The Verve's Urban Hymns: The Complete Guide to the Album Born from a Break-up and a Reunion
On 29 September 1997, as the Britpop boom was starting to fade, one album knocked Oasis's Be Here Now off the top of the UK chart: The Verve's third record, Urban Hymns.
Almost everyone has heard the strings of "Bitter Sweet Symphony". Fewer people know that the album was made by a band that had already split up, and that it began life as the singer's solo record before it became a band album again. This guide draws on interviews and English-language sources to cover the band's history, how the album was made, the studio, and the gear.
1. Who Were The Verve? A Story That Started in Wigan
Formation (1989–1992)
The Verve formed in 1989 in Wigan, a town in the north-west of England. The four members met at Winstanley College, a sixth-form college:
Richard Ashcroft (vocals)
Nick McCabe (guitar)
Simon Jones (bass)
Peter Salisbury (drums)
Ashcroft, Jones and Salisbury had already played together in local Wigan bands, and McCabe joined as the quiet guitar prodigy who completed the line-up. Their first gig was at the Honeysuckle pub in Poolstock, near Wigan. They were originally called simply "Verve", but the American jazz label Verve Records took legal action, and the band officially became "The Verve".
The Psychedelic Early Years: A Storm in Heaven (1993)
The debut album, A Storm in Heaven (1993, UK No. 27), was a floating, psychedelic record produced by John Leckie. Songs grew out of long jam sessions, and McCabe's effects-drenched guitar was the star. Listeners who discovered the band through Urban Hymns are often surprised by how close it sits to shoegaze.
The Chaotic Second Album: A Northern Soul (1995)
The second album, A Northern Soul (1995, UK No. 13), was produced by Owen Morris, best known for his work with Oasis. The sessions were reportedly one incident after another: heavy drug use, Ashcroft disappearing for days, and Morris smashing a window with a chair to celebrate finishing "History".
The First Split (1995)
In August 1995, after a tense set at Scotland's T in the Park festival, the band split up in public (Jones later said it was more of an argument than a break-up). Ashcroft tried to put the band back together within weeks, but McCabe would not return. In his place came Simon Tong, a school friend from Wigan who played guitar and keyboards.
2. How Urban Hymns Was Made
It Started as a Solo Album
Ashcroft wrote most of the Urban Hymns songs on his own, and around half of them, including every hit, came from demos he had made for a solo album. He had moved to Bath in Somerset and was working on demos there.
False Starts
Before the album sessions proper, the band took several detours:
Real World Studios (Bath) with John Leckie: at Peter Gabriel's studio, the band recorded dozens of demos with the producer of their debut. Ashcroft never approved their release. Leckie reportedly told them the new songs still needed a top-class guitarist, a "Mick Ronson" or "Keith Richards" figure.
Rockfield Studios (Wales) with Owen Morris: an attempt in May 1996 lasted only two days, because the band had no guitarist.
Bernard Butler (formerly of Suede) played with the band for about a week before leaving over musical differences.
Youth, and the Move to Olympic Studios
The next producer was Martin "Youth" Glover, best known as the bassist of Killing Joke. The band first met him at The Butterfly, his studio in Brixton, where Ashcroft played him the newly written "Lucky Man". Youth loved it.
By mid-1996 the band had moved to Olympic Studios in Barnes, south-west London. Youth set a rule: everyone in the studio by 10 a.m., work until the evening, then go home. It was the opposite of the chaos of the previous album. Ashcroft later described Youth's approach approvingly as "loose discipline", and Youth steered the band towards a more classic rock sound.
In the run-up to Christmas 1996, the strings for "Bitter Sweet Symphony" were recorded, arranged by Ashcroft and Wil Malone. Malone reportedly asked the string players to sound tough and determined rather than pretty or poetic.
After Christmas, Youth stepped back and engineer Chris Potter took more control.
Nick McCabe Returns (January 1997)
In early January 1997, Ashcroft called McCabe and asked him to rejoin. Ashcroft had said he never wanted to be in the band if McCabe wasn't playing guitar. McCabe agreed, and The Verve became a five-piece including Tong. Urban Hymns is the only album The Verve recorded as a five-piece.
By the time McCabe returned, many songs were nearly finished. His parts were often added when a track was about 90 per cent complete, and several songs were re-recorded so he could play on them. Even so, Potter said that everything McCabe did just sounded right.
The sessions after his return also produced looser, jam-based material, an attempt to balance the old Verve and the new.
February 1997: "The Rolling People" and "Come On" re-recorded
May 1997: a ten-day session at Olympic produced several tracks
"Neon Wilderness" was recorded at the last minute and finished at 7 a.m. on the last booked day
Recording and mixing took about nine months in all. The finished album was split roughly half and half between tracks produced by Youth and tracks produced by Potter.
Pro Tools, the New Weapon
At McCabe's suggestion, Potter rented Pro Tools, which was still a new technology at the time. McCabe later explained that it was the perfect toolset for a semi-improvisational band like theirs, because before then they had to get everything right on the spot. Recording long jams and editing them into songs afterwards suited The Verve perfectly.
3. The Studio: Olympic Studios, a Legendary Room
Olympic Studios was an independent studio at 117 Church Road, Barnes, London. It is sometimes described as being as important to British rock history as Abbey Road.
The Rolling Stones: recorded six consecutive albums there from 1966 into the early 1970s, including Between the Buttons and Their Satanic Majesties Request
Jimi Hendrix: Are You Experienced, Axis: Bold as Love and much of Electric Ladyland
Led Zeppelin: used it for every studio album from their debut to Physical Graffiti (1975)
The Beatles: the backing track of "All You Need Is Love"
Also The Who's Who's Next and Queen's A Night at the Opera
There is an irony in the Rolling Stones connection. As the next sections explain, "Bitter Sweet Symphony" ended up in a long rights dispute over a Stones song, and it was recorded in the very studio where the Stones made their classic records.
Olympic Studios closed as a recording studio in 2009 and is now an independent cinema that keeps reminders of its history.
A fan site from the time also says that work on the album took place at Metropolis Studios in London as well as Olympic. The 2016 remaster was done by Chris Potter at Metropolis.
4. The Album in Detail: Track by Track
Key facts
| Item | Details | |---|---| | Release | 29 September 1997 (UK), next day in the US | | Label | Hut Records (Virgin) | | Recorded | 1996–1997, Olympic Studios, London | | Producers | The Verve, Youth, Chris Potter | | Length | About 76 minutes |
Track listing
| # | Title | Writer | Producer | Length | |---|---|---|---|---| | 1 | Bitter Sweet Symphony | Ashcroft | The Verve / Youth | 5:58 | | 2 | Sonnet | Ashcroft | The Verve / Youth | 4:21 | | 3 | The Rolling People | The Verve | The Verve / Youth | 7:01 | | 4 | The Drugs Don't Work | Ashcroft | The Verve / Youth | 5:05 | | 5 | Catching the Butterfly | The Verve | The Verve / Potter | 6:26 | | 6 | Neon Wilderness | McCabe / The Verve | The Verve / Potter | 2:37 | | 7 | Space and Time | Ashcroft | The Verve / Potter | 5:36 | | 8 | Weeping Willow | Ashcroft | The Verve / Potter | 4:49 | | 9 | Lucky Man | Ashcroft | The Verve / Youth | 4:53 | | 10 | One Day | Ashcroft | The Verve / Youth | 5:03 | | 11 | This Time | Ashcroft | The Verve / Youth | 3:50 | | 12 | Velvet Morning | Ashcroft | The Verve / Youth | 4:57 | | 13 | Come On (includes hidden track "Deep Freeze") | The Verve | The Verve / Potter | 15:15 |
Note: credits differ slightly between sources ("The Rolling People" and "Come On" were re-recorded after McCabe's return).
Highlights
1. Bitter Sweet Symphony Built on a looped string sample from the Andrew Oldham Orchestra's orchestral version of the Rolling Stones' "The Last Time", with a new string arrangement by Wil Malone, guitars, percussion and vocals on top. The rights dispute is covered in the next section.
2. Sonnet A stripped-back love song built around strings and acoustic guitar, with handclaps under the vocal.
3. The Rolling People McCabe overdubbed heavy power chords, in the style of A Northern Soul, again and again to build a wall of sound. It was re-recorded after his return.
4. The Drugs Don't Work The song already existed in 1995, when Ashcroft mentioned it in an interview with Select magazine. It became the band's first UK No. 1 single. McCabe's minimal slide guitar gives it a hint of country (pedal steel player B.J. Cole was later hired for the US tour).
5. Catching the Butterfly Edited down from a 25-minute jam led by McCabe. The roaring wash of sound at the start is feedback shaped with the volume knob and looped (see the gear section).
6. Neon Wilderness A short, mostly instrumental piece built around one of McCabe's trademark guitar loops, finished at 7 a.m. on the last day in the studio.
7. Space and Time The oldest song on the album, first performed in New York with Oasis.
9. Lucky Man A simpler sound, with Tong playing the guitar part. Youth's enthusiasm for this song was one reason he took the job.
10. One Day A ballad in which Ashcroft duets with himself through multi-tracking.
12. Velvet Morning Named as a tribute to Lee Hazlewood. The vocal was processed through a loudhailer.
13. Come On / Deep Freeze The roaring closer, with Liam Gallagher of Oasis on backing vocals, followed by the hidden track "Deep Freeze".
Songs Left Off the Album
Several B-sides are fan favourites: "Lord I Guess I'll Never Know" (feedback and backwards guitar), "Three Steps" (fuzz), "Stamped" (synth-like guitar textures), plus "Country Song", "So Sister" and "Echo Bass".
Artwork
The sleeve was designed by Brian Cannon, also known for his Oasis covers, with photography by Michael Spencer Jones. It was shot in Richmond Park, London, at a moment when the band had relaxed and stopped posing. The inner sleeve shows Ashcroft's black Labrador, Charlie, playing with the band.
5. Bitter Sweet Symphony: A 22-Year Rights Dispute
No account of this album is complete without the "Bitter Sweet Symphony" dispute.
What Was Sampled
The source was the Andrew Oldham Orchestra's 1965 orchestral version of the Rolling Stones' "The Last Time". Andrew Loog Oldham was the Stones' early manager and producer. The Verve used a few seconds of its string phrase. That string line is reportedly the work of arranger David Whitaker, who is credited nowhere.
What Went Wrong
The Verve had permission from Decca, the rights holder, to use the recording
But the publishing rights to the underlying composition had not been cleared
ABKCO (Allen Klein), which owned the Stones' 1960s songs, sued, claiming the band had used more of the sample than agreed
The CDs were already pressed and the song was a big hit, so the band had little negotiating power. In the settlement, ABKCO took 100% of the publishing, and the songwriting credit was changed to Jagger/Richards (with Ashcroft added later). Andrew Loog Oldham then sued for royalties as well.
In 1998 the song was used in a Nike advert. The Verve's management said the band had a policy against licensing music to advertising and would not have agreed.
2019: The Rights Return
Klein died in 2009 and his son Jody Klein took over ABKCO. Ashcroft's lawyers contacted Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and their manager Joyce Smyth through Jody Klein. In May 2019, Jagger and Richards agreed to give their share of the song and the writing credit to Ashcroft. He announced it at that year's Ivor Novello Awards and thanked the Stones. It had taken 22 years.
The Famous Video
The music video, directed by Walter Stern, was released on 11 June 1997. It shows Ashcroft walking down a busy pavement in Hoxton, London, bumping into passers-by without changing course. Often seen as a nod to Massive Attack's "Unfinished Sympathy", it was nominated in three categories at the 1998 MTV Video Music Awards. It looks like one continuous shot but reportedly contains about 50 cuts, and an alternate version exists in which Ashcroft is beaten up.
6. The Gear: Nick McCabe's Guitar That Doesn't Sound Like a Guitar
The Verve's sound is inseparable from McCabe's guitar. He has described his psychedelic sound as trying to make a guitar sound like a synthesizer, using effects pedals and valve amps.
Gear from the Urban Hymns Era
To be honest, few primary sources list the exact guitars and amps used on Urban Hymns. Even a 1998 Total Guitar feature names specific models only for the earlier albums. These are the items McCabe himself has confirmed in interviews.
Amp: Mesa/Boogie Tremoverb McCabe's main amp, which he says he was given around the time of Urban Hymns. He describes its sound as glassy, somewhere between the clarity and nuance of a vintage Fender and the heft of a Marshall.
Looper: Lexicon JamMan The roar at the start of "Catching the Butterfly" is feedback caught while moving the volume knob, then looped with a Lexicon JamMan. Because it came from a random event, he says it is hard to recreate live.
The bubbly blips around four minutes into the same song Made by fretting an octave shape with the left hand and sounding the notes with the right hand by pushing the strings down far enough to hit the pickups.
Slide guitar McCabe played more slide on Urban Hymns, wearing the bottleneck on his little finger and fretting with the other four fingers, which takes real dexterity.
Layered power chords On "The Rolling People" and "Come On", he overdubbed heavy power chords again and again to make the sound huge.
McCabe's Signature Gear (Across His Career)
Alesis Quadraverb+: the rack unit known as the secret behind his huge early sound; he later used two Quadraverbs
Gibson Echoplex Digital Pro: his main looper in the studio and live. He says many parts on Verve records that people think are keyboards are actually guitar loops
Other effects: Eventide Eclipse, Electro-Harmonix Poly Chorus and Small Clone, Binson Echorec, Roland RE-201 Space Echo, Eventide H3000
Live rig: at one point a five-amp setup, with the stereo loops, the stereo wet signal and the dry signal each going to a different amp
Guitars: in the debut era, a 1979 Stratocaster he called "almost dead", a red Gibson ES-335 and a '59 Jazzmaster. His later favourite is a Sustainer-equipped Fernandes Native Pro
The Other Members' Parts
On songs McCabe didn't play on, Tong and Ashcroft handled the electric and acoustic guitars (Tong plays the guitar on "Lucky Man"). Tong also added keyboard and organ textures.
7. Success, and Another Collapse
A Record-Breaking Hit
UK No. 1, knocking Oasis's Be Here Now off the top
About 250,000 copies sold in its first week in the UK, the fifth-fastest-selling album in UK history at the time
Certified 11× platinum in the UK
No. 23 on the US Billboard chart
No. 1 in Ireland, New Zealand and Sweden
Singles
| Single | Released | UK peak | |---|---|---| | Bitter Sweet Symphony | 16 June 1997 | 2 (US 12) | | The Drugs Don't Work | 1 September 1997 | 1 | | Lucky Man | 24 November 1997 | 7 | | Sonnet | 2 March 1998 | Ineligible (limited format) |
At the 1998 Brit Awards, The Verve won British Album and British Group, and Youth and Potter shared British Producer. In 2007 the album won the first ever Q Classic Album award. Alongside Radiohead's OK Computer, it is often seen as marking the end of Britpop.
The Second Split and the Reunion
At the height of their success, the band fell apart again. McCabe left the tour in 1998, and the band carried on without him. In April 1999, The Verve's split was officially announced.
They reunited in 2007, playing their first show in about nine years in Glasgow that November. In 2008 they released a fourth album, Forth, which went to UK No. 1, and headlined Glastonbury. In 2009 the band ended for a third time.
Lingering Tensions
A 20th-anniversary expanded edition came out in 2017, with B-sides, outtakes, BBC Radio 1 sessions and live recordings. Ashcroft vetoed a CD of unreleased material, a decision McCabe criticised. McCabe has said he thinks The Verve's albums fall short of their demos, while Ashcroft has reportedly said he regrets bringing McCabe back and wishes he had released the album as a solo record.
Closing Thoughts: A Band Album and a Solo Album at Once
Listen to Urban Hymns again and two faces appear. One is Ashcroft's universal songs, "Bitter Sweet Symphony", "The Drugs Don't Work" and "Lucky Man", that anyone can sing along to. The other is the psychedelic universe of the early Verve, preserved in McCabe's guitar loops and long jams on "Catching the Butterfly", "Neon Wilderness" and "Come On".
A returning guitarist left his mark on a solo record that was nearly finished. That tension is what makes this album more than just a Britpop classic.
Next time you play it, put on headphones and listen closely to the opening of "Catching the Butterfly". That flood of sound comes from feedback, a volume knob and a single looper.
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