Hall Of Fame Album: The Verve-Urban Hymns

"We Have Existence And It's All We Share" ~ "Space And Time"
My best memories of enjoying the Verve's third and most well known album was working an overnight master control shift for a couple months at a TV station. Once the network shows were finished and there was nothing but infomercials on the air until your relief showed up in the morning, I'd put this in the audio board, crank it through the background speakers and enjoy this album more and more with repeated listens. Sometimes it would get me pumped to get through the night, other times I'd stare at the floor and listen to Nick McCabe's guitars swirl around while Richard Ashcroft sang about velvet mornings and weeping willows, like a ghost of Mick Jagger who lost his ability to sing the blues in the afterlife, somewhere in the corner of the room.

"I'm A Million Different People From One Day To The Next" ~ "Bittersweet Symphony"
I think the best time to listen to "Urban Hymns" is about 50 minutes before dawn on a clear late spring night. The sky is just starting to show it's first glimpses of color in the air, pinks and puples, the air is still cool and crisp with dew on the grass, and the opening strings of "Bittersweet Symphony" begin to fill the air. As Richard Ashcroft sings "Try to make ends meet, try to find some money, then you die" you're reminded the struggles of getting through everyday life in this fantastic anthem, regardless if they sampled a Rolling Stones muzak version of the Last Time.

"I'm Standing Naked, Smiling, I Feel No Disgrace... " ~ "Lucky Man" 
But if this album, and the band for that matter, are remembered for Bittersweet Symphony, the general public missed out on a slew of wonders on the rest of the album. "Sonnet" and "Lucky Man" were staunch singles that use waves of strings to build to fantastic climaxes. The former reminding "There's love if you want it" the latter proclaiming "I'm a lucky man, with fire in my hand."

"In My Lucid Dreams" ~ "Catching The Butterfly"
Looking for something a little more trippy? Try "Catching The Butterfly" where guitarist Nick McCabe uses walls of washed guitar sounds competing with a funky bass line from Simon Jones. Or just flat out space rock where "The Rolling People" tumbles along like a lost Led Zeppelin track with Ashcroft proclaiming  "But here we are the Rolling People, can't stay for long, we gotta go."

"All This Talk Of Getting Old, It's Getting Me Down My Love" ~ "The Drugs Don't Work"

Amongst all the touches of psychedelia, the most touching moment is the ballad "The Drugs Don't Work". With a beautiful string section and sly guitar work, Ashcroft sings of how "The Drugs Don't Work, they just make you worse but I, know I'll see your face again." I've taken the song down two streets. One: Someone overcoming addiction and Two: Someone fighting a terminal illness. Either, or, it's a thing of beauty.

"I Talked To God In A Phonebox On My Way Home" ~ "Come On"
If the first twelve songs take you through the stages of early dawn, then the 13th is when the sun bursts into the sky. "Come On" is an all out rocker with blistering guitars and the moving chorus "Let the spirit move you, let the waves come up they'll fuse you, I never meant no one to deny a sound." A nice finale to put you to bed.

"One Day Maybe We Will Dance Again, Under Fiery Skies" ~ "One Day"
The album has held up since it's release in 1997 and may not get the same credentials as say, "O.K. Computer" by Radiohead, but it does deserve it. If "O.K. Computer" hit the go ahead home run in the eighth inning in 1997, then "Urban Hymns" caught the game winning line drive with bases loaded to end the game in the ninth.

Urban Hymns - The Verve

Topic: Long lost songs...separated at birth

Ever have a popular song that you know and then years later you come across a song that sounds almost exactly the same. You think, well that's gotta be a total rip from the original. But in these three cases, I discovered the ORIGINAL years after the carbon copy. And I like all 6 songs, but can never listen to the second version now without thinking of the original.

If you've never heard any of these, here's the three cases:

Case #1

Green Day-Warning (2000) vs. The Kinks-Picture Book(1968)

Green Day's self titled track was a refreshing jolt to modern rock at the turn of the century with a jangly guitar/bass fusion that was even different for them. Then in 2004, The Kinks "Picture Book" came out in a Hewlett-Packard commercial. The similarity-uncanny.

Case # 2
Elastica-Connection (1994) vs. Wire-Three Girl Rhumba(1977)

The intro line to Elastica's 1995 hit is so close to Wire's post punk hidden gem it's ridiculous. Wire took them to court and got an out of court settlement worth no compensation.

Case # 3

Rage Against The Machine-Sleep Now In The Fire (2000) vs. Stooges-T.V. Eye (1970)

Always loved the guitar intro Tom Morello used in Rage's hit "Sleep Now In The Fire". Then I picked up the Stooges "Fun House" for my back catalog a couple years later and was thrown that the Stooges had almost the same guitar line in their mash up "T.V. Eye"

I know there's only 12 notes a band can play, but these songs, they're identical twins separated at birth....but I enjoy them all.

Tuesday's Top Ten: Angels

The Topic: Songs with Angels.

Makes a nice compilation, especially with some Juice.


1. Elvis Costello-(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes)
2. U2-Angel Of Harlem
3. Gram Parsons-Return Of The Grievous Angel
4. Counting Crows-Angels Of The Silence
5. Distillers-City Of Angels
6. Lucinda Williams-Drunken Angel
7. Sugar-Gee Angel
8. Interpol-Say Hello To The Angels
9. Juice Newton-Angel Of The Morning
10. Black Crowes-She Talks To Angels

Personal Favorite-The Beta Band-Assessment

Remember seeing this video alot on MTV Europe. They were playing it every hour on the hour as a world premiere (I knew this cause getting a good night sleep in Rome and Amsterdam was quite difficult). I never heard the song back in the States and all I knew of the Beta Band was "Dry The Rain" from the movie "High Fidelity". Love this video...much cooler than watching Chris Martin walking on a beach. What's in the tube? Make your own assessment.

Artist Spotlight: See A Little Light.....Bob Mould's Solo (Poison) Years

If I remember correctly, the first time I was introduced to Bob Mould was sometime freshman year in college. You know the whole modern rock thing was blowing up and Nirvana had given credit to Bob's old band Husker Du as being a major influence. So Workbook, his first solo album, was the first glimpse I saw into Mr. Mould's world. An album, so far from his Husker days of intelligent speed metal, full of melancholy acoustic tales and heartbreak, with an underlying theme of a great songwriter who didn't want to come clean of just how mainstream he could be. "See A Little Light" was a song I'd attach to first with it's great whimsical chorus and refrain "If you want me to go...then baby just say so..." (So disappointed when it was on the soundtrack for commercials a couple of years ago, but hey, just sayin'). Workbook had other songs that I still listen to often "Wishing Well", "Heartbreak A Stranger", "Brasilia Crossed With Trenton" and "Compositions For The Young And Old", the latter he sings of making peanut butter sandwiches and crying....sound corny, it's not, Bob makes it work.

His next solo album, "Black Sheets Of Rain" would yield the wonderful single "It's Too Late" and bring the acoustics of Workbook back to an electric roar you could feel on say Husker Du's "New Day Rising.

He then went on to form the short lived Sugar, a power Pop trio that I could denote a whole other article to, so I think I'll save that for a later day.

Tired of being in a band, in 1995, he released a self title album in 1995. So tired, in fact, he played all the instruments on the album. Filled with a mix of power pop leftovers form his Sugar days and full of outrage of the current "Alternative Music" scene he had unwillingly helped created (check into the blunt "I Hate Alternative Rock"). The soaring guitars of "Egoveride"and straightforward "Fort Knox, King Solomon" still sound outstanding today.

I was floored driving home from work one night when the local modern rock station said here's the latest from Bob Mould called "Who Was Around?", up to that point he was a figure you'd here Matt Pinfield on MTV use as an influence on a new Seven Mary Three album. "The Last Dog And Pony Show" was his 1998 release which has more in common with his material with Sugar than his self-titled album. "First Drag Of The Day:" points to a man who just can't quit smoking, while "Classifieds" is a great tale of a desperate look for love.

After writing scripts for the WCW (a wrestling fan?) he then went on to release "Modulate", more of a foray into electronic music, and a couple releases after that with mixed results (after hearing the singles from Modulate, Body Of Work, Distinct Line, etc., I figured Bob had had his day with his first four solo releases...Sound On Sound & Very Temporary).

I was lucky to catch him twice solo, once at the Metropol in Pittsburgh back in 95, where we got to meet after the show and get an autograph on our way to Primanti's (He was touring in his Jeep Cherokee!) and in 06 in Indy where my friend heard the best line in the pisser, a guy said "Bob Mould in Indianapolis...it's gonna be a beautiful night." Unfortunately, both shows were Bob solo acoustic....while it was great seeing I'd still love to see him with a full band one time.

A great singer/songwriter who a majority of his work should be celebrated, if someone mentions Bob, you should ask them if "Workbook" drew them in....if it was Husker Du, then the plot thickens even more....

Recommended:
Workbook (1989)
Bob Mould (1995)
The Last Dog And Pony Show (1998)  

A Best Of Compilation:
1. See A Little Light
2. Compositions For The Young And Old
3. Dreaming I Am
4. Brasilia Crossed With Trenton
5. It's Too Late
6. Out Of Your Life
7. Sacrifice-Let There Be Peace
8. Egoveride
9. Fort Knox, King Solomon
10. Who Was Around?
11. First Drag Of The Day
12. Sound On Sound
13. Very Temporary

The Year Was...1991

Random Playlist For 1991:
 1. U2-Zoo Station  
"I'm ready for the laughing gas..."
2. Primal Scream-Damaged
Slow burner....could fit on Exile On Main Street. 
3. Garth Brooks-The River 
He's gonna sail his vessel. 
4. Metallica-Sad But True
Looking back, I still prefer everything up to the Black Album, and nothing after. 
5. Tom Petty-Into The Great Wide Open 
I just picture Johnny Depp. 
6. Tribe Called Quest-Check The Rhyme
"You on point Fife? All the time Tip" 
7. Blur-There's No Other Way
"Taking the fun out of everything" 
8. Wonder Stuff-Caught In My Shadow
Like generic Midnight Oil. 
9. Red Hot Chili Peppers-Naked In The Rain
A nice album track, Flea's bass is Rubenized. 
10. Nirvana-Territorial Pissings
"Gotta find a way, a better way" 
11. Guns 'n Roses-November Rain
Reason 9 why Use Your Illusion I and II are hard to sit through. 
12. Ned's Atomic Dustbin-Grey Cell Green  
Who likes two basses in a song? This guy right here.

7 Albums Worth Revisiting From 1991:

1. U2-Achtung Baby
2. Nirvana-Nevermind
3. Pearl Jam-Ten
4. Public Enemy-Apocalypse '91: The Enemy Strikes Black
5. My Bloody Valentine-Loveless
6. A Tribe Called Quest-The Low End Theory
7. Soundgarden-Badmotorfinger





Random Quote From A Song From 1991:
20000 miles to an oasis / 20000 years will I burn / 20000 chances I wasted / Waiting for the moment to turn
the song....

Random Thoughts On A Song From 1991:

The first time I heard the song it was two in the morning. I was driving my fiero down route 7 and 'DVE just played the new U2 since they were due to have an album out soon. It turned out it was the latest from Simple Minds called "See The Lights". Everytime I hear that song, I still think it's Bono singing it. I can't get my head around it. Thanks alot Jim Kerr.
this is not U2

A little late to this party........

I know the song was released last year and it's in Cadillac commercials, but Phoenix's 1901 is shaping up to be the first guilty pleasure of the new decade. Interesting info from wiki, the band got their start being the backup band for Air's fantastic single "Kelly Watch The Stars". The french ties go further, as guitar player, Laurent Brancowitz, once had a band with the two members from Daft Punk (robot love anyone?) called Darlin', but once they split he formed Phoenix. Their fourth album, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, is currently hanging on the charts for good reason with the excellent singles 1901 and Lisztomania. I'm filing under curious to check out the whole album, but in the meantime, if 1901 pops up on the ipod, it's gonna be a very good day. Viva La France!

Coachella Lineup Announced

Coachella Lineup Announced