The Verve – This is the Music: The Singles 92-98

Artist: The Verve

Title: This is the Music: The Singles 92-98

Label: Virgin

Rating: 6/10

CORPORATE LINE: This Is Music The album featuring two unreleased tracks and DVD features all the band’s music videos will also be released on the same date.

This Is Music is a collection of all The Verve’s singles including two unreleased tracks, This Could Be My Moment and Monte Carlo, taken from the Urban Hymns sessions.

The Verve, from Wigan, was formed in 1990, releasing their debut album A Storm in Heaven three years later. It was followed by the hugely acclaimed A Northern Soul in 1995.

Three years later, in the summer of 1997, The Verve established themselves as one of the most crucial English rock bands of all time with the Urban Hymns album which, with its landmark singles Bitter Sweet Symphony and The Drugs Don’t Work, dominated the chart for over a year.

THE SINGLES: The Verve is known best for their magnificent, if not classic, album Urban Hymns. The problem has been that they’ve seemed like a one trick pony. They’re not. The Verve’s two previous full length albums—A Northern Soul and A Storm In Heaven—both deserve to get their due. This Is The Music: The Singles 92-98 does exactly that.

The highlights are certainly the Urban Hymn singles; “Bittersweet Symphony,” “Drugs Don’t Work,” “Sonnett,” and “Lucky Man.” Each is a small masterpieces that add to a deliciously plentiful master whole.

“Slide Away” highlights A Storm In Heaven. Only A Northern Soul isn’t to be ignored as “On Our Own” is wonderful. You can hear the direct growth right into Urban Hymns. Why was “Never Wanna See You Cry” excluded? This is one of the best B-sides that the Verve has made instead of the weaker “Monte Carlo” ?
FRANKLY: This Is The Music: The Singles 92-98 isn’t a great introduction to the Verve. New fans would be better to buy Urban Hymns as it is one of the best records of the entire ‘90s—often overlooked. There were so much that could have been done with this record yet wasn’t. Why not a live supplement album? Perhaps different versions of the hits from Urban Hymns? That would have been interesting to hear. Also why not add the videos on DVD? Who doesn’t want to revisit Richard Ashcroft shoving his way through the crowd singing “Bittersweet Symphony”? This release isn’t for fans as we already have the best songs and albums.