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Urban Hymns by The Verve

Urban Hymns

The Verve

1997
3.37
Rating
28267
Votes
1
3%
2
14%
3
38%
4
31%
5
13%
Distribution
Genres: Rock Styles: Indie Rock, Britpop, Alternative Rock

Reviews (page 8 of 14)

Instantly recognized the first song. Good album.

Hated the first two tracks, but the rest of thr album was great, really enjoyed the psychedelic sound (reminded me of radiohead) and cause of instrumentation reminded me of taylor swifts self titled album 6.5/10 (yeah that ella fitzgerald album was rated too high)

Felt like I went through a tunnel 😮‍💨😮‍💨

I would rate it 2 but bittersweet sympathy deserves its own star. A bit repetitive and songs are very long. Unsure if i love his singing style too.

As someone who tends to like Britpop, this album was decent. However, outside of the obvious Bitter Sweet Symphony, this album seems to lack memorable hooks. In terms of both length and pacing, I would compare this to Suede's Dog Man Star, but that album both was not quite as lethargic, and the ballads actually had better hooks and guitar lines to latch on to. This album is just too long, and although I liked the guitar, I did not find the vocals particularly memorable. This could get 4 stars if it was significantly shorter, but I feel like this has to get 3 stars.

This one is okay. It’s just not my thing.

I wasn't looking forward to this as I remember The Verve being pretty dull indie by numbers and Urban Hymns is over an hour long. In the end though, it wasn't that bad. I wouldn't choose to listen to it, but I'd be perfectly fine with having it on while I was doing something else.

Bittersweet Symphony is a bop of course. Other than that, I didn’t connect with any of the songs.

Liked it, didn't love it. Similar feelings to Bittersweet Symphony - some songs I really like and would keep listening to, but definitely not a no-skip album for me

First song is iconic. The whole album was kind of forgettable the first listen, but then the second listen I started to understand the vibe of it all. Seems like a chill album for a nice cup of coffee on a rainy day. I think I will revisit this album but so far it didn't stick much on my mind after 2 listens. 6.8/10

Just made me want to listen to Oasis instead

Apparently, this album dominated British popular culture in the late 90s. I only had a passing similarity due to streaming algorithms pegging me as a potential fan. When this album was big, I’d just started graduate school and it was my lifetime low for exploring new music, perhaps because my mind was exploring new things elsewhere. For my limited exposure The Verve aligned with my vibe, so I started my listens being psyched for a deeper dive. McCabe’s guitar work is impressive. I could listen to that shit all day. Every tune where he is allowed to shine benefits. The more poppy ballads on the album don’t do much for me, although I can see how songs like “The Drugs Don’t Work” could become pop culture zeitgeist. The trippier tunes like “Catching The Butterfly” or “Weeping Willow” are better, or at least more interesting, the instrumentals are just better. I listened to this album more often than I typically do, mainly because I kept thinking that it should be grabbing more than it was. I understand the vibe is different on The Verve’s other albums, which I’ll explore, perhaps that will give me some insight into what I’m missing here.

La première musique est classique mais sinon juste sympa

Sympa mais de moins en moins bien au cours de l'album. Enfin j'aime pas Bittersweet Symphony, puis c'était super, puis c'était Oasis. ---------- --------- ------- ----- BZBZBZBZBZ OUIN ----------- ---------- en gros c'était comme ça

Only listened to half the album, it was a great album from the songs I listed too, but not really my vibe, the songs seemed too long in my opinion.

Their sound is good but they really feel like a one hit wonder. No other track really stuck out and sounds a bit like a budget version of oasis.

I saw this band in 1993 at Le Bataclan in Paris. U of I had an exchange program there. The Verve opened for the Smashing Pumpkins. James Iha came on stage with a paper bag on his head and baguettes coming out of his sleeves and slinky danced. He said his name was Baguette Man. I bought the Storm in Heaven CD. I smoked weed with friends and listened to it. I listened to this album less. I’m sure I like that first album because it was my intro to the band. It’s less about Richard Ashcroft’s singing and the melody writing, and more about hazy dreamy psychedelic rock. It also didn’t have any mega hooks like Bittersweet Symphony. I’m glad the guy finally got paid for his efforts. There are a few tracks on here I like beside it as well.

Pretty good, and showed me there was more to the Verve than Bittersweet Symphony. (About which I vaguely remember there's one of those unjust music-IP-troll stories in which the band gets screwed and some parasite benefits heavily.) Liked Drugs Don't Work, Space and Time, a few others quite a bit. OTOH I found a few songs dull and repetitive. So, a 3.

3/5 - The front half of this album is pretty good, especially when they turn up the volume like on Rolling People. Bittersweet Symphony is a sweeping classic, and I can’t fault it just because I’ve heard hundreds of times. The back half has some boring filler, but all around this is inoffensive, if generally unexciting 90s Britpop/rock.

Great opening song with a few other good cuts.

Bittersweet Symphony carries this album, *hard*.

Liked it fine, it didn't leave a strong impression

Radiohead is that you?

I changed my mind so many times about this album while listening to it. The singles on this album are great and the first four songs get the album off to a great start. Then Catching the Butterfly Comes. It’s a decent song, followed by 3 minutes of guitar solos very similar to the track before it. The short and shoegazey Neon Wilderness is a breath of fresh air before the album threatens to lose me again. My ears perk up at Weeping Willow and I have the pleasure of an incredible run of songs to finish the album. Obviously Lucky Man is great, but I did really enjoy This Time and the album's ending in chaos with the very trippy Come On. The hidden track at the end is a fun detail but it doesn’t really add anything musically. In summary- when this album is great, it’s really great. I would agree with it being essential listening. However, it really could benefit from a haircut. Hence the 3 stars. I would give it 3.5 if I could but there are one too many songs on there that I want to skip.

Best wel leuk! Wel wat lang

Enjoyable with some Brit-Pop Classics that even I now - 1 extra star for the Bitter Sweet Symphony, what a melody!

Not a bad album at all. Enjoyed it. Couple of very popular ones to sing along to as well

Started off with a classic that was once one of 30 songs on my first MP3 player for a long time. nice few songs i knew in this one. last track not my cup of tea but id happily listen through this album again.

Enjoyed it particularly with the opening tune. Started well and dropped off as we went.

One of these sounded familiar, think I'd heard it before

Starts with a bang and then just draaaaaaaags. There's a lot to like here and ¨Sonnet¨ for me is the standout track. I just wish the songs wouldn't meander so much- it could get away with it if it was shoegaze but not being Britpop.

Really evokes a certain hard-won zen. Less macho than Oasis, less angsty than Radiohead, and less anthemic than Coldplay, they sometimes reach in vain to get there and other times self assuredly settle in to their own niche, more danceable and psychedelic than all three put together.

Some good songs. More psychedelic than I thought. Wasn’t amazing

I like a good portion of this album. It's definitely one you listen to if you're into a certain vibe. Like a slightly psychedelic, sample supplemented, indie rock type beat. Obviously the big hit, "Bittersweet Symphony" is borderline flawless and easily the best song on the album. There are some deep cuts on here that are genuinely good songs like "Space and Time" "Sonnet" and "This Time" are some quality tracks. The rest of the album has kind of a mishmash of hazy instrumentals that for me were hard to differentiate from one another. I ended up becoming fatigued trying to set some songs apart. So the albums has a little bit of bloat at 14 tracks. But when the tracks stand out they're like REALLY good. I may have to sit with it and give it another listen with these thoughts in mind but for now....I say it's solid for what it is.

Why is it so long?

I think we just have a copy of this album somewhere on CD. It certainly seemed familiar, beyond the obvious tracks. And was a lot better than the previous Verve album I'd listened to earlier this year. Perhaps that's the familiarity, I'm not sure. But this was OK.

Honestly more interesting than I expected but doesn't really amount to more than watered down Spiritualized for me. Bittersweet Symphony apparently is well-loved online which I don't understand at all and it is one of the worst songs here for me Fav song: The Rolling People

This is a great album. I think the hysteria around Brit Pop clouds some opinions of some great music around that time. Saying that you can hear the Oasis influence slightly too much at parts

Так и не определился, насколько он мне нравится.

It's a fine 90s background album. Some cute stuff like reprising the Bittersweet Symphony violin theme in other songs.

Bitter Sweet Symphony kennt man natürlich, ansonsten wehleidiger Britpop von dem ich kein Fan werde dieses Jahrhundert

sweet gestartet, bitter weitergegangen, guter pun, danke

= The Beatles

Enjoyed listening once again but nothing getting added to my playlist so bog standard 3 beans

Not many standout songs but good background music. Better version of Oasis.

Album was indeed Bitter Sweet, peaking after the first song. Was heavily carried by a few songs.

Great album to vibe out to, but got a little bored

i think "sonnet" and "the drugs dont work" are pretty alright, but this albums shtick gets old after "space and time", aka this albums mission statement, because my god these songs can be long and quite boring in my opinion.

Not horrible, would definitely play again - just not over and over.

Nice vocals and nice musical arrangements. A good album overall.

Classic bangers. Easy to have in the background. Hard for me to appreciate how groundbreaking this is because I'm so used to hearing the hits

Listenable.

Like..not bad but not fantastic

Pretty Okay

A few very good songs, but a lot of bland ones too.

A few standout songs on this with Bitter Sweet Symphony being a long-time favourite. Otherwise good background music.

Fine but generally bland.

Nice. Slightly boring

I think I dismissed this album as a contrarian young person. Bittersweet Symphony was such a momentous cultural moment, an acme anvil dropped on society. It's hard to overstate how big this song was. I thought it was so uncool because of that. But listening to it along with the rest of the record I see it for what it is, an absolute behemouth of a track.

I have to admit, I always thought Bitter Sweet Symphony was U2. Enjoyable.

Used to own this album, so have listened to it quite a few times. In general I think it is good, but not great.

Should just be bitter sweet symphony 13 times. Good hit but the rest underwhelmed.

Never knew who was bittersweet symphony before this, banger. The rest of the album felt pretty samey towards the end but I liked it enough to stay at three.

Half these songs are too long

Urban Hymns is a high 3 for me so slightly better than expected, it mixes a few genres I’m fond of but unfortunately has a big dash too much of Brit pop for me, especially in the vocal delivery - I definitely prefer the more exploratory gazey tracks

I remember in grade 6 at my Christian school we did a dance telling the story of Creation in assembly set to Bittersweet Symphony. I believe I was a bird with feathers stuck on a baseball cap, and my friend was a jellyfish with a classic umbrella-based costume. Looking back, you would be hard pressed to find a song with less suitable lyrics! I can’t believe they chose it, it must have been just an instrumental version? But the song is a real banger nonetheless and that memory made me smile. Rest of the album isn’t great though, there’s a few nice tracks but it mostly sounds like Oasis I think. (3.5 stars)

I thought I had never heard of this band or album before, but I was surprised by how many songs I recognised. And yet, none of them really moved me. A very forgettable 90s sound.

Good album. Nothing that exciting.

Middle of the road. Drones through a rainy Tuesday morning. I'd be fine with it on, but there isn't much to remember about it other than Bittersweet Symphony which is incredible.

Mixed from my perspective. There are some songs in here that I really like but there is a bunch of boring filler. A hybrid of other Britpop bands and you can see the influence/range of songs. Just scrapes a 3 from me.

Fine songs, but they are all so damn long. I'd think I would've disliked it more based on it being a male singer 90s album, but it's moreso a bit over meh. Buoyed by the two songs I knew previously by The Verve.

Not that special but good

Another very marmite album, judging from the reviews. I loved it at the time and think it has stood the test of time pretty well

A perfectly pleasant listen — polished, mellow, and surprisingly restrained. I respect what Urban Hymns is going for, but “Bitter Sweet Symphony” towers over everything else here. The rest fades into a kind of agreeable background hum — nice, but not especially memorable.

Pretty standard Britpop classic. didn’t still out to me too much, but it had it’s moments

Not a bad listen, good for an album to put on for a day around the house.

Smooth jams, great travel background music

low 3 stars for me, wasnt very memorable

Bland and nearly made me fall asleep but not entirely bad

I generally don’t like britpop *that* much. This one didn’t really do it for me. Quite generic, not very interesting. Yeah Bitter Sweet Symphony has a nice instrumental

Bittersweet symphony bangs

Not my type but good musix

Ashcroft knows how to write a good song.

Starts with their biggest hit. The rest sound like they could have also been their biggest hit. What I am trying to say is that all of their music sounds the same. 5/10

Bittersweet Symphony and Lucky man are great. The rest of this album is kind of like a mix between U2 and and Oasis but sort of more bland than either. And remember when bands found out that they could put a 'secret song' on the end of a CD? That was dumb. Like why would I want to listen to 10 minutes of nothing just to hear the shitty 'song' (more often than not just a couple of minutes of random noises as is the case here) that you didn't deem good enough to actually be included on your record for real. I'm glad society moved passed that. It was kind of like the post-credits scenes that every movie seemed to have for a stretch of years more recently. We're kind of coming to the end of that fad too. Anyway, I'd give this one a sold 3/5. It's not going to blow anyone away, there are a couple of good songs, some people will absolutely love it, but it is pretty bland and generic mid-90s Brit alt.

Pretty good. Bitter Sweet Symphony is terrific.

Before listening to this album, I have always thought The Verve are fairly dull but not actively annoying, aside from Bittersweet Symphony which deserves its reputation. This album did nothing to change either opinion. 5/10

I was excited when I saw this album come up. I never knew anything past Bitter Sweet Symphony, which I always thought was a cool song, so I was looking forward to what else they had. Sorry to say I was disappointed overall. Everything was just kind of meh and sounded the same to me. It wasn’t bad, it wasn’t great. And it was too long - don’t need 1 hr 15 minutes of the same thing over and over. There were a couple songs I enjoyed, but didn’t have the time to go back again and figure out which ones they were. Overall giving it a 3 because it was fine. PS - Was that the sound of cats dying on that hidden track? That was rough.

I don’t know much about The Verve so I was intrigued to listen to this album. Started off great with Bittersweet Symphony so I leaned-in a little harder. From that point on, the songs were good, but nothing earth-shattering. This is the type of band that if a buddy had an extra ticket to their concert, I would go and would probably have a good time, but I’d never seek them out on my own. Decent music but when it’s said and done it was an average band with one song that went viral.

This is typical 90s indie rock that doesn’t really go anywhere. Highlights like Bittersweet, Sonnet and The Drugs Don’t Work show the best tendencies of the band’s sound, but this album drones on and on and never really hits the level of those tracks again. This album would be better if it was 25 minutes shorter and the band had never listened to a Beatles album, as it seems they are trying to re-create a dreamy, ethereal quality reminiscent of the Liverpudlians’ best work. But all of their music is, ultimately, derivative of something, whether directly or stylistically and, therefore, forgettable.

Classic 90s band with that one iconic song we all know. Music is quality overall, but nothing that really grabs me and keeps my attention at a focused level. It’s all well produced and sequenced nicely. Vocals accompany instrumentation in a balanced way and vice versa. It’s worth at least a listen through once.

Jopa tuttukin biisi, ihan hyvää settiä, jotkut biisit ansaitsee 4 tähteä.

There is that one song.

The wikipedia entry for this album is insanely long (I guess in homage to the album?). Strong memories of The Drugs Don't Work being everywhere around the time my gran died. Then Diana dying and getting all the attention. Diana has an insanely long wikipedia too. And she was 36 when she died?! Seems mad to have outlived her. In my head she was at least 45.

Some cracking singles, great hits! Lush production and great instrumentation But About 30 minutes too long, they should have just kept the Hymns and cut out the urban.

Meh. Bittersweet symphony is a masterpiece but I am not breaking any news with that! The rest if this album is just okay for a rainy day when all my other plans have fallen through.

I have a really hard time giving a shit about anything Brit pop. I’m sure if you were college aged in the UK around the time it was popular, it probably feels super important. But with a little geographic and temporal separation, I think we can see it for what it really is: just ok at best, unremarkable and boring at baseline, and kinda shit far too often. 3/5 Highlights: Bitter Sweet Symphony Catching The Butterfly One Day Velvet Morning Come On / Deep Freeze

This is The Verve we know and like. "Bitter Sweet Symphony" was a smash hit on MTV and deservedly so even though they may have stolen the violin from The Stones "The Last Time." Urban Hymns is a little long but I liked it all except for "Sonnet." The band continues to explore an eerie, mystical sound. They are like a blend of Oasis and Radiohead. I even liked the hidden track with the creepy baby. 2.85 for the record.

I had really only ever heard Bittersweet Symphony before - which I thought was a very catchy pop song. I was pleasantly surprised by the strength of the rest of the songs on this record - solid album.

Depri Rock. Aber einer der besseren

big meh, except the obvious winner with 1.5B views

Started better than I thought bit did drift off Don't think many.of the songs justified their 5minute+ song length

A few incredible songs which one might wish to argue belong on a “1001 singles to hear before you die” compilation, but beyond those and a few decent tunes, we are sailing a sea of unremarkable pleasantness with a light breeze and no sign of it changing anytime soon

This is an ok album. I just don't find it exciting. Very easy listening.

I think this is the most neutral I have ever been to one of these albums. Curtis said it perfectly, I sort of felt like I was in a Boy Meets World episode for the entire album. Didn't hate it, but I don't think I'll ever listen to this again.

Aside from unfinished symphony, which I haven’t heard in 30 years 40 years I’ve never heard this album before I found it quite enjoyable and really liked the song when the drugs don’t work

Middle of the road. Apart from the obvious hits this is very one note. The hidden track is just a baby crying. No thanks.

Some good songs, but not great album in my opinion.

I was introduced to "Bittersweet Symphony" on the Las Vegas strip when some barely dressed dancers performed a dance number to the song at a show I attended. I was quite taken by both the dancers and the song and initially thought it was Bono and/or U2. I later learned that it was The Verve, a band I had never heard of prior to that. Bittersweet Symphony was a great start to the album (love the strings) but what followed was pretty forgettable and disappointing. Since I can't give this a 2.5 I'll award it a very generous 3.

You know, it was fine. Pretty decent, but forgettable.

Sempre tive curiosidade em ouvir este disco, por causa da faixa de abertura. É um álbum interessante, com bons momentos proporcionados pelas partes de guitarras, é um disco agradável, mas não chega a ser algo empolgante e distinto. Destaque para a faixa "Lucky Man", quando a harmonia entre vocal de instrumental se complementam. Disco de razoável para bom.

Bitter Sweet Symphony followed by 12 forgettable 90's English rock band tracks. The tracks that broke the mold a touch more (This Time, Velvet Morning) were enjoyable, but the rest felt like an Oasis coverband. Not bad, not great.

Pretty good pretty good, need more time with it. Bittersweet Symphony is obviously the standout, and the rest lacks compelling hooks. Pleasant noise though.

Didn't realise I'd heard their songs before. What do you know. Pleasant enough listening.

Oh okay so the better Oasis?

The singles are amazing. The rest is ok.

Sounded like the Smashing Pumpkins or Coldplay to me - Bittersweet Symphony raised it from a 2

Favourite Track: Sonnet, Weeping Willow Album Cover: accidental candid shot in Richmond Park, taken when the band were waiting for a second photographer.

I’ve always enjoyed this album but honestly, didn’t expect to see it here! Great songs and such a staple of it’s time.

Nice voice with touches of 70’s era Neil Diamond here and there. Needed more hooks to keep it interesting. 3/ 5

Indie sounding britpop. Some really good songs here balanced out by plenty of forgettable ones.

Bitter Sweet Symphony is iconic but otherwise this one didn’t really resonate with me too much. I enjoyed that the last song “Come On” has a hidden track at the very end…. if you keep it playing, goes from silent to kind of an ethereal melody with a baby crying sound at around 13:45 for a little over a minute.

This one was cool. I, too, was stoked to hear Bitter Sweet Symphony - it's a great song! I wasn't blown away by this album but did really enjoy the more ballad-like songs (Sonnet, The Drugs Don't Work). I can appreciate the grungy, 90s sound. 6.5/10

Was fairly certain I had never heard of The Verve. Then after the opening track bitter sweet symphony I knew I had at least heard one song many times before. The vocals sort of remind me of local artist JP Hoe.

Not a bad listen

More like 3.5 stars, really enjoying it at the start but began to sound quite repetitive. Still quite a good album

This shit is a fucking hour long and it all sounds procedurally generated. Decent production by 90s pop rock standards.

This one is hard to rate. It's got two alltime classics (The Drugs Don't Work and Bittersweet Symphony) and another two great tracks (Sonnet, Lucky Man) and then a bunch of what I regard as filler tracks that really doesn't do much for me at all. Definitely an album where I'd playlist the best songs and leave the rest behind.

Huge album at the time but it’s never truly clicked for me. Always ended up going back to their other albums. But Rolling People never gets old.

Classic 90s Britpop. Swaggers between Rock and guitar ballads, lots of simple string samples/arrangements peppered in, the occasional 70s psychedelic guitar tones. You'll probably recognise at least one song on here. Bittersweet Symphony is an anthem of that era. The Drugs Don't Work has one of the most depressing lyrics ever ("like a cat in a bag waiting to drown.."). There is a definite dip in noteworthy songs after the opening few tracks with maybe the exception of Lucky Man. It sounds like the 90s.

Chill. Good. Never listened to whole thing.

Two great songs and many good ones.

A bit dreary for my taste but I enjoyed the more well known tracks. Highlight track : The drugs don't work

A good few very good songs on this but it's all a bit too plain and uninteresting

Thoughts before listening: Brit pop with one killer song ("Bittersweet Symphony") and at least one other that is very good ("The Drugs Don't Work"). Review: I like this just fine. The hits I mentioned are great, but the album did drag a bit over it's 75 minute run time. U2 is a major influence here, and the album stays in a similar late 90s mid-tempo groove throughout. I was into punk rock around this time, and mostly ignored these types of bands. I can appreciate them a bit more now, but it's still very much a 3-star album to me.

It was good, just needed more to make each some unique and memorable. The length didn’t help it.

Underrated album overshadowed by a massive (and great) single. Dig a bit deeper, and there’s some really good 90s psych revival here.

Not bad.

Un álbum decente de Britpop que sería mucho mejor si fuese más corto. Aquí destacan canciones como Bitter Sweet Symphony, The Drugs Don't Work o Lucky Man. Sin embargo, siento que algunas canciones de la primera mitad son algo olvidables y el cierre se me hace excesivamente largo. 3'5/5

Starts off with one of the best songs on the 90s. The rest is okay, kinda more of the same sound - layered instruments and reverby vocals. “Sonnet” and “The Drugs Don’t Work” are nice slower songs. “Lucky Man” is probably my favorite (besides the first song). Overall not very exciting of an album but has a distinct sound.

Bittersweet Symphony is the known song to me. For me the rest of the album is okay.

yea that's a britpop album alright. Bittersweet Symphony is real great, and it's never like. bad. but its whole movement doesn't capture me much and this doesn't have the variety that some of the best britpop does. deserves to be one of the 1001? uh yea sure. but i'd kick it out in favor of an Indonesian prog album

apart from their iconic opening track the album as a whole was pretty middle of the road late 90s altrock. decent.

Feels like a bad ruined by the meteoric rise of a single, which then defined them in everyone's eyes. Kinda fun until I had the realization they sound like U2 and then finishing was tough.

Controversially, I don’t like this album that much, Ashcrofts voice does my head in and I don’t think he’s a very good song writer. It’s also fucking LONG. But saying that, bittersweet symphony is arguably the greatest British song of all time. 2.5/5

Its nice actually

This is our big FUCk U

-britpop -easy listening -would’ve enjoyed loads when I started playing kit -classic re bssymphony -album grows on me as it plays through

It is, in fact, a bittersweet symphony, but that's life.

My partner has never watched Cruel Intentions so he will never understand Bitter Sweet Symphony like I do.

3.3/bitter sweet is the only good song

I doubt this would have made the list without the opening track. Well... I disagree with the list frequently enough that I take that back. I think it's pretty forgettable other than the opener though

Starting of with Bitter Sweet Symphony is like baiting, because it never gets better than that. Sure there are other moments on this album, but they are few. Can't say there is anything bad on 'Urban Hymns' it is just al around forgettable. And they had no right to make me wait 10 minutes for a hidden track, that wasn't even interesting.

3 // brit pop, fun, definitely not bad, but didn't really do anything for me

Good but not amazing, besides Bitter Sweet Symphony, which is a certified banger. Fave song: Bitter Sweet Symphony Honorable mentions: Drugs Don't Work, Catching The Butterfly

Pretty good but not exceptional. Favourite Song: Bitter Sweet Symphony Honourable Mention: The Drugs Don't Work

pretty good chill/slower album

I wanted to like this album more than I did. Kind of wild to start with "bittersweet symphony" as it seems to have a slightly different production than the rest of the album which comes across as subdued. Song writing is good, music isn't half bad either but I felt that if I put this album on and went about my day, most of it will become background noise.. Like a subtle soundtrack. The again... Maybe that's what they were going for. 3.5🌟

3 estrelas

7/10 Highlights: Bittersweet Symphony The Drugs Don't Work Lucky Man Catching the Butterfly Sonnet Velvet Morning

Way too long, at times noisy. The opening feat. Symphony and Sonnet are beautiful.

Enkele goeie nummers, maar soms wat eentonig of langdradig. 3 sterren

Best first song

Bittersweet Symphony is a jam for sure. When I saw that their other singles had WAY more listens I was intrigued, as I had never heard of any of the songs. Kind of a let down. Album was a 3/5 in the end.

The Furby Award for the most 90s album I've ever heard goes to...

Solid 2 opening tracks and closing track.

Good vibes!

suena como si oasis tuviera un hijo al que le gusta la música clásica.

I had a thing written here and it got eaten up. Suffice to say I enjoyed it.

Solid album. Bittersweet Symphony is of course an all-time classic song, but the rest of the album doesn't have anything that's a true "hit". Good tunes and great vibes, but not an all-timer full album to me.

Solid. Occasionally even really good. But it just makes me want to listen to similar, vastly more interesting records by Spiritualized and Swervedriver...

Going pop isn’t always a bad thing. A slightly bloated but quite good Britpop album. Best song: The Drugs Don’t Work

Bittersweet Symphony overshadows everything here. Generally pleasant stuff, nothing I would go back to. But symphony is a classic.

Bittersweet Symphony is an all timer, rest is fine enough. 3.5

I'm really beginning to worry about the integrity and diversity of this list. This is the second Verve album I've listened to on it this year. The second! The Verve! In the long history of, well, albums, is it really the Verve who deserve multiple albums on the list? Or is it the maker of the list showing their bias for British 90s stuff? Anyway, this one was fine.

Singles are great but felt this could have been trimmed down considerably. Quite long and similar songs.

Good nostalgia tunes. Remembered more than I thought I would.

J - 3/5 Best Track - "Bitter Sweet Symphony" F - 3/5

EN: The late 1990's and early 2000's were sometimes defined by uncreative, boring and oversentimental music. Sadly, Urban Hymns fall into this category, even though it is not the worst sample of it. It's undeniable that Bitter Sweet Symphony is a classic and deserves to be remembered as the great track it is. I also don't belive Sonnet or The Drugs Don't Work are particularly bad songs at all, but they are weaker than the first track. Overall, though there is some cohesion in this album, it's all so flat and boring that it's impossible to give it a higher rating. It's just an album that exists and that happens to have three or four memorable tracks, with only one of them being really great. --- PT-BR: O final dos anos 90 e o início dos anos 2000 foram, por vezes, definidos por músicas pouco criativas, entediantes e excessivamente sentimentais. Infelizmente, Urban Hymns se enquadra nessa categoria, embora não seja a pior amostra dela. É inegável que Bitter Sweet Symphony é um clássico e merece ser lembrado como a ótima faixa que é. Também não acredito que Sonnet ou The Drugs Don't Work sejam músicas particularmente ruins, mas são mais fracas que a primeira faixa. No geral, embora haja alguma coesão neste álbum, é tudo tão monótono e entediante que é impossível dar uma nota maior. É apenas um álbum que existe e que tem três ou quatro faixas memoráveis, com apenas uma delas sendo realmente ótima. 5,75/10

This was the jam in high school.

Acceptable I guess

This list sure likes its “waves”. Yet another entry from britpop. I had gotten somewhat fed up of the whole scene by the time of this. All that laddish arrogance just got boring, so I know the singles but don't remember hearing the whole album. It's OK, some good songs, but suffers somewhat from the curse of the overlong 90s cd, where it starts to feel padded and filler, even when no one song is terrible or even not too bad but there's no real flow, which affected acts at the time that I liked to start with much more that The Verve. There's some of that britpip attitude, all brash swagger n styling but like someone said this has the end of the party feel to it, which is it turns out it's stronger point. On its own it's an OK 90s rock album, uses it's best by far card at the start, though have soft spot for lucky man too, if it was a tighter 45 min album would probably enjoy it a lot more and revisit(?), but it isn’t , and it does the dreaded hidden track thing too, 3 Star

Liked Bittersweet Symphony

The album starts strong with possibly one of the best songs ever recorded and also the only Verve song I know (or so I thought). Why have I never dug more into the Verve considering I actually really like Bittersweet Symphony? Unfortunately, it’s kind of a step down in quality after Bittersweet Symphony. Nothing really stood out to me and a lot of the tracks just sounds like generic and derivative britpop (I genuinely thought Lucky Man was an Oasis song; the second Verve song I apparently knew). The tracks that did stand out just got annoying. For instance, Catching the Butterfly sounds interesting, but then he just keeps saying the same line about catching a butterfly in lucid dreams over and over for 7 minutes. All that being said, this isn’t actually a bad album. It was enjoyable to listen to, it just didn’t live up to the expectations set by the first song and it ends up sounding like every other britpop album on the list.

I feel like this is yet another album that could have been trimmed down. Almost every track goes on for a minute or two too long, just meandering with reverb-y guitars and a nasally drone from Richard Ashcroft. Considering how little variety there is on offer here, it could have done with being half the length. 'Bitter Sweet Symphony' is one of the all time great singles in my opinion. A fantastic track track, that has a more epic sound than the rest of the album thanks to the string section 'riff' that plays throughout the song. I don't care if it was ripped off or not, it gives me goosebumps. A brilliant opening, but unfortunately it never quite reaches these heights again. Overall, it's a bit sleepy, definitely too long, the same slow tempo throughout. It sounds a bit like a depressed and downbeat Oasis, and could really do with a kick up the arse. Despite that though, I did quite enjoy it up to a point then just became tired of it and a little bored. More listens would help I reckon, but with an album this long, I'm afraid my time is scarce.

enjoyable listen if not very memorable. bittersweet symphony is an all-timer though

Pretty good, bit too long. 3.5/5.

The Verve have a good singer, with good quality songs on this album. For me the album started great but lost steam as it went on. Most of the tracks ran on too long; I think they could have been shortened without losing anything.

6.8/10

Hahahahaha instantly started laughing when the first song came on. Is this song the only reason this album is on the list?

More BritPop! This is fine: grandiose, symphonic, dramatic. And some huge hits. And who hasn't listened to 'Bittersweet Symphony' ten thousand times?

Bitter Sweet Symphony... what a way to start an album. It's beautiful, well-palyed, and catchy as heck. The Rolling People is essentially an extended 70s-rock jam with a particularly great bassline. Lucky Man is possibly even more symphonic than the opening number, with a gorgeous cacophony of piano, strings, distorted guitar, and overlapping vocal lines. It's incredibly feel-good and is definitely the centrepiece of the album. But the quality is a little choppy across the rest of the album, with many tracks being passable but nothing special. Velvet Morning, Neon Wilderness, Come On / Deep Freeze... they're fine, particularly the guitar parts, but also pretty unmemorable and serve as generic filler (especially in the case of Come On / Deep Freeze). I'm half convinced all the top-voted reviews (i.e. all those 1- and 2-star ones at the top of the review page) are gut reactions from seeing any British album released in the 1990s on this list. It might amaze some of these people to discover that British music consists of more than one genre! Urban Hymns genuinely sounds nothing like the Britpop that swamps a great proportion of this list – apart from maybe the vocals (which admittedly aren't great). Everything else is so sonically versatile that I struggle to identify it with any one genre apart from, well, alt-rock (as the album's Wikipedia page identifies). It sounds a bit like The Bends-era Radiohead, which notably is not classified as Britpop. Finally, even if it is indeed Britpop, it can still be good. Which this album is, for the most part. 3/5 Key tracks: Bitter Sweet Symphony, The Rolling People, Lucky Man

Perfectly nice. In my mind I'm sitting on the grass on a cool afternoon, just like the Verve on their album cover. What a perfectly pleasant way to spend an hour. Nothing better to do. Just chill. Three low vibe stars. Right, that's enough off that then. Let's go and fuck shit up. Where's that Morrissey C*#@?

I was underwhelmed by this album. The songs on the album have a sameish quality to them that causes them to blend into one. It is the sort of album that could play through in the background on a chilled night in and except for one or two tracks you wouldn't notice it playing

It’s nostalgic

I got so sick of Bittersweet Symphony being overplayed on the radio, I steered clear of the album. But it’s a solid album, I was missing out!

Albums got some highs and lows, overlall it just falls in the middle for me. I will admit I love Velvet Morning.

Aside from Lucky Man there isn’t much here that I find interesting.

I liked this one more than the other The Verve album, and it has Bittersweet Symphony which I've always liked. But past that it's a fine album with some annoying parts.

Ok. Dated at this point. Was never a fan of the hit single, thought it was a bit repetitive. Strong Brit-Rock styling overall.

3 or 4 out of 5

Some really good songs here--"Bittersweet Symphony," "The Drugs Don't Work," Lucky Man"--but also a lot of filler and just boring Oasis or Radiohead-lite. It does get better as it goes with the more interesting songs toward the end. How could there be both The Verve and The Verve Pipe?

A very average britpop album that happens to have one of my favorite songs ever on it (not the one you think it is). "The Drugs Don't Work" is absolutely devastating, its like a knife to the chest. A masterpiece surrounded by mid. Favorite track: The Drugs Don't Work

Not bad but boring af

Not my kind of Music. There are no surprises on the album.

Not my cup of tea

Bittersweet memories...

It's fine

Better than I expected. Don't really get why this album seems to be so divisive.

3.5* 82%

A bit emo 🖤

Really liked a few songs on this. Hadn’t heard them in a while. Nice throwback to the 90s.

I wanted to like it, but something was just slightly off.

I love bittersweet symphony- it’s in one of my favorite movies. So I was excited. This was okay.

The classics are great! Bittersweet symphony, lucky man. But they also kinda just sound like Oasis with a touch of 90s Radiohead. I'll go with a 2.5 and round up for the hits.

Pretty cool overall!

This wasn't bad!

Decent

Pretty good but even though they formed before Oasis, their sound is too much alike. Not in a bad way but Oasis is much better and they kind of gravitated to that exact sound which is ok but males them a bit less relevant. Bittersweet was a massive hit because the producer killed it with the violins but other than that just a really good band second to Oasis

I find it hard to separate these tracks from the lad culture it seemed to epitomise, which I heavily disliked. But will have a go. Bittersweet is quite good, it is catchy, but the sample gets annoying after a while and I've heard it so many times - blah. Sonnet is brilliant, love that song. Drugs don't work is good, pretty catchy. Lucky man is meh, my memory of it is better than it is. The rest of the album is pretty forgettable. A few of them sound like stone roses b sides. I remember buying this album and being underwhelmed by it following the hype. My opinion hasn't changed.

Album 795 of 1089 The Verve - Urban Hymns (1997) Rating : 3.5 / 5 Some more decent British pop. 1st track is recognizable from Publix commercial and some past mild success. Pleasant listen. Good songs and performance. Well produced album.

This is a pretty solid album, and I think more would've gotten to hit status if it wasn't for the plagiarism controversy.

I’ve never heard anything but bittersweet symphony, and the rest so far sounds like an extended version of that song, which already has an extended version. But you could do much worse for a sleepy Monday morning

I’ve always felt that this album was/is completely overblown. It lived in literally every car CD book case I ever perused. It’s lovely here and there, and Bittersweet Symphony is iconic, but the rest of it feels as if it’s trying to be the most important Britpop album you’re ever going to hear in your life, all while keeping a steady slow to mid tempo range and sounding totally generic throughout. Some of these songs go on for too long for no reason and in the end, they all sound the same. The nail in this coffin comes at the end when Come On, a song that sounds exactly like everything that came before it, except for that he screams an insincere and apathetic “fuck you”, trudges on for almost 7 minutes only to have to wait another 6 minutes for the hidden track, which sucks. I always hated that trick on CD, but in the digital age, there’s no reason in this world to wait through minutes of silence for a hidden track. Nirvana did it on Nevermind, but at least that song is violently great and worth waiting for. Here it’s just sparkly guitar noise and the sound of a crying baby seal. Irritating and pointless.

Bittersweet Symphony is such a 90s anthem and one of my fave songs, but I’ve never listened to this album before and wasn’t familiar with any of their other work. Bittersweet is definitely the star. There were a few other standouts, but overall the vibes were a little too melancholy.

Klassisk britpop, men utenom bittersweet symphony er sangane ganske like og blandar i kvarandre

It was alright.

:shrug: Not for Me

Not too shabby! I was only vaguely aware of the name of Bittersweet Symphony, and had no idea who it was by, so that was cool!

Opening track is definitely the highlight. Otherwise, it's pretty much middle-of-the-road rock that's been drenched in reverb. It's a solid 2.5 stars, so I guess rounded to 3 stars.

A lovely album. I wasn’t really a fan growing up although I appreciated the singles so never listened to this album and glad I did now.

Excellent opener. Enjoyed the rest of the album as representative of an era I loved. However it mostly blended together for me and I don’t see myself returning to this often.

Bitter Sweet Symphony is incredible. The rest, not so much. I took a break after 5 songs where I thought everything after Bitter Sweet Symphony was uninteresting. The next day - Bitter Sweet Symphony - awesome. Everything else - meh. Nothing here is really bad, it's just forgettable. I also got the feeling that every track is about 2 minutes too long.

Not my cup of tea, but still a good almbum

Funky, I dig it. 3.5?

Had only remembered the hit “Bittersweet Symphony” but found myself really liking a number of tracks including “Catching the Butterfly”, “Space and Time” and “Lucky Man”. Better than I remember and expected

I’m a sucker for Bittersweet Symphony, which made me unprepared for how average/samey the rest of this album was. 😕

pretty solid. i can really hear some oasis in these tracks, but the verve have their own distinct sound at the same time.

Huge fan of Bittersweet Symphony. I was 13 when this was released and thought this was an epic song. Don't really know anything else by them. Track 2 sounds very generic to me. Track 3 gives me stone roses/oasis vibe

Another 3 stars!! I'm not sure if I'm getting into an indifferent mindset with music. It's either that or a lot of these albums are just truly uninspiring.

I’m A Million Different People 1001 Albums Generator 27 (05/09/2025) I was in Portland this weekend so no big review. It was alright, with the first half certainly being stronger overall. Bitter Sweet Symphony is a stone cold classic for a reason. Favs: Bitter Sweet Symphony Sonnet Lucky Man Least Fav: Velvet Morning

Some great tracks on this one, but maxing out the run time of a CD with plenty of filler tracks

Bittersweet symphony, The Drugs Don't Work and Lucky Man are all classic songs. The rest is ok and I did enjoy listening to it. 6/10

Very vibey album, but it can become a bit repetitive. Some songs really standout, like the opener with that great melody, but I wouldn't generally say there are some really weak ones.

Fine. Okay

It's an okay album. Obviously their big hit was Bittersweet Symphony, which was good as always. The rest of the album wasn't very notable, though. The songs felt connected and cohesive, but afterwards I couldn't pick one out of a lineup. They're not bad, though not excellent either.

Not a beig fan of their hit song here and the rest is pretty middle of the pack 90s.

Front loaded the good song so everyone could pack up quick. Considerate.

Iconisch 90-s Britpop album. Daarvoor vind ik 1997 altijd best last. Van veel nummers hebben beetje een Stone Roses vibe (Catching the Butterfly), maar dat was bijna een decennium eerder. En ook de hoogtijdagen van Oasis en Blur waren een paar jaar eerder. Op Urban Hymns staan natuurlijk een paar echt fantastische nummers. De rest is sferischer maar helaas niet echt sterk. Eigenlijk komt het er op neer dat waar het lijkt op Oasis (Space and a Time) of Stone Roses, het eigenlijk net iets minder is. Daar waar afwijken, zijn ze sterker. Hierbij vind ik Lucky Man de uitzondering. Dat zou ook één van de beste Oasis nummers zijn geweest, mits van hun. 7/10 Highlights Bitter Sweet Symphony The Drugs Don't Work Lucky Man

Bitter Sweet Symphony is one of the best songs of the 90s. Unfortunately the rest of the album doesn't hold up.

They really like that one synth patch, don't they? Listenable britpop that evokes the late 90s. Standout Tracks: Weeping Willow, This Time, and of course Bittersweet Symphony

I remember these guys from the radio.

The Good: It’s a Symphony! The Bad: It’s bittersweet… The Ugly: Having to wait 10 minutes to hear a baby cry… I recall thinking, when the video of the only hit these lads ever had came out, that here’s a clone of Oasis, also thinking they are god’s gift to humanity… I never listened to an entire album by The Verve, so this was a first… and my thoughts are bland… as that is what the album was for me: bland. It didn’t make me sit up and pay attention, it didn’t want me to hit the skip button… except by the time the last track came into play. So, I ask again, why is this an album that one needs to listen to before one dies? It contains 1 hit, and only thanks to the Rolling Stones, the rest of the album generates imagery of a pseudo nerd just sharing his thoughts… nothing rock n roll about this album at all. 2 1/2*

Iconic? Definitely. Boring? Sure is. And it just goes on and on and on. Cut like, 10 tracks out it still gets the same score.

Never knew The Verve had more to offer than their one violin laden hit. Turns out they're a much better band than that song suggests. Live and learn.

It's ok I suppose. I did expect to not like this more because of "Bittersweet Symphony" which upon relistening I like more than I used to. The rest of the album kind of just sounds like a Spiritualized rip off. "The Drugs Don't Work" is a good song with some good lyrics 6/10 Favourite: Bittersweet Symphony Least Favourite: Weeping Willow

Much like my review of The Charlatans Tellin' Stories from a few weeks ago... I'm of the age where I could appreciate The Verve when they broke out, they're a tidy band, neither too flashy nor underperforming and were more infamous with their never ending in-fighting and breaking up every other week and Richard Ashcroft properly hating Nick McCabe, but there's no world where this album is in a list of albums you must listen too. You could give me the entire paper content of an office supply store and I still wouldn't get to this album on that list. There's enjoyable stuff on here but it's only cracking the "best of 1997" top 10 lists of old british music rag journalists who wanked themselves blind over any band that knew three chords and could pull an unlikely hit out their arse (looking at you NME & Q). I mean, 1997 gave us great albums from Radiohead, Blur, Ben Folds Five, Notorious BIG, Foo Fighters, The Prodigy, Missy Elliott, Elliott Smith, Marcy Playground, Sneaker Pimps (those last three being released on the same day), Oasis, and Portishead, then even lower level UK guitar music scene stuff like aforementioned The Charlatans, Stereophonics, Cornershop, Robbie Williams, Ocean Colour Scene. And these were all released either before or the same day as this. "Bittersweet Symphony" is the stand out but it's long since been played out, and the whole album is overly long and wrought with the notion that length somehow equals epicness and endless lovelorn ballads is what the people wanted. Yeah, there's love if you want it, but it literally didn't need no sonnet.

I may not love Britpop, but Urban Hymns gets close to winning me over without ever actually getting there. No matter what, this is a huge improvement over A Northern Soul, which is bloated and full of itself and meanders into ‘60s homage to a degree that feels like riding an ouroboros. Urban Hymns, on the other hand, has some real stand out moments in it, and I think the songwriting itself is a lot stronger across the board. Sure, “Bitter Sweet Symphony” is a stone-cold classic, but “Sonnet” following it makes it a great one-two intro punch. I also think there’s a bit more mature variety on here, from “The Drugs Don’t Work” to “Weeping Willow,” which both provide great hooks around somber material and topics. Overall, I think Urban Hymns is a better record, a more maturely crafted work of art, and one that showcases Britpop in a better light, even if it isn’t the spark that lit the match, but rather the last big burst before a flameout. Still, The Verve suffer from the same problems here as they did on A Northern Soul. Songs can be bloated and run way past their denouement, even when they’re only 4.5 minutes long. There’s also a love for ‘60s British acts, psychedelia or no psychedelia, that feels more like dick-sucking than pastiche; in fact, it’s the most famous “flaw” of this album you could know about without hearing a single note of tracks 2-13. It is also very British, and as someone who hates that about Britpop, it’s hard to ignore, even though I know that’s an objectively unfair critique to lobby here when that’s also very much the point. To Urban Hymns’ benefit, most of these problems are dialed in a lot more, hence the maturity, but they’re still there, and they’re still problems. After giving it a few days of space, though, the enjoyment I felt was very ephemeral, and beyond the first couple tracks, none of this sticks with me. I still think it’s good enough while it’s on, though some moments are very self-indulgent and make me groan. Any album that makes you groan is an issue, even when otherwise decent. But when that decent material also leaves your brain after only a day or two?.. Pastiche only takes you so far. The song is better than the album, unless you’re a British lad, and even then, I think this is kinda thin representation for The Lads™️. Better in context of the band’s history and the history of Britpop overall, has its moments while it’s on, but even its best moments between tracks 2-13 don’t warrant the effort.

great stuff, especially on the first few songs

a great time

Cool but not great. Bittersweet Sympathy probably puts this above a regular 3 but not by much - 3.5

Some solid British rock

Love this album overall. It will stand the test of time. Class British 90's sound.

Some good songs that I remember listening to back when this came out. Brings back some memories of being at college in Lawrence, KS. I don't know that it's anything I would listen to these days but it's not bad and kind of nostalgic for me.

Pipe or no? No pipe. In the 90s the word Verve was so hot people were fighting over it. This album is real solid 90 Brit Rock no pop. Better than the single Bitter Sweet Symphony that always annoyed me. Also everyone who reads this owes Mick Jagger a dollar.

I can’t really explain why, but even though it’s generic and pretty boring, there’s something kind of wistful about this album that I like. (Well, even then, it starts to get old about halfway in…) Favorite: Bitter Sweet Symphony

A bit too loft. Neo psych without going all in. Mainly Im bored. Wheres the wit thats on Bitter Sweet Symphony. At least Lucky Man is also that good

Some good songs. Some really dated and boring ones.

Each song could be cut by an average of 2 minutes. Love the arrangements on the songs, they all sound good The writing of the music is so melodramatic that it pains me. They definitely listened to Oasis. I implore you to open any song on this album and randomly click through it, you cannot tell if the song just began, is in the middle, or is about to end, it all sounds the same.

It's not bad music, and there should definitely be a huge audience for it, but it's really not for me. It sounds a little bit like 'radiohead at home' without the huge peaks and experimentation, giving me quite the genetic and boring listen. Songs like bittersweet symphony and the drugs don't work are definite highlights

Amazingly, this is the first time I’ve ever listened to this entire album. Outside of Bittersweet Symphony (which is easily a top 10 alternative song from the 90s), the rest of the album is … fine. Some nice musical elements but all in all it’s kind of boilerplate mid/late 90s brit pop alternative. Fine, no complaints. Just not going to be an album I put on very often. 3 stars.

One of the best songs of the era. Plus some other stuff. Mostly alright, few skippable stinkers tho.

This was the first shit verve album - the previous two where gold

Noch so ein nerviges Britpop-Ding. Aber ein paar Songs gehen auch mir ins Ohr...

Ok album. Now I know the difference between "The Verve" and "The Verve Pipe" Yay!

Liked it..cool vibe

Hadn’t heard this album before, only the opening song. Overall solid but extended last song (hidden track) was below average. The last song was actually top notch!!

Its pretty ok for what its going for, plus it IS one of the best songs of all time. True one hit wonder

Bitter Sweet Symphony is good the rest is meh.

It was a decent album with one popular song and the rest were forgettable

Having one massive song doesn't make the album great. Not the first record on this list that seems to be one massive hit and a bunch of B sides. It's not bad but it's not interesting either.