Reviews
8 (out of 10) - "....Its sheer magnificence and spirit is such that the danger of it overwhelming anything that follows it is obvious. This, after all, is the musical signature of the year....The Verve's best album to date...", Included in Q Magazine's "50 Best Albums of 1997.", "...a surprising--and stunning--comeback from Britain's shoe-gazing shamans the Verve, resurrected after two splintered years. Crooner Richard Ashcroft makes it all sound like churchworthy gospel." - Rating: B+, 3.5 Stars (out of 5) - "...their strongest album to date....the songs on URBAN HYMNS are anchored by propulsive guitar rhythms and sinuous, infectious vocals....a breathtaking venture, an ambitious balance of stargazing and worldweary pathos.", Ranked #18 in Q's "Best 50 Albums of Q's Lifetime", Included in Q Magazine's "90 Best Albums of the 1990s.", "...An album of unparalleled beauty so intent on grabbing at the strands of music's multi-hued history....all songs which sound like they've lived a little more than most.", Ranked #3 in Nme's 1997 Critics' Poll., "A classic artifact of 1990s Britrock, a guitar album that resists being confined by those terms and a pop album unafraid to let its freak flag fly.", Included in Q's "The Best Male Angst Albums of All Time", Ranked #58 in Q's "100 Greatest British Albums" - "...Rose to national anthem league, an appeal to a post-club generation who now use rock'n'roll as a comedown aid...", Ranked #1 on Melody Maker's List of 1997's "Albums of the Year.", "The most striking qualities of URBAN HYMNS now are its musical coherence and the powerfully sustained mood of melancholic stoicism.", Ranked #18 in the Village Voice's 1997 Pazz & Jop Critics' Poll.
