THE VERVE: URBAN HYMNS Third Studio Album (1997)

Urban Hymns is the third studio album by English alternative rock band the Verve, released on September 29, 1997 on Hut Records. It earned nearly unanimous critical praise upon its release, and went on to become the band’s best selling release and one of the biggest selling albums of the year. As of 2019, Urban Hymns is ranked the 19th best-selling album in UK chart history and has sold over ten million copies worldwide. This is the only Verve album to feature guitarist and keyboardist Simon Tong, who initially joined the band to replace their original guitarist Nick McCabe. McCabe rejoined the band soon after, however, and Tong was considered the fifth member of the band; this makes the album the only one that the band recorded as a five piece.

The album features the hit singles Bitter Sweet Symphony, Lucky Man and UK number one The Drugs Don’t Work. The critical and commercial success of the album saw the band win two Brit Awards in 1998, including Best British Album, and appear on the cover of Rolling Stone in April 1998. Bitter Sweet Symphony was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Rock Song. It was also among ten albums nominated for the best British album of the previous 30 years by the Brit Awards in 2010, ultimately losing to (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? by Oasis.

Tracklist:

1. Bitter Sweet Symphony
2. Sonnet
3. The Rolling People
4. The Drugs Don’t Work
5. Catching the Butterfly
6. Neon Wilderness
7. Space and Time
8. Weeping Willow
9. Lucky Man
10. One Day
11. This Time
12. Velvet Morning
13. Come On (includes hidden song “Deep Freeze”)

The Verve
Richard Ashcroft: lead vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboard
Nick McCabe: lead guitar
Simon Tong: second lead guitar, keyboard
Simon Jones: bass
Peter Salisbury: drums

Additional personnel
Liam Gallagher: backing vocals (“Come On”)

Technical
Youth: producer
Chris Potter: producer, engineer, mixing, recording, additional production
The Verve: producer
Mel Wesson: programming
Paul Anthony Taylor: programming
Will Malone: conductor, string arrangements
Gareth Ashton: assistant engineer
Lorraine Francis: assistant engineer
Jan Kybert: assistant engineer
Tony Cousins: mastering engineer
Crispin Murray: editing, assistant mastering
Brian Cannon: director, design, sleeve art
Martin Catherall: design assistant
Matthew Sankey: design assistant
Michael Spencer Jones: photography
John Horsley: photography
Chris Floyd: photography

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