The Verve
| The Verve | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| General information | |
| origin | Wigan , England |
| Genre (s) |
Britpop , indie rock , formerly space rock , dream pop |
| founding | 1989, 1995, 2007 |
| resolution | 1995, 1999, 2008 |
| Website | theverve.co.uk |
| Founding members | |
| Richard Ashcroft | |
| Nick McCabe (1990-1995, 1996-1998, 2007-2008) | |
| Simon Jones | |
| Peter Salisbury | |
| Current occupation | |
Vocals, guitar |
Richard Ashcroft |
Lead guitar, synthesizer |
Nick McCabe |
bass |
Simon Jones |
Drums |
Peter Salisbury |
| former members | |
guitar |
Bernard Butler (1995) |
Guitar, keyboard
|
Simon Tong (1995-1999) |
| BJ Cole (1998-1999) | |
The Verve was an English band from Wigan ( Greater Manchester ) that was one of the most important exponents of Britpops of the 1990s. After separations in 1995 and 1999, they formed again from 2007 to 2008 with the original line-up.
Their musical spectrum ranges from spherical soundscapes and distorted, psychedelic shoegaze to rock 'n' roll and bluesy soul rock to lavishly arranged Britpop anthems . They became known worldwide through the song Bitter Sweet Symphony from 1997.
history
Verve (1989-1994)
In 1989, school friends Richard Ashcroft ( band leader , vocals ), Peter Salisbury ( drums ) and Simon Jones ( electric bass ) founded the band Verve at Winstanley Sixth Form College in Wigan, England. As a guitar player was Nick McCabe obliged with the Ashcroft previously in the formations Butterfly Effect and Rain Garden played music together.
Musical influences on Verve existed in funk , soul , wave and Manchester rave . Bands like Funkadelic , The Electric Prunes , Spacemen 3 and John Martyn are considered to be the band's ideas, as are the icons of Krautrock : Can . The band's Wigan demos from 1990, with which the band presented themselves to various record labels , were characterized by spiritual , percussionist funk with elements of jazz .
Most of all, Verve caught the attention of the charismatic-spiritual front man and his stage presence, "Mad Richard", as the British press called him for his claims like "he could fly". In 1991 she signed the newly founded Virgin subsidiary "Hut Recordings". In March 1992 they released their first single All in the Mind, in the English Indie - Charts ranked on the top ranks. The band 's two subsequent singles (She's a Superstar and Gravity Grave) landed right at the top of these charts. The band Mansun named after the B-side A Man Called Sun . The first mini album The Verve EP was released that same year. In addition, the American sister label Vernon Yard released the live album Voyager 1 in an edition of 1000 copies.
In the spring of 1993 released the first full long player , A Storm in Heaven , produced by John Leckie. It landed in the English charts at number 27. Like the The Verve EP , the album contains sensitive, spherical soundscapes , but is at the same time a lot more rocking and darker. In the summer of 1994 Verve took part in the Lollapalooza festival tour in the United States. Salisbury was arrested after various outbreaks of violence and Ashcroft collapsed due to dehydration related to drug use. As the opening act for Smashing Pumpkins , they finally came to Frankfurt that same year .
The Verve (1994-1999)
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At the end of 1994, the record label Verve / Deutsche Grammophon judged the band to be renamed due to the same name. Initially, the band wanted to delete the second E in their name and began recording the second album under the working title Verv - Droppin ' E for America . Finally she decided on "The Verve". The renaming was published with the B-side collection No Come Down .
The Verve made a change of image : Owen Morris, the Oasis producer, was consulted, the long hippie manes were trimmed, attention was paid to the clothes and the reverb and delay effects were dispensed with. A Northern Soul was released in June 1995 . Overall, it is more pop than its predecessor. Nevertheless it is very experimental, rocking and powerful and has some bluesy - soulful elements. Ashcroft sings for the first time with a full voice and of much more love, depression and loneliness than before. With On Your Own and History , it already contains the first two ballad-like hymns for which The Verve later became famous. The album title refers to Northern Soul , the favorite music of British mods . A Northern Soul landed at number 13 on the UK charts.
Due to tensions between the front man and guitarist, Richard Ashcroft temporarily left the band after the T-in-the-Park festival in the summer of 1995. The record company released the separation ballad History . A few weeks after the split, however, the band reunited - but without Nick McCabe. Simon Tong was his successor, a former classmate who had already worked on several studio recordings for other artists. But Ashcroft quickly realized when recording the third album: "It's this large part of The Verve that can only be created when Nick (McCabe) is in the room." So in late 1996 he finally decided to call McCabe and ask him to come back to the band.
Officially re-accepted into the band, McCabe played his guitar afterwards to most of the songs he had already recorded. Urban Hymns was released in September 1997 and became the band's most commercially successful album. The album is a collection of soft Britpop anthems, rock ballads and stadium-worthy bombast rockers. The previously released single Bitter Sweet Symphony became one of The Verve's best-known songs internationally. A sample of an orchestral version of the Rolling Stones hit The Last Time was used for the recording , which led to a lawsuit. The Verve lost the rights and the associated income in favor of the Rolling Stones. The Drugs Don't Work was The Verve's only number 1 hit ever.
After various disagreements with Ashcroft, McCabe left the band again and was replaced in 1998 by BJ Cole. The Verve officially broke up on April 28, 1999. Richard Ashcroft has since pursued a solo career and also lent his voice for one track each to the Chemical Brothers (Song: The Test ) and James Lavelle from UNKLE (Song: Lonely Soul ).
Break years and reunification
By 2002 Ashcroft fulfilled The Verve's five-album contract with Hut Recordings as a soloist and released his first two albums. In June 2007 the band announced their original line-up, i.e. without Simon Tong, who joined in 1995 as the fifth member. In addition to a tour of England in autumn 2007, the band went to the studio together. The fourth studio album Forth was released in August 2008, the single Love Is Noise in advance . In the spring and summer of 2008, the band was touring Europe and North America and only appeared at festivals such as the Glastonbury Festival , Rock am Ring , Nova Rock , Rock Werchter , Coachella and Pinkpop .
After the last Verve concert at the V Festival in England in August 2008, Richard Ashcroft only appeared once live and solo. Then the band disappeared from the public again. From 2009 the band members went back to their own projects.
Discography
Studio albums
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 DE
|
 AT
|
 CH
|
 UK
|
 US
|
|||
| 1992 | The Verve EP | - | - | - | - | - |
First published: December 1, 1992
Mini album, rated as a single |
| 1993 | A Storm in Heaven | - | - | - |
UK27  (2 weeks)UK |
- |
First released: June 15, 1993
first official studio album |
| 1995 | A Northern Soul | - | - | - |
UK13 (17 weeks)UK |
- |
First released: July 3, 1995
second official studio album |
| 1997 | Urban hymns |
DE11  (56 weeks)DE |
AT9 (27 weeks) AT |
CH13 (28 weeks)CH |
UK1 × 11
(161 weeks)UK |
US23 (46 weeks)US |
First release: September 29, 1997
third official studio album |
| 2008 | Forth |
DE10 (8 weeks) DE |
AT11 (8 weeks) AT |
CH6 (9 weeks) CH |
UK1 (18 weeks)UK |
US23 (2 weeks) US |
First release: August 18th, 2008
fourth official studio album |
literature
- Sean Egan: The Verve: Star Sail . Omnibus Press (UK), 1998, ISBN 0-7119-6965-5 .
- Martin Clarke: The Verve: Crazed Highs and Horrible Lows . Plexus Publishing (UK), 1998, ISBN 0-85965-269-6 .
- Velimir P. Ilic: The Verve: Mad Urban Soul . Omnibus Press (UK), 1998, ISBN 0-7119-6798-9 .
- Philip Wilding: The Verve: Bitter Sweet . Andre Deutsch Ltd (UK), 1998, ISBN 0-233-99409-2 .
- Paul Lester: The Verve: The Illustrated Story . Hamlyn (UK), 1998, ISBN 0-600-59592-7 .
- Urban Hymns - The Verve: Guitar Tab, International Music Publications . 2001, ISBN 1-84328-103-1 .
Web links
- The Verve at MusicBrainz (English)
- The Verve at laut.de
- The Verve Archive
- The Verve at Discogs (English)
swell
- ↑ a b NME - New Musical Express : The Verve reunite for a tour , June 26, 2007
- ↑ Martin Clarkeć: The Verve - Crazed Highs and Lows Horrible, 1998
- ↑ Billboard Magazine : The Verve Readies First Album Since 1997 , June 23, 2008
- ^ NME - New Musical Express : The Verve to Headline Glastonbury 2008 ? , November 13, 2007.
- ↑ The Verve - official website: The Verve - tour dates, ( Memento of the original from May 28, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. July 28, 2008.
- ↑ NME : Verve's Richard Ashcroft covers John Lennon at solo show , August 26, 2008
- ↑ Sources: DE AT CH UK US
