly brilliant as his fellow Brit Pop contemporary, Liam Gallagher, but I have never listened to one of their albums in full, including "Urban Hymn." A Northern Soul feels like a clear line in the sand of what kind of band The Verve were and frankly it's a bit listless. There are many parts of this album that hit a certain appeal to me: fuzzy psychedelic riffs, funk groove bass lines, and Ashcroft's singing and lyrics offer the kind of philosophical crisis I associate with some of my favorite artists. After the first 3 tracks though it becomes painfully obvious that this album is a one note record that might as well be one long form song. That's not a compliment even if I will admit it created the ability for my mind to wander into some ambient like state for a bit. As much as I love my British rock bands this is another case of the Brits making a hyperbolic case for what ultimately doesn't translate to American audiences.

Has some shoegaze notes but feel like this is more a product of something related to Madchester. A little bit long and pretty hazy. Never really been a big fan of The Verve, this isn't really changing anything. Favorite tracks: "A Northern Soul", "Life's an Ocean"

Kind of expected to like this because I like the song Bittersweet Symphony. Boy was I wrong. One of the most boring forgettable albums I have listened to. I listened twice and literally can’t remember one song.

Fucking wankers!

This was a tough listen. Nothing on this album is truly terrible, which is about the only good thing I can say about it (A Northern Soul gets pretty close though). When you zoom out this whole thing is just one big nothingburger. There are no memorable songs, and everything is painfully generic. This sounds like a bad mashup of Radiohead, Blur, and Oasis. If Britpop had horsemen, this album would be Pestilence. It’s frequently reverb’d, delayed, and distorted well past the point of enjoyment and lacking in the focused production and sharp songwriting that they’re trying to emulate. When it’s not, the off key singing rips you right out of your immersion. The album also meanders around like crazy. Why is almost every song 5+ minutes long? It suffers from the same self-indulgence that I called out in Made In Japan, except this was a studio album!! Good god man, spend some time on the cutting room floor. 2/10

Zero stars would be accurate. Woke up after 40 minutes, thought it was still the first track.

So whiny. Very dated. No appeal at all.

One dimensional emoting over a lumping dirge....

The most entertaining thing about this is the cover image - never have four young men taken themselves more seriously. Unfortunately the music contained within is excruciatingly dull.

This list was supposed to be fun ...

Are you joking me? I’d never heard this previously and thought I’d know exactly how it sounded and sadly was proved right. One star. Tom.

No me gustó mucho la verdad

Not for me

p765. 1995. 1 star. Poor man's Oasis without the tunes. This is not their best work, and I have no idea why it is on this list.

Awful. Nothing more to say, just awful.

1. muzic - 1 2. ouun - 0 3. goez - 1 4. zoul - 1 5. brain - 0 6. drive - 0 7. hiztory - 0 8. knock - 0 9. cloudz - 1 10. reprize - 1

Adored by music critics. Full of faux anguish, and Britpop Beatle-isms. Richard Ashcroft has a whiny, hectoring vocal style, which I found very tiresome. Derivative and dreary

Tämä levy oli aika paskaa, laittaisin melkein ”tekotaiteellisen skeidan”-lokeroon, ei jäänyt yksikään biisi mieleen. Liian iisiä poppia. Wikipedia artikkelin luettuani ymmärsin, että levy on tehty ekstaasin voimalla ja sen kuulee. Tämän jälkeen tehty Urban Hymns löytyy omasta hyllystä ja sitä on tullut kuunneltua aikanaan paljonkin.

Overall nothing spectacular. My dad showed me this band many many years ago. I've mentioned it before but he LOVES brit rock/pop bands so that's what I grew up with. The production was nice and his vocals are for sure recognizable. but sadly i found this album just kinda boring.

Did I listen to a different band when I listened to "Urban Hymns"? Because this thing is incredibly boring and tedious. I don't understand, I like their following album, so why I find this so tiring? This album is supposed to be spacey britpop, but neither it is immersive nor has a big atmosphere nor it is catchy nor memorable. The songs go for so long and never deliver anything interesting, making them super dragging. The vocals are incredibly monotone and I felt like I was listening to the same exact melodies on every song, with a lack of emotional expression. The guitars and bass may be bathed in distortion and reverb, as expected from neo-psychedelia, but they don't build any spectacular ambience. It is space rock! It is supposed to be grandiose, not feeling like in a big blank room that is just pure white and boring. Well, maybe there are some moments where they come close to be big, like in the ending track, but in general, it is very flat. And there is not really anything more to talk about because this thing is truly that one-dimensional. I'll add the clarification that I've being feeling extremely tired all day, but even after taking a nap and feeling refreshed, my opinions didn't change when I gave this another try. What a disappointment.

Omg, no. My first DNF of this project. Crappy singing, dumb lyrics, and boring music.

Did not like. Very heavy.

I wish I had a picture of the face I made when I opened the generator and saw that this was my 800th album. I could not believe this band had more than one album on this list. I also said “no shot this is over an hour long” when I saw the runtime, but whatever. That’s the way she goes. They are reaching for the loudness and catharsis of Oasis, but the mixing flattens everything into one bleak wall of sound. The songs are underwhelming and arrangements uninspired. Maybe that’s too unkind, but I don’t know how else to communicate how uncompelling this was to me. Apparently most of the band was taking ecstasy and yelling in the studio? I actually wish I could hear that. This is emphatically not ecstasy and yelling music. Happy 800th to me.

I see why I only know one hit from this band.

I like Urban Hymns well enough, but don't see any reason for including this one in the book. It's long, meandering and pretty dull, tbh. I don't care how much ecstasy they took - they need more than that to make a compelling album!

Nop... niet mijn ding

Crappy album. I really hate Britpop. It all just turns into a wall of noise.

Weinerlich, eintönig, langweilig, nervig!

I don’t like the Verve and I heavily dislike shoegaze. Like has there ever been another genre so dull and unappealing? And the Verve are so good at being droning pieces of trash. The entire hour of A Northern Soul was monotonous. I would rather listen to this album instead of nails on a chalkboard, but that’s not enough for a 2.

I hated The Verve’s other album on this list, why would this one be any different?

You can't keep making 6 minutes songs where the singer is hanging out on one note the whole time and nothing happens. No movement, verveless. Stop this madness.

I really hate this band. Whiny voice. Boring. At least we didn't have to suffer through Bittersweet Symphony on this album, but that's not going to save it.

Surprised to learn that these guys not only have more than one song, but at least two whole albums of them? Wow, also, did not know they were psych rock. I liked the songs where they leaned into the heavy psychedelia the most. Disliked the "we have Oasis at home" parts so much that I did not finish the record. Like this just does not belong on this list and I'm starting to get angry with this publication.

First song good, last song good, one part of the 4th song I think, the one with the freak out ending, the other 50 mins were ugh.

I hope they were going for irony with the title. This is soulless generic mid 90s brit pop garbage

Absolute drivel! Some tracks the production is just awful.

Boring

Mkay.

The biases of the list curators is beginning to show. Repulsive.

But why is this here?

Not very interesting. Not my bag.

Kinda boring, kinda lame.

This music feels unfinished

Terrible, sounded like they were all playing in different rooms then just mashed together

Did not like this album. Everything kinda sounds the same, found it dragging and hard to get through. Just a lot of sound and nothing really important.

Awful stuff. No business being on this list. 1/5.

Just a lot of slow, boring noise. The singing is whiny and the songs are just bland, and when you think you have something chill to listen to it pivots into super screechy guitars for no reason

Vibes of local band make overblown attempt at immortality. It's amusing how much the length and tone of the Wikipedia entry match how overblown this is. Their songs are all half an idea stretched clumsily over six minutes.

I like melancholy music, sad works for me. This is just downright miserable though. There's nothing interesting going on at all, just a whining voice over whining music that makes me want to throw myself off something high. It's all so unnecessary.

3 song rule...DNF

Never really got The Verve.

This was incredibly boring.

Seriously, putting one Verve album on this list is inexcusable. But 2? That’s a cry for help.

Dog shit boring.

Man, like a derivative Radiohead and Oasis that drags waaaaaaay too long. Why the hell are these guys on here twice? 1 out of spite.

Boring. Dreadfully boring. I’m astounded they were able to write so many songs that I could forget as they were happening. Once again, this list platforms an uninteresting album because of the UK bias. I hung on for some time, but when my brain had the thought “is this still going on?” I knew there was no hope for this album, nor any reason for it to be on the list.

Well this certainly made my work commute worse

Damn I do not like britpop, certainly hoping I’ve run down the amount that could even be in this list. I’ve realized that when I mock british accents, it’s not really speaking voices I’m mimicking but the way britpop singers sound.

This shit sucked in the 90s. It didn't age any better. Probably one of the most overrated and over blown bands in the last 30 years. (I can think of a few more, but this is a Verve review). If you love this band, you are lying to yourself

Whiny, dreary, a slog and a half, abysmal

Shite, turgid Gallagher-lite dross. It's chock full of meandering dirges. Pedestrian sound of British decline. Feels like going 3mph bus tour of Bolton in a clapped out British Leyland. Sixty four minutes of watching magnolia emulsion soak into a white wall.

Never liked them

This list looks more and more like "1001 Albums British People Need to Listen Before They Die"... I’m sorry, but the giganormous Brit-centric (and more generally Anglo-centric) bias is starting to show, and it's depressing. Do I really need to listen to every band that had some small degree of passing fame in the UK in the last 50 years ?... Verve is not a terrible band, and this album is not terrible either. But I really fail to see what it brings to the table in terms of creativity. With about as much punch as a glass of water, it’s rehashed, vanilla pop-rock tailored for radio stations. There are a few dreamy / psychedelic moments that could have been interesting, but they pale in comparison with what Radiohead was doing at the same time. Tolerable as background music, but also entirely forgettable. Certainly not my idea of an essential album. I tried to find reasons to rate it a 2*, but not one song stood out, not one moment surprised me – so no. 2/10

I didn’t like their next album when it first came out, so I gave this one some extra attention to see if age or … maturity might soften my initial impression of the band. It just came off again like some generic Brit shoegaze / pop with absolutely nothing standing out. Not that I really dislike it, it just leaves me completely numb. Every time Ashcroft sounds a bit off-key, I remember this is supposed to be a “must hear before you die” album, but honestly, it feels more like another dodgy Brit thing that might finish me off before I make it to the end of the list.

nope

An album full of filler tracks. This one is just bland, fucking bland.

Tiresome

Couldn't get into it. 1/5

Boring Radiohead and Oasis inspired 90's Britpop.

dosadno, pičkasto i, što je najbitnije, predugo, repetitivno. stvarno je naporno slušat krindž stihove i po sto puta. da su pjesme duplo kraće bile bi znatno bolje. uz sve to omot je urnebesno krindž, koji je problem ovom liku šta se mršti, baš mi dođe da ga išamaram ko majmuna

this was always terrible

meh