Urban Hymns

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Urban Hymns
Studio album by The Verve
Released	September 29, 1997
Recorded	Olympic Studios October 13, 1996 - August 4, 1997
Genre	Britpop
Length	75:51
Label	Virgin 7243 8 44913 2 1
Producer(s)	The Verve Chris Potter Youth
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link Pitchfork (8.9/10) link Q September 1998 Robert Christgau (dud except "The Drugs Don't Work") link Rolling Stone 8 Jan 98
The Verve chronology
Five by Five (1997)	Urban Hymns (1997)	This is Music: The Singles 92-98 (2004)

Urban Hymns is the highly acclaimed alternative rock/space rock album released on September 29, 1997 by British rock band The Verve. After the release of the band's previous album, A Northern Soul, The Verve broke up due to growing tensions between Richard Ashcroft and Nick McCabe. They reunited in 1996 (see 1996 in music) and recorded Urban Hymns, which earned nearly unanimous critical praise upon its release and went on to become one of the biggest selling albums of the year largely on the strength of the international chart-topper "Bitter Sweet Symphony".

The Verve was known for their music's complex, immersive sonic textures, best exemplified in the aforementioned "Symphony", which used a repeated sample from an orchestra performing the Rolling Stones' song, "The Last Time", to form the musical basis for the song. "Bitter Sweet Symphony" was a hit on both sides of the Atlantic, and remains the band's most well known song, although it curiously never made it to the top of the charts in the band's native UK. "The Drugs Don't Work", the band's only UK #1, has become a concert staple for jam bands and other groups. The rest of the album alternates between wistful ballads like "Sonnet" and "Space And Time", spacey grooves like "Catching The Butterfly" and "The Rolling People", and all-out rockers like the Led Zeppelin-esque, pounding "Come On", which closes the set.

Melody Maker named Urban Hymns as the number-one album of 1997 in its year-end list.^[1] In 1998 Q magazine readers voted it the 18th greatest album of all time. In the same year it was also shortlisted for the Mercury Music Prize. In 2000 Q placed the album at number 58 its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever, while in 2006 its editors voted it the 16th greatest album of all time.

Contents 1 Track listing 2 Sales 3 Personnel 4 Chart positions 5 Notes

[edit] Track listing

1. "Bitter Sweet Symphony" (Ashcroft) – 5:58
   • Samples by The Andrew Oldham Orchestra.
2. "Sonnet" (Ashcroft) – 4:21
3. "The Rolling People" (Verve) – 7:01
4. "The Drugs Don't Work" (Ashcroft) – 5:05
5. "Catching the Butterfly" (Verve) – 6:26
6. "Neon Wilderness" (McCabe, Verve) – 2:37
7. "Space and Time" (Ashcroft) – 5:36
8. "Weeping Willow" (Ashcroft) – 4:49
9. "Lucky Man" (Ashcroft) – 4:53
10. "One Day" (Ashcroft) – 5:03
11. "This Time" (Ashcroft) – 3:50
12. "Velvet Morning" (Ashcroft) – 4:57
13. "Come On" (Verve) – 15:15
    1. "Come On" (00:00– 6:28)
    2. - (06:28– 13:01)
    3. "Deep Freeze" (13:01– 15:15)

Some copies of the album contain 15 tracks -- the bonus track "Lord I Guess I'll Never Know" is track 13, and "Deep Freeze" is track 15.

[edit] Sales

• United Kingdom: # 1 (8x Platinum) (sales: 3,054,374)
• United States: # 23 (Platinum)
• France: # 9 (Platinum)
• Canada: # 18 (2x Platinum)
• Australia # 9 (3x Platinum)
• Holland: # ? (Platinum)
• Switzerland: # 13 (peak) Gold)

[edit] Personnel

• Youth - Producer
• The Verve - Producer
• Simon Jones - Bass guitar
• Peter Salisbury - Drums
• Richard Ashcroft - Guitar, Vocals
• Nick McCabe - Guitar
• Simon Tong - Guitar, Keyboards
• Mel Wesson - Programming
• Paul Anthony Taylor - Programming
• Wil Malone - Conductor, String Arrangements
• Christopher Marc Potter - Producer, Engineer, Mixing, Recording
• Gareth Ashton - Assistant Engineer
• Lorraine Francis - Assistant Engineer
• Jan Kybert - Assistant Engineer
• Brian Cannon - Director, Design, Sleeve Art
• Martin Catherall - Design Assistant
• Matthew Sankey - Design Assistant
• Michael Spencer Jones - Photography
• John Horsley - Photography http://www.johnhorsley.co.uk
• Chris Floyd - Photography

[edit] Chart positions

Billboard (North America) - albums

1998   The Billboard 200                       No. 23
1998   Top Canadian Albums                     No. 18

Billboard (North America) - singles

1998   Lucky Man               Modern Rock Tracks                      No. 16
1998   Bitter Sweet Symphony   Top 40 Adult Recurrents                 No. 9
1998   Bitter Sweet Symphony   Adult Top 40                            No. 8
1998   Bitter Sweet Symphony   Modern Rock Tracks                      No. 4
1998   Bitter Sweet Symphony   Mainstream Rock Tracks                  No. 22
1998   Bitter Sweet Symphony   Top 40 Mainstream                       No. 23
1998   Bitter Sweet Symphony   The Billboard Hot 100                   No. 12

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Anonymous (December 20, 1997 – December 27, 1997), "Albums of the Year 1997", Melody Maker 74(51): 66-67, ISSN 0025-9012

The Verve
Nick McCabe | Richard Ashcroft | Simon Jones | Peter Salisbury | Simon Tong
Discography
Studio albums: A Storm in Heaven | A Northern Soul | Urban Hymns
EPs: Verve EP | Five by Five
Compilations: No Come Down | This is Music: The Singles 92-98
Singles: "All in the Mind" | "She's a Superstar" | "Gravity Grave" | "Blue" | "Slide Away" | "This Is Music" | "On Your Own" | "History" | "Bitter Sweet Symphony" | "The Drugs Don't Work" | "Lucky Man" | "Sonnet"
Tours: Gravity Grave Tour | Urban Hymns Tour
Related articles
Britpop | Hut Records | Chris Potter | The Shining | Cathy Davey | Gorillaz | B.J. Cole | Bernard Butler