Urban Hymns (studio album) by The Verve

Growing up with an image of The Verve as a one-hit-wonder band, I had no idea what I was missing, with songs as equally brilliant as Bittersweet Symphony, like The Drugs Don't Work, Sonnet, and Lucky Man.

Nothing New Under The Sun
There is Nothing New Under the Sun (The Book of Ecclesiastes in The Bible)

If you go down to Seville, or Cordoba, in Southern Spain, you can still see where the reconquest painters painted beautiful murals on top of the Moorish original painting. With time, the paint has peeled, and, in places, you can see the work of two cultures living side by side.

To claim that this album has not been heavily influenced by all that has gone before, itself influenced by other older art & artists, would be to claim the unclaimable.

It is still, however, a work of great beauty, particularly side one. The key may be to unpeel everything, and just listen to the one or two works which started everything. I prefer to enjoy the different interpretations, and the continuity, without ever losing sight of the origins.

From VictorVale 07/18/2023 21:22

Clássico bem maior que o sucesso de Bitter Sweet Symphony.

From HoldenM 05/24/2023 06:52

First few tracks, I'm definitely won over by this. Doesn't quite keep that momentum for me, but it's still absorbing and beautiful.

Es una pena que estos chicos hayan tenido problemas por "Sweet Symphony", porque realmente es una de las mejores canciones que he escuchado. "Sonnet" y "Lucky man" son geniales también... simplemente uno de los mejores álbumes de britpop, casi a la altura de (What's the Story) Morning Glory?

English review
It's a shame that these guys had trouble for "Sweet Symphony," because it really is one of the best songs I've ever heard. "Sonnet" and "Lucky Man" are great too... simply one of the best Britpop albums, almost on par with (What's the Story) Morning Glory?

I've had this from when it first came out. Starts off great with the first few songs but then it all starts to sound all to similar. Due to this, even though it's a decent album, it's just failed to make an impact with me. Good but also rans in the Brit pop/rock category.

From pedro1976 04/27/2022 12:47

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ this and A Northern Soul, awesome stuff...

A great album. Despite being overplayed, Bittersweet Symphony and The Drugs Don't Work are still great. Weeping Willow is such an underrated song, my favourite off this album and one of my favourites of all time. Lucky Man is number two for me, followed by Catching The Butterfly and The Rolling People. Neon Wilderness is a 2 minute interlude basically.

Bitter Sweet Symphony may quite possibly be my favorite song of all time. Sonnet, The Drugs Don't Work and Lucky Man are incredible as well. Overall though, I think this album is a bit overstuffed, especially towards the end, a lot of filler following absolute killer. If it were cut down to about 8 or 9 tracks at about 45 minutes, I'd probably talk about it as one of my all time favorites.

From zwiebel 12/31/2020 16:08

Bitter Sweet Symphony is one of the best tracks of the 90s but the rest is just meh