The Verve

Stompbox

What is the deal?
What?! Two records, an over-inflated ego, 'shock' reunion and suddenly they're headlining some of the largest festivals in the world?

insinkerator

Ya personally i think they are completely over rated...... They have been riding the wave of one epic song(bitter sweet symphony) and a couple of mediocre singles.... I saw them recently during the summer, and the fact that R.E.M(one of the biggest bands going) and stereophonics(one of the best live acts i have EVER seen) had the indignity of playing before them was embarassing.

ghostdancer

no, they've 3 albums, all of which are pretty well acclaimed.
anyone who thinks that all there is to them is the singles off UH should really stop embarrassing themselves.

calling it a "shock reunion" just highlights how little one knows about the band.

insinkerator

They still dont deserve a spot above R.E.M or the Stereophonics in my opinion

ntlbell

insinkerator wrote: »

in my opinion

good job it doesn't matter too much.

insinkerator

What the **** gives you the right to decide my opinion doesnt matter?

ntlbell

insinkerator wrote: »

What the **** gives you the right to decide my opinion doesnt matter?

With regards where they end up on a line up?

No it doesn't matter as you have no control over it? I thought that was fairly obvious

quarryman

search!

I already added a thread about this:
http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055334476

claiva

In fairness the Verve are a brilliant band Live and certainly deserve to headline a gig with the two aformentioned bands playing. REM have gone to the bad imo, their early stuff on Monster and Automatic for the People is brill but their latest stuff is reminiscent of the Stones......ie.they used to be good years ago, but now just keep touring/recording on the strength of past record sales.
Anyway, who cares which name is on the top of the bill ? Go to the concert to see bands you like.......
Ashcroft is a very good writer and performer, even if he does come across as arrogant sometimes.

Sure look at John Lennon, was he any good ?
Of course he was but he could still come out with serious waffle when interviewed

Melion

Anyone who thinks the Stereophonics have more talent than The Verve need their head examined. Kelly Jones isnt fit to lick Richard Ashcrofts feet.

dr.bollocko

You all need your head examined.
Bunch of pontificating nonsense from a bunch of music snobs taking turns to snipe at each other. I am really fed up of this nonsense from people who can't see beyond their own nose, let alone have an opinion worth listening to. Just because you don't like something doesn't make it worse than AIDS. Just because you love something doesn't make it any good at all.
Christ.

Dudess

I agree with the good dr - although the tone was a tad on the aggressive side. A prescription of valium, doc? :pac:
An opinion is an opinion is an opinion - don't belittle or mock or abuse someone for their taste. By all means, if you dislike a particular act, you're entitled to say so, but please don't use a specific poster's taste(s) as the basis for this.

dr.bollocko

Apologies for the agression and thanks for the understanding dudess.

I just think some of the worst invective on boards is seen right here in music and it's fairly shockingly badly put together stuff.
I'm off back to the thunderdome where everyone loves each other.
Oh and the Verve totally ripped Bitter sweet symphony off of the Rolling stones and Andy Oldham orchestra's version of the last time.

IanCurtis

dr.bollocko wrote: »

the Verve totally ripped Bitter sweet symphony off of the Rolling stones and Andy Oldham orchestra's version of the last time.

Give me a break! A five second sample isn't ripping off!!

Mind you, they did rip off William Blake on their best song "History" from their second album "A Northern Soul"...observe:

History - First verse

"I wandered lonely streets
Down by where the old Thames does flow
And in every face I meet"

William Blake's poem "London":

"I wander thro' each charter'd street,
Near where the charter'd Thames does flow
And mark in every face I meet"

Phlann

I saw them live years ago and didn't enjoy their performance at all. Admittedly I was never a big fan but I was looking forward to the gig. Maybe they're just not hugely suited to a big outdoor event, their music is a bit downtempo... particularly when they're headlining and the crowd is already pretty tired. You kinda need somebody loud and exciting at that stage of the evening.

They played the strings from Bittersweet Symphony for about 15 minutes, by about half-way through people were getting a bit restless for it to end.

dr.bollocko

IanCurtis wrote: »

Give me a break! A five second sample isn't ripping off!!

Mind you, they did rip off William Blake on their best song "History" from their second album "A Northern Soul"...observe:

History - First verse

"I wandered lonely streets
Down by where the old Thames does flow
And in every face I meet"

William Blake's poem "London":

"I wander thro' each charter'd street,
Near where the charter'd Thames does flow
And mark in every face I meet"

Ah yes. The 5 second sample that was agreed on by The Rolling Stones that subequently became an entire song that subsequently became a legal wrangle.
The Stones with that orchestra did it firsties and no mistake.

Check out the writing credits.
I apologise in advance for the crap quality of this youtube clip, it's rare enough material, after all, we are looking at here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciIL3p_b8hA

JerryHandbag

Didn't the Verve have to hand over all the royalties for that single to the Stones? OOPS!

Their main obstacle is that theyve taken a 10 year sabbatical and its often hard for bands to return and find the same success after a break of this length....though it does seem to be a very 21st century thing to reform a long lost band....heres hopin the Smiths and the Stone Roses do likewise but its not bloody likely

ghostdancer

for BSS, The Verve had cleared use of the sample from the Andrew Oldham Orchestra version, and it was orally agreed that it would be a 4 second sample.
in the end, it was a 10 second sample used.

Allen Klein owned the rights to the Andrew Oldham Orchestra version of the rolling stones song, got pissed, and forced all the royalties of the single to be forfeited by the band, and given to him.

the rolling stones weren't remotely involved, and it never became the whole song.

ghostdancer

Phlann wrote: »

I saw them live years ago and didn't enjoy their performance at all. Admittedly I was never a big fan but I was looking forward to the gig. Maybe they're just not hugely suited to a big outdoor event, their music is a bit downtempo... particularly when they're headlining and the crowd is already pretty tired. You kinda need somebody loud and exciting at that stage of the evening.

They played the strings from Bittersweet Symphony for about 15 minutes, by about half-way through people were getting a bit restless for it to end.

i think it's more that people who only know 3 of their songs go along like sheep, and then when The Verve play their earlier stuff, which is head and shoulders above ****e like Lucky Man and Drugs Don't Work, people get bored and whinge because they don't know any of those songs, and they're very different to the radio-friendly crap they were expecting.

of course, there's usually many other stages at this time, but people who hang around the main stage all day at festivals usually wouldn't have a clue about acts playing on these other stages either.

Phlann

Well, no, it's mostly for the reasons I mentioned in my post. I did mention that Bittersweet Symphony - which is their most famous song - was basically the dullest part of the entire show.

There's probably an element of truth in what you said, but that still ties in with my argument about them being too downtempo to headline a festival. A good headliner gets everybody going, not just the pre-existing fans. And they have to, because like you said, some people will just hang out at the main stage going nuts all day.

Beastie Boys in the Electric Arena (?) at EP last year had the entire crowd going nuts and a lot of the people I went with weren't as in to them as I am... not into them at all in some cases. On the flip-side, JAMC were on the main stage just after them (I think) and were pretty disappointing. Not because of the music, just because it was too late in the day and everybody was too exhausted to just stand around listening (that's including me btw, and I actually really like them). You need an energetic performer at that time of the evening to get people going.

Bands like those work better in a smaller arena imo. Unfortunately organisers see the big name and think they have an obligation to put them on the main stage. It's a pet-hate of mine at festivals (that and the inevitable time-table clashes).

Dudess

I remember when The Verve were simply called Verve and were darlings of the indie press - the hype and adulation was nonsensical. I'd catch snippets of them on TV (no MySpace in 1992!) and wonder what the fuss was about.

Five years later, I thought Bittersweet Symphony was remarkable and bought the single. And I liked some other tracks off Urban Hymns. I thought this stuff was better than their less commercial and therefore more "credible" :rolleyes: early material. Urban Hymns overall isn't a particularly astounding album though.

I really liked Richard Ashcroft's solo single Song For The Lovers (from maybe 02/03 direction). And last year I was in HMV Grafton Street and there was this absolutely ace tune being played - the sales assistant advised me it was The Verve (or Verve as they would have been at the time of recording this particular track) and Gravity Grave from 1992. Quality. I bought their singles collection there and then.

JerryHandbag

Yeah i have their first album Storm In Heaven (on cassette tape somewhere in a shoebox! ) and its very un-radio friendly (or should that be radio un-friendly), kinda trippy, heavy on the spacey guitar effects, a bit like My Bloody Valentine or Spiritualized....forgot I had it must go root it out

Will defo be buying the new album, will be interesting to see what their sound is like these days, though the new single sounds like Ashcroft solo material. Which is no bad thing.

Affable

Don't understand the fuss abut BSS. Very mediocre song. Better ones are
Sonnet, Weeping Willow, On your own, No knock on my door , Blue etc.

mental07

IanCurtis wrote: »

Give me a break! A five second sample isn't ripping off!!
[/I]

And they didn't steal it, they acknowledged it on the sleeve notes

RodVelvet

New album Forth out on friday. All songs available on Verve myspace in full to check out.

I'm looking forward to this although according to tour reports Ashcroft and McCabe are staring to have differences of opinion again.

Hopefully they might pay a visit to ireland again before they go their seperate ways.

monkey9

IanCurtis wrote: »

Give me a break! A five second sample isn't ripping off!!

Mind you, they did rip off William Blake on their best song "History" from their second album "A Northern Soul"...observe:

History - First verse

"I wandered lonely streets
Down by where the old Thames does flow
And in every face I meet"

William Blake's poem "London":

"I wander thro' each charter'd street,
Near where the charter'd Thames does flow
And mark in every face I meet"

In fairness, i'd hardly call it ripping Blake off. Call it sampling or whatever, but it's not like they tried to pass it off as their own. It's common knowledge. And that song actually got me reading some of Blake's stuff

kensutz

The new album is excellent, have it the past few weeks (review copy) and took me a couple of times to like it.

funktastic

McCabe’s back on top form – opener ‘Sit and Wonder’ sounds a lot better than it did live with all the little extra sonic trickery.

‘Noise Epic’ very like Storm in Heaven era stuff (which I think is their best album) with a lot of groove thrown in. Reminiscent also of ‘Brainstorm Interlude’ from ‘A Northern Soul’.

I don’t know if it’ll draw many new fans in – but I think many old fans will like it.

Hardrain

The new album is fantastic, playing it twice a day.

Kur4mA

I've yet to get the new album but don't like their latest tune too much. All of their previous albums however, are amazing and I'd agree that anyone thinking they're just where they are off the back of the Urban Hymns singles doesn't have a clue.

Glastonbury 93

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuRgAITJhIQ

Glastonbury 08

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLmL2tYNGrM

They've always had it and still do imo. LEGENDS!

Celtic67

insinkerator wrote: »

They still dont deserve a spot above R.E.M or the Stereophonics in my opinion

The Cheeky Girls deserve a spot above R.E.M!!!!!!

Stereophonics are a good band though.

Karma_Police

dr.bollocko wrote: »

Just because you don't like something doesn't make it worse than AIDS.

That is one of the single best things of read

Dudess

Me too. Now if only people would bear it in mind more 'round these parts...