When asked whether the Verve would reunite anytime soon, Richard Ashcroft responded "you'll have an easier time getting all four Beatles back on stage." Yesterday it was announced the Verve would be reuniting with an album planned for the late summer and a tour beginning November. How do those words taste Ritchie? I'm not surprised. Ashcroft's solo career, while racking up some hit singles in the UK, has been second rate when compared to the Verve's body of work. And I could not be more happier. While everyone was listening to Third Eye Blind and Matchbox Twenty, I had Urban Hymns in my CD player. It was a long summer of '98. Everyone called them "one hit wonders." False. That is, only if you count what Billboard determines a "hit." Worse, they were thieves sampling the Rolling Stones song "The Last Time." Half true. The song's main hook did sample a Jagger/Richards original but not the original song, rather a symphonic version of the song off an obscure album of Rolling Stones covers as interpreted by an orchestra. "Bittersweet Symphony" deserves better recognition. So does the excellent album that produced it, Urban Hymns. More importantly, the Verve deserve better treatment. They were one of the more interesting acts of the whole 90s Britpop movement. If the new album bombs, I'll always have Urban Hymns.
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