Music / Album Review
Richard Ashcroft Acoustic Hymns Record Review
It’s nothing you haven’t heard before. But you should listen again.
For the uninitiated, Richard Ashcroft was part of the early to mid 90s Madchester scene, which happened around the same time as Seattle’s grunge scene, the time period being about all that these two sub-genres had in common. He fronted a band called the Verve, a great band, surrounded by other great bands. One imagines he was influenced as a young, shaggy haired lad in the early 80s by the initial Manchester wave that hurtled forward with the Smiths and New Order and a second and different wave at the end of the decade that featured the Stone Roses, Inspiral Carpets and Happy Mondays.
The Verve was big, but never as big as Oasis or Blur. We can argue until the cows come home about the nature of this gross injustice, but there wasn’t much accounting for taste among music industry execs and what they pushed in those days, since it was about making hay while the sun shone. They were certainly on the same level as James and the Charlatans, but while those bands continue to chug on today, the Verve came and went in a flash of brilliance. At any rate, the Verve, never content to merely flirt with greatness, created it themselves in the form of Bittersweet Symphony, (in)arguably the greatest song ever made. Certainly the greatest video of all time. If you cared at all about good music at the end of the last century, then none of this will come as news to you.
The Verve imploded shortly after that and reformed, also briefly in 2008 and subsequently imploded again. Richard Ashcroft, as it turned out, was not an easy person to work with. He was on a different plane of creativity altogether. If you would have asked him, he would have told you the same. Tortured soul and all that.
Then, he embarked on a solo career, which spawned a series of great albums, depending on one’s point of view. If you would have asked him, he would have told you that too. Misunderstood creative giant and all that.
I will never forget his performance in the 7pm Saturday slot at the Summer Sonic Festival in Osaka, Japan in 2010 when he told us, “I’m the most talented person here.” Everyone heard it and as a hush fell over the crowd, he quickly added “…except for Stevie Wonder”, who happened to be going on next. Smart move, probably, and cooler heads prevailed.
Anyway, on to the now. Ashcroft has in the past month released an album called Acoustic Hymns. In it, he reworks all his best-known songs, from both his Verve life and his solo one as well. Reworking may not be the right word, since a lot of it was already acoustic in the first place, so maybe ol’ Richard has run out of ideas. He clearly couldn’t bother to think of a new title, Urban Hymns being the name of the Verve’s 1997 high watermark. Or maybe, since the Rolling Stones have finally given up their ownership of Bittersweet Symphony (due to one repeated and unauthorized at the time sample of theirs on the original recording), he realized now is as good a time as any to cash in one more time. At any rate, it’s called Volume 1, so you know there’s another one just around the corner.
But cynicism gets you nowhere they say, and so….
From the first (acoustic, obviously) notes of Bittersweet Symphony that open the album, you are carried back and reminded of a different time altogether. The voice you are hearing is still somehow speaking to you directly and everyone all at once. It’s a song that still never fails to give me goosebumps. But did it need remaking? I’m not sure, but I’ll take it, if only to be able to hear it and all its reminders again.
Song for the Lovers (from 2000’s Alone with Everyone) continues to do the job, relatable to anyone who has felt anticipation while waiting for someone who hasn’t arrived yet but will soon. Sonnet starts simply and then gradually soars, just like the original did, as does its Urban Hymns-mate, Lucky Man.
The Drugs Don’t Work is even more spare and mournful than the original and yet still rises up to the point where despair and hope meet. “The drugs don’t work, they just make you worse, but I know I’ll see your face again”. It’s all going hopelessly wrong, but it’s not over quite yet.
The high point, though, has to be the version of C’Mon People, We’re Making it Now also from Alone with Everyone. Though quite a beautiful and / but rather pensive and contemplative record, that particular song stood out for its bright burst of hope and joy. “Sometimes I feel like I can’t move on / Nothing in life is turning me on”, he tells us in the first lyrics. But hang on…the difference maker this time around is that it is sung in full throated fashion by Liam Gallagher, who’s voice of mid 90s exuberance finds its rightful home here once again. Ashcroft chimes in here and there, but has the sense to let Liam carry this one across the line.
The inescapable conclusion is that these songs didn’t need to be redone. Two reasons for this: They were already near perfect in their original form, and they don’t sound all that much different this time around. This leads one to believe that Ashcroft did this for himself, with a nostalgic nod to past glory, when all this was still fields. Though we are not witnessing any further glory beyond what was, we are still the better for giving this another listen on Sunday morning. This record, these songs, deserve another airing.
And if you have a chance to see his ubiquitous live performance at any one of the many music festivals in Europe that he is lined up for in the summer of 2022, take it. You will be in the presence of a true talent who’s greatest joy in life seems to be the belting out of songs he created all the way to the back row.
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