The Verve, Forth (MRI)
For the first time in 11 years, we have a new album from English rock outfit The Verve. It's their first issue since 1997's Urban Hymns, which delivered "Bitter Sweet Symphony," hands down one of the best and most iconic singles of the '90s. It showed lead singer Richard Ashcroft's craft as a songwriter, even if he had to borrow the melody from an unreleased, symphonic take on The Rolling Stones' "The Last Time."
The new record, purposefully spelled without a U and with William Blake-inspired lead single "Love is Noise," Forth is, as you might've guessed, the fourth album from The Verve, which reunited in 2007 and played SoCal's Coachella festival earlier this year.
The entire album is available at the band's MySpace, although an LP version contains two bonus tracks and a special edition carries a DVD with choice cuts from the Coachella performance. To have Ashcroft back in the group where he was most successful is a treat, if only to hope that we'll get more gems of the caliber of "Bitter Sweet Symphony" or "The Drugs Don't Work."
If I Were Really Rich ...
— Blues Traveler, North Hollywood Shootout (Verve) | I have a soft spot for the Jersey jam band, maybe because I spent a four-month period listening to "Run-Around" like it were a religion when I was younger. Shootout is the group's first of original material since 2005's ¡Bastardos!
Also New This Week ...
— Eva Cassidy, Somewhere (Blix Street)
— Dragonforce, Ultra Beatdown (Roadrunner)
— Esham, Sacrificial Lambz (Reel Life/Gothom/Aknu)
— The 88, Not Only ... But Also (Island)
— The Game, LAX (Geffen)
— J.J. Grey and Mofro, Orange Blossoms (Alligator)
— Little Feat, Join the Band (429)
— The Lost Trailers, Holler Back (BNA)
— The Moody Blues, Live at the Isle of Wight 1970 (Eagle)
— Machinehead, The Blackening (Roadrunner)
— Motörhead, Motörizer (Steamhammer)
— Mott the Hoople, Old Records Never Die: The Mott the Hoople/Ian Hunter Anthology (Shout! Factory)
— Klaus Schulze and Lisa Gerrard, Farscape (SPV)
— Jordan Pruitt, Permission to Fly (Hollywood)
— Slipknot, All Hope is Gone (Roadrunner)
— Solange, Presents Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams (Geffen)
— Matthew Sweet, Sunshine Lies (Shout Factory)
— Tesla, Gold [Reissue] (Motown/Universal)
— Three Dog Night, Greatest Hits Live (Shout! Factory)
— Thriving Ivory, Thriving Ivory (Wind Up)
— Various Artists, Gypsy - 2008 Original Broadway Cast (Time Life)
— V.I.C., Beast (Interscope)
— Jimmy Wayne, Do You Believe Me Now (Valory)
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