The Verve‘s 1997 album Urban Hymns is to get an extensive reissue later this year on its 20th anniversary.
As the British public began to be dazed by the hedonistic racket of Britpop, what had begun life as Richard Ashcroft’s first solo LP moved seamlessly in to capture the mid-1997 mood. In the face of Britpop’s euphoria, Ashcroft’s sober anthems offered an immediate station for the shifting tone, his gloomy stroll down the Bitter Sweet Symphony street becoming one of the most recognisable images in British music, the album one of its biggest sellers.
Now remastered and mixed by original co-producer Chris Potter and Metropolis’ Tony Cousins, as were the previous re-releases of A Storm In Heaven and A Northern Soul, the LP will now be available in various fresh forms including a super deluxe CD edition which comes with b-sides, live tracks, previously unreleased material and a DVD with the documentary The Video 96-98.
It’s all out on September 1st.