by Deena Mcclusky

Created on: October 12, 2008

Richard Ashcroft is amazing. Always has been and always will be. His solo work was a brilliant expansion on who he was as an individual. This record, however, is the brilliant expansion on who he has become as the front man for The Verve. Formed in 1989, this is a band with a long and storied past. With the release of Forth' they have made it clear that they are making an extremely relevant contribution to today's music scene. This is the first new disc from The Verve since 1997's Urban Hymns', and was certainly long-awaited by fans the world over. For those of you for whom the name is perhaps not familiar, perhaps Bittersweet Symphony' will ring a bell. I've found very few people who don't know that song.

Lushly atmospheric, this is one of those records that you can listen to over and over, finding different nuances each time. While Love is Noise' is being marketed as the single this is a solid disc all the way through. Rather Be' is scheduled for a November release as a single in the UK, undoubtedly to be the follow-up here as well. If there is any complaint here it's that it would have been nice to see this disc a couple of songs longer. Appalachian Springs' which comes very late on the disc, is a highlight. This is definitely a disc to purchase in it's entirety, as opposed to hitting itunes for the singles.

In the current state of music, when The Jonas Brothers have over a million myspace friends compared to The Verve's 53,000 it's nice to see a band producing quality rather than just pandering garbage to the masses to seek success. While this disc is perhaps a bit too grown up to appeal to the myspace masses it would be nice to see some of them try. Ashcroft and company remind us of the product true musicians produce and then worry about trying to sell, rather than a product that's been developed in a boardroom somewhere, whose ad campaign is more important than the music itself.

Reunion records too often feel forced and desperate as bands try to recapture a moment that was better left lost to the ravages of time. This one, however, feels like a natural growth and progression. Here's hoping they don't implode again too soon and we see another few records out of them before they go their separate ways again. There's a certain chemistry among them that was missing from Ashcroft's solo work. Don't try and compare it to Urban Hymns'. It's not a follow-up. It's eleven years later. People change a lot in eleven years. Take it more as a representation of who they are now, and you will appreciate the marvelously

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