life changing music

Nostalgic Nerd · Post by **Nostalgic Nerd** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 8:37 pm

This is kind of my mad rush in life to promote The Verve's "A Storm In Heaven". An album all rock fans need to know about. It is true it isn't for everyone, but like the reviews state, for those that are touched by it it will leave an imprint on your soul forever. Every time I play this I see the world more clearly. I see how hockey and our existence on Earth is miniscule compared. Because this isn't just another "classic" experience in music. It strives to be elemental, beautiful, powerful, violent, and yet blissful all in one. It isn't heavy metal, but it is as dense an accomplished body of work as I've ever heard. "Shoegazing" was the big thing in the UK back in the early '90s. ASIH uses it's wall-of-sound blueprint to create something that I believe is wholly consuming and intoxicating. I don't believe there is such a thing as a perfect album, but if I do believe Star Sail, Already There, Beautiful Mind, Make It Till Monday, and See You In the Next One are masterpieces. That's not even including the horizon feel of Virtual World, the power of The Sun, The Sea, the arching volume to Slide Away, or the psychedelic mayhem of Butterfly. But don't take my word for it. Take the words from the people in these links. The emotion put forth from them on its own merits makes me believe this isn't just another album. (Sorry about that. The Verve should've never included the radio-ready "Blue" on ASIH. Don't let that deter you.) If you were to explore further, I'd recommend "No Come Down", a collection of b-sides. It isn't on the same level as ASIH, but it does contain the genius Where the Geese Go, and how Richard Ashcroft's vocals mimic what geese would sound like. The stillness of 6 O'Clock, and Twilight. But really it is the purity of these songs that is unmatched. These ones are far removed from ASIH's violence. Also the She's A Superstar single. At times I think Nick McCabe's guitar opens up another portal to a new galaxy. The elemental experimental of The Verve didn't last long, but I am greatful it did. The second link is for Iceland's Sigur Ros. "Agaetis Byrjun" is the name of the album, and this will probably go over better with middle-of-the-roaders. I think the best description was when a fan said the album has exterminated the remainder of their music collection. I still listen to and appreciate the biggest names in r&r history, but I have to admit what these two albums have accomplished is just broader, deeper, and more emotionally satisfying IMO. It proves one thing for me: when music is brought to the outdoors and removed from typical marketing constraints like song structure, experimentalism opens new doors. There's plenty of room for tradition, but rarely if ever does it create something new. Thanks for your time. <a href="http://selectreviews.blogspot.com/2005/ ... l">vervian heights</a> <a href="http://selectreviews.blogspot.com/2005/ ... ml">moving glaciers</a> "Dream as if you'll live forever; Live as if you'll die today." --James Dean

Post by **east hockey** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 8:43 pm

I haven't heard much of the Verve, but Lucky Man is one of my favorites. Wonderful song. I'll check out some of their other stuff now; sounds intriguing. Lee ____________ Message Board arsonist since 2005 Egomaniac since 2006

Nostalgic Nerd · Post by **Nostalgic Nerd** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 8:59 pm

One other thing I wanted to add is The Verve's early years would fall under the "space rock" realm. I wouldn't say that is an insult to their gift, but the distinct difference being their masterworks at times do not sound humanly made. The density and complexity of McCabe's guitar has to be heard to be believed. I normally do not equate rock with the masters of classical. But these peak era songs are just that. ASIH represents all that is beautiful in heaven and all that is violent in the natural world through McCabe's oceanic, cavernous, thundering, spacy guitar. "Dream as if you'll live forever; Live as if you'll die today." --James Dean

Nostalgic Nerd · Post by **Nostalgic Nerd** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 9:08 pm

<blockquote>Quote:<hr> I haven't heard much of the Verve, but Lucky Man is one of my favorites. Wonderful song. I'll check out some of their other stuff now; sounds intriguing.<hr></blockquote> I love the ending. Very spacy. Really though the bands Urban Hymns era stuff is pop. The Lucky Man #1 single is what you want. It has "Never Wanna See You Cry" on it. Wedding song classic like John Denver's "Annie's Song" or Savage Garden's "Truly Madly Deeply". Their best b-side. "Dream as if you'll live forever; Live as if you'll die today." --James Dean

Blue Breeze · Post by **Blue Breeze** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 9:54 pm

It's too bad these guys split up on such bad terms. They had some great songs, Bittersweet Symphony was a huge hit back in the day. They always got confused with "Verve Pipe", I think that may have honestly had an impact on their popularity, but I am glad they left us with something to be desired rather than burning out and leaving a sour taste in our mouths. Edited by: <A HREF=http://p100.ezboard.com/bmnhs.showUserP ... @mnhs>Blue Breeze</A> at: 3/1/06 9:59 pm

Nostalgic Nerd · Post by **Nostalgic Nerd** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 10:32 pm

After Ashcroft started his solo career, a fan said he hoped his life would go back into shambles because that was when his music peaked. LOL! "Dream as if you'll live forever; Live as if you'll die today." --James Dean

Blue Breeze · Post by **Blue Breeze** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 10:46 pm

That's a good point, when you look at some of the lyrics, they're depressing, but at the same time genious. Looks like his life never did go back into shambles....

Nostalgic Nerd · Post by **Nostalgic Nerd** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 11:02 pm

From what I hear his lyrics are mostly ad libbed. I don't know that they always work, but I think I like that creative process better. It's not as prepared and more genuine. "Dream as if you'll live forever; Live as if you'll die today." --James Dean

Nostalgic Nerd · Post by **Nostalgic Nerd** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 11:46 pm

In case you don't already know, I'd check out Ashcroft's "On a Beach" from his first solo album. Regarding the Verve, McCabe was definitely the architect. But he wasn't the whole band. Simon Jones is a wonderful bassist, and Peter Salisbury with the rhythm drums. I really had a hard time appreciating drummers for a long time outside Bohnam's weight and Moon's dexterity. It felt like there was nothing left in drummers after those two. But yeah, Jones and Sal worked together beautifully. I mean I love Kurt Cobain, but his albums just sound like classics if you catch my drift. ASIH, words just do not do it justice. Remember when Radiohead were the thing? I mean Sigur Ros just came right along with "Agaetis Byrjun" and took their supposed crown right from under them if you ask me. Then there's this Sufjan Stevens who is like a neo-Dylan or something. The variety he has is practically unlimited. Is making an album on each state in the country. 50 albums. Indie people love him. Yet I keep asking myself, "Has he made anything touching ASIH?" Nope. He'll go on and on, but it will probably never quite reach that satisfaction I have with those two albums. Atleast until someone else comes along. Domenico Scarlatti's "Stabat Mater". There ya go. There's one for the classical crowd. Organ mastery. "Dream as if you'll live forever; Live as if you'll die today." --James Dean

Nostalgic Nerd · Post by **Nostalgic Nerd** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 2:14 pm

On Stabat Mater... <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=am ...  The period from 1714-19, which Domenico Scarlatti spent in Rome employed by the Vatican as the maestro di cappella at St. Giulia, produced a considerable body of sacred and liturgical music, much of it worthy of further attention and performance. Foremost among these is his setting of the devotional Stabat Mater text. The work, completed in 1715, employs a choir of ten parts accompanied by organ and is rendered in a style that often seems archaic, but at moments introduces newer and powerfully expressive textures and harmonies. Despite the lush vocal sonority afforded by the large vocal forces, it is with local nuances and contours and subtle combinations of parts that Scarlatti engages the listener. At first glance, Scarlatti's Stabat Mater seems like a misplaced work from the sixteenth century, with its gently arching melodic lines, delicate points of imitation, and elegant surface. Occasional harmonic clues betray the piece's later date -- a meditative plagal passage that frees itself of harmonic urgency, a cadence that points in an unforeseen direction. Despite the large ensemble, Scarlatti's polyphonic fabric is pulled taught and polished, with only a hint of harmonic depth added by the organ; in passages where the vocal forces are most reduced, the clarity of phrase and declamation solidly place the work in the eighteenth century, despite its seemingly antiquated style. One of this piece's most compelling characteristics is the fluidity with which it connects the words and music. The devotional poem, cast in ten stanzas of two tercets each, is not poured squarely into a corresponding series of musical passages, but rather stretched and molded into a larger and more organic form. The first four verses of the poem are bound together by a continuous musical passage and a recurring motive that is treated communally by the singers. The insistent rhetorical questions of the poem, "Quis est homo qui non fleret...Quis non posset contristari...?" (Who would not weep seeing the mother of Christ in such torment? Who would not feel compassion...?), are met first with an increasing musical urgency created by carefully wrought counterpoint, then a moment of pensive repose. In the subsequent passage, the music shifts from sheer declamation of words to expression of ideas and images, as shifting meters, variegated textures, and more angular writing enhance the poet's description of Christ's suffering. The adorations that follow, in which the poet affirms his devotion to Christ and desire to weep with Mary at the foot of the cross, eventually culminate in a masterfully crafted fugue on "Fac me cruce custodiri" (Grant that I may be protected by the cross) and a joyous chorus of "Amen." "Dream as if you'll live forever; Live as if you'll die today." --James Dean

Nostalgic Nerd · Post by **Nostalgic Nerd** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 12:02 am

On Agaetis Byrjun... <a href="http://pitchforkmedia.com/record-review ...  Icelandic lore tells of the Hidden People who live in the crags and lava of jagged mountains. Descended from the ancient guardian spirit, the Hidden People come in many forms. The tiny blï¿½maï¿½lfar dwell in flower blossoms while the common bï¿½aï¿½lfar reside on farms. Even in this modern age of cellphones and helicopters, Icelanders continue to believe that the Hidden People are still out there somewhere. Construction workers even curve roads around rumored dwellings of the Hidden People. How can a modern people find faith in such fantasy? A heavy cloud of Norse mythology and a breathtaking raw landscape explains much of it. The indigenous music of Sigur Rï¿½s can only perpetuate such a religion. The album begins submerged. Sonar pings echo from liquid feedback, invisible in a handful, but crushing you like an ocean in its volume. A cathedral organ moans. Wire brushes drum in a sinking pace. A violin bow saws open the maw of massive guitar, spreading noise in clouds of blood. Siren Jï¿½n Thï¿½r Birgisson sings through every orifice-- including gills, perhaps-- creating the most inhuman vocals ever heard in rock (though Skywalker Sound could attempt a Chewbacca-esque approximation by blending whales, Jeremy Enigk, cherubs, Bjï¿½rk, and the blue alien from The Fifth Element). The song ends in an accelerating heartbeat that breaks into palpitations. Sound fizzles out. You've died. A string section waxes as the album moves from "Svefn-G-Englar" to "Starï¿½lfur". The chamber instruments flutter around skeletal drums and sepulchral bass. This music tethers to touchstones in classical as much as Radiohead, like Orff composing "Carmina Burana" for e-bow at absolute zero. The song breaks into brittle acoustic interludes where Birgisson's vocals frost through your speaker. Yet like Icarus triumphant, the album keeps taking you higher (or deeper, depending on your perspective). "Nï¿½ Batterï¿½" opens with a disjointed band of muted horns. They deliquesce into chrome swirls of tinnitus and massaging bass. Eventually, the song erupts in flaking layers of hissing drums. Subtle bebop drums and Kjarten Sveinsson's fatty rhodes pianos kick up dust on "Hjartaï¿½ Hamast" while Birgisson rubs the sleep from his eyes. "Olson Olson" is simply the most soul-crushingly beautiful piece. This elfin masterpiece unveils Mogwai's troll-rock for its soulless academics. To term this music "post-rock" would be an insult; Sigur Rï¿½s are pre-whatever comes this century. Piano, flutes, tremolo, horns, feedback, and that godly amazing voice scrubs souls pure with the black volcanic sands from the beaches of Vï¿½k. Birgisson's invented lyrical language of Hopelandish may be crying in tongues or even plain gibberish, but sheer emotions like this cleanse as universally as sodium laureth sulfate. Sigur Rï¿½s make this bombastic claim on their website: "We are simply gonna change music forever, and the way people think about music. And don't think we can't do it, we will." The fact that they've scored hits in Iceland with this spectacular orchestrated soul speaks of both their power and the credibility of the natives. The alien angel fetus pressed in blue ink on the cover serves as the perfect logo. Sigur Rï¿½s effortlessly make music that is massive, glacial, and sparse. They are Hidden People. Children will be conceived, wrists will be slashed, scars will be healed, and tears will be wrenched by this group. They are the first vital band of the 21st Century. -Brent DiCrescenzo, January, 2000 "Dream as if you'll live forever; Live as if you'll die today." --James Dean

Nostalgic Nerd · Post by **Nostalgic Nerd** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 10:44 am

More Verve praise... <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=am ...  "But shoegaze wasn't about visuals -- it was about pure sound. The sound of the music was overwhelmingly loud, with long, droning riffs, waves of distortion, and cascades of feedback. Vocals and melodies disappeared into the walls of guitars, creating a wash of sound where no instrument was distinguishable from the other." For those "classic rock" fans, your going to have problems with this style of music because it isn't about clarity in instrument or vocal. What the above does for those that, pardon, "get it" (no pun intended), is a feeling of being lost in the moment. I wouldn't even necessarily say I like the shoegaze style as a whole, but the density and complexity of it could've never been accomplished within radio parameters. All you have to do is listen to "Blue" to hear the difference, which is still a good song. <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=am ...  "Long acclaimed as among the most innovative and spellbinding bands on the contemporary British pop scene" "Perfecting an oceanic sound fusing the exploratory vision of '60s-era psychedelia with the shimmering atmospherics of the shoegazer aesthetic, the Verve languished in relative obscurity while waiting for the rest of the music world to play catch-up, creating one of the most complex and rewarding bodies of work in modern rock & roll long before most listeners even learned of their existence -- only to again fall apart at the peak of their success." "Subsequent efforts like the brilliant "She's a Superstar" and "Gravity Grave" captured an original musical identity growing by leaps and bounds, distinguished chiefly by Ashcroft's elemental vocals and McCabe's echoing guitar leads." Again, I wouldn't say Gravity Grave is bad or anything. It's just if you want a first impression, go with She's a Superstar. Really though just to get a feel for if you will like it or not then start with ASIH. The reason why Nick McCabe is on my A-list of guitarist is because he did the opposite of traditional rockers. To be big and loud, they tended to go at their strings like chainsaws. I don't mean that in derogatory terms, but the technique was fast. McCabe did nothing and still made the effect coming off dense and huge. I mean if your looking for the Eagles Joe Walsh with the blues licks and guitar face, you aren't gonna find it here. I can't stand that. Just play the friggin' instrument. McCabe really cannot play the guitar well in technical terms, but it's his vision. He even acknowledges it. He has said sythensizers was his instrument originally. <a href="http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=am ...  "The quintessential Verve record. Over the course of the two epic tracks which comprise this EP, the band truly comes into its own -- Richard Ashcroft sings like a man possessed and Nick McCabe's guitar is positively oceanic, producing tidal waves of drone which crash and break over the hypnotically liquid rhythms of Simon Jones and Peter Salisbury. Exquisitely produced by Barry Clempson, both "She's a Superstar" and "Feel" generate a dreamlike beauty, tapping into an energy just outside of the realm of consciousness -- it's music which transcends space and time, with a purity unmatched by anything else in the Verve catalog." "Dream as if you'll live forever; Live as if you'll die today." --James Dean

Nostalgic Nerd · Post by **Nostalgic Nerd** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 8:17 pm

If you're one of the two still listening, thanks. <img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/roll.gif ALT=":rollin"> The second link is on Nick's guitar work. The last link is an interview that contains strong language. I wouldn't want to say I agree with everything he says, but I do think it highlights his principles on music. His comment on the Stone Roses John Squire being a point of how differently he thinks what music should be. <a href="http://www.musicsaves.org/verve/intervi ...  Verve Lime Lizard, July 1993 Jon Setzler It's been said, many times before, that the mark of a great record is that it reminds you of other great records, reconnecting you to the score of rocks past. That, however doesn't make a record great it merely makes it great bounded by quotation marks because all it qualities have already been defined. As with Teenage Fanclub's Bandwagonesque or Black Crowes The Southern Harmony..., their existence is only made possible by the fact that their ceiling has already been set. If you're willing to hook into the past, the first casualty is invariably the will to escape. Rather than people who are fixated on rock's legacy, maybe we should look to those who are mesmerised, those who can allow us to glance off the map,into uncharted territory. This is Verve's Richard Aschroft: "Anyone can pick up a guitar and play Heroin by the Velvet Underground, but not everyone who picks up a guitar can create something that sounds fresh and new. What's the point of closing yourself in when you've been given the chance to make music? Maybe you'll make only one record in your life, that's the way we see it when we record. We record as if it's the last thing we're ever going to do, purely because you get the most out of yourselves. It's not in a muso way, it's just in an expanding way, and not being afraid to use certain sounds, certain instruments. Maybe with the new LP, A Storm In Heaven, and a few records that have proceeded it, the doors are finally being broken down as far as expression on record, and expression as far as the band are concerned. The way I look at it is that it's time for people who want to create to create, and people who want to be out there in mediocrity to sink." Verve aren't sinking, they're floating several miles high, drifting way beyond any reference points that may have called them into being. A Storm In Heaven isn't just a "great" record, it's a great "great" record, one that reminds you of records you've never even heard, and makes you dream of records that might one day exist. Verve reach out, not to plunder trinkets from rock's past, but for the sheer task of reaching out, as if the act alone gives rise to the concep of a future, a future defined only by the thirst for it, as real and yet as indefinate as the light emanating from a projector lens as it disperses into space. <a href="http://www.theverve.co.uk/nickarticle.h ...  An Appreciation Of Nick McCabe When editor of 'Guitar' magazine, Michael Leonard, contacted us to ask about using some of our Chris Potter interview in his magazine's big Verve cover story, he kindly offered to write an appreciation of Nick McCabe's guitar playing as he is a big fan. It isn't intended as a tribute to Nick or anything like that, it's just an informative look at Nick's work by someone who knows something about guitars and all the opinions expressed are Michael's own. Thank you Michael. Oasis and A Northern Soul producer Owen Morris has called him 'the most gifted musician I've ever worked with'; Verve bassist Simon Jones once pleaded with a guitar journalist to 'tell him he's fantastic. I think he's the greatest guitarist around and he won't have it. Tell him! He's amazing!' He is Nick McCabe, and for all the column inches devoted to Verve frontman Richard Ashcroft, the quiet guitarist is arguably the true architect of The Verve's unique sound. Ashcroft reportedly described McCabe's sound as a 'whole new universe' when he first heard the guitarist playing in a Wigan practice room before the band's formation; eight years later with the release of Urban Hymns, and despite the pair's temporary falling out in 1995 and McCabe's recent withdrawal from live appearances, Ashcroft reiterated his debt to McCabe in shaping the Verve's sound ï¿½ 'I love Nick McCabe, 'the singer insisted, 'and I never want to be in band if he's not playing the guitar. I hope he thinks the same way about me. We just needed time to realise it.' On Verve early releases, from debut single All In The Mind to the debut LP A Storm In Heaven, McCabe's playing relied heavily on delay and chorus doubling effects to build up a formidable wall of sound. Some thought McCabe's 'ethereal' style betrayed the influenced of '80s indie legends The Cocteau Twins and early '90s shoegazing kingpins My Bloody Valentine, even the prog-rock-ish textures of Pink Floyd's veteran guitarist David Gilmour. In a rare interview, McCabe insisted his primary influences came from a much more unique sources. 'When I was 14 or so I listened to a lot of Joy Division, I loved the textures of their records, but now it's more John Martyn, his '70s albums in particular; that's where my textured guitar playing comes from, honestly. I had Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd forced on me when I was younger, and although I tend not to listen to that sort of thing now, I guess it's lodged in my brain. I won't say that bands like the Cocteau Twins were not an influence, but that's not the sort of stuff I really likeï¿½ I like Vini Reilly (from The Durutti Column) because he could be flashy, but he was really simple about it. I also like Funkadelic's Eddie Hazel who, to me, condensed the best bits of Jimi Hendrix. You can probably hear all my influences in what I play, whether it's recent stuff or old blues records. 'It's all about sound,' he continued. 'I think guitar players who strive for technical excellence have lost the plot really. The whole point of the electric guitar started when Charlie Christian plugged his guitar into an amplifier to make it sound like a saxophone or whateverï¿½ and if I can press some button in the studio to make my guitar come up with a new sound then what's so bad about that? It's like the whole idea that techno isn't "proper" music 'cos they can't play instruments is so short-sighted. That's surely where new music comes from.' On those early Verve recordings, McCabe made full use of delay effects to transform his relatively sparse playing into a full, atmospheric wash of sound; at first it was two vintage units, a Watkins Copicat and a Roland Space Echo (a picture of a Space Echo later featured on Verve merchandise t-shirts, though this one belonged to Simon Tong): both the Watkins and Roland echoes are tape units, whereby the notes are recorded on 'standard' magnetic tape and then played back after a small delay to fill out the sound. By the time Verve recorded A Storm In Heaven, McCabe was using a digital unit, a Roland GS-6, which uses microchip technology and records then repeats the notes in much the same way as any modern sampler. His guitars on early Verve recordings were a red Gibson ES-335 semi-acoustic (since 'retired' after the neck snapped off at a Las Vegas gig), a Fender Stratocaster Standard and, occasionally, a Fender Jazzmaster (McCabe was inspired to buy one after hearing Television's Tom Verlaine). For amps, he used a Mesa/Boogie MkIII (an American valve amp, giving a full, warm distorted sound) and a Roland Jazz Chorus (a Japanese transistor/microchip driven amp, offering a cleaner, more brittle and treble-y tone, with built in chorus doubling effects). More important than the actual technology is how McCabe uses it. At the time of A Storm In Heaven, he explained, 'the way I come up with new ideas is just by dribbling guitars over everything and pick out something that makes sense. John Leckie (ASIH producer) was sampling stuff I'd played and looping bits and it sounded great.' McCabe is well known for rarely playing the same guitar lines twice, and it is this which gives The Verve their unique unpredictability when playing live. For those who complain how McCabe doesn't jump around when playing live (hello RAFT list!) it is simply because he is often not reciting the guitar parts heard on the records but improvising new parts and textures as the songs uncoil. As well as being brave in a gig setting, this requires McCabe to concentrate on his effects and amp settings, meaning he spends much of every gig monitoring his effects rack LED readouts and altering his footpedal settings. On 1995's A Northern Soul, McCabe's guitar style toughened up. In tandem with the less-blissful, strung-out themes of Ashcroft's lyrics, McCabe toned down his use of effects, cranked up the amps and played with a stronger blues and heavier rock influence. Even so, he insisted, 'I'm playing the St Helen's blues. There's no Mississippi in me at all.' He also distanced himself from the prevalent trend for British guitar players at the time to play and draw on the influence of '60s blues rockers like Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page. 'I'm not trying to sound 65 years old, it's not this retrospective thing,' he sniped. 'Listen to (The Stone Roses')John Squire on The Second Coming and you can almost hear the taste barriers go up. He's become too obsessed with this idea of what a good guitar player should sound like. He's lost the plot really, hasn't he?' While the likes of A New Decade, This Is Music and No Knock On My Door showed the heavier rock side to McCabe's playing, new directions on ANS included the wah-wah pedal driven title track (showing the influence of Funkadelic's Eddie Hazel) and the delicate bluesy bends on Drive You Home, while his live tour-de-force Life's An Ocean/Stormy Clouds showed a mastery of improvising other-worldy guitar sounds. Listen, in particular, to McCabe's control of feedback (created when an amp is turned up high and the player stands close by, with the guitar parallel to the amp's speaker), and how he makes the guitar wail while barely picking the strings. ANS producer Owen Morris was amazed by McCabe's creativity in the studio, particularly that he created such a huge sound without numerous overdubs, adding -You can ask Noel Gallagher to play the same guitar line a hundred times and, as long as there's a good reason, he'll do it. With Nick, you've got no chance. He just doesn't want to.' Gear-wise, McCabe retained his Fender Strat and Mesa/Boogie combo for ANS, but also introduced a sunburst Gibson Les Paul (a harder, darker-sounding guitar than his by-now now-deceased ES-335) and replaced the Roland amp with another warmer-sounding valve amp, a British Vox AC30 built in the 1960s. While ANS remains arguably the most difficult of all Verve albums, it is perhaps McCabe's finest hour to date. He admitted that the initial sessions recording the album were 'the happiest three weeks of my life.' Then, of course, everything went horribly wrong. Given that much of Urban Hymns was written by Richard Ashcroft alone, Nick McCabe's influence on UH is his weakest of any Verve album. On Rolling People and Come On he reprises the heavy powerchord style of much of ANS (this time, though, McCabe repeatedly overdubbed to make the sound even more huge) and elsewhere Simon Tong and Richard Ashcroft handle electric and acoustic guitar parts. Even so, McCabe's contributions ï¿½ often recorded after the songs were 90 per cent completed ï¿½ show his unique style to be intact. By now, McCabe was playing more and more slide guitar, placing the 'bottleneck' on his little finger: guitar players note that McCabe frets the strings using all four left-hand fingers, an approach more often associated with classically-schooled guitarists (though McCabe is certainly not formally trained at all!), and requires considerable dexterity. The Drugs Don't Work in particular, is given a country flavour by McCabe's minimal slide guitar motifs ï¿½ just one reason, maybe, why The Verve have recruited renowned pedal steel player BJCole (who has also played with Spiritualised, The Orb and Elton John) for their current US tour. Other standouts for McCabe on UH include the effects laden Catching The Butterfly (edited down for a mammoth 25-minute Verve jam session led by Nick, just as in those early ASIH days) and Neon Wilderness (built around one of Nick's trademark guitar loops). That said, some of McCabe's most recognisable work with The Verve from the UH sessions can be heard on b-sides ï¿½ in particular, listen to more delicate control of feedback and 'backwards' guitar on Lord I Guess I'll Never Know, the jerky blues lines on Country Song, the fluid soloing Echo Bass, the super-heavyfuzz of Three Steps and the psychedelic synthesizer-like textures on Stamped. McCabe's sound and style has gently developed over the Verve's three albums, yet his unique signature remains the way he uses effects to build huge walls of noise, his delicate control of feedback and his ability to improvise new lines night after night ï¿½ while some see the latter as making McCabe an irregular live performer, it's this seat-of-the-pants aspect that The Verve will no doubt have missed when they toured without him. Either way, McCabe's contribution to the Verve's music is immense and he arguably remains the most adventurous and unique guitar player in Britain today. FURTHERLISTENING: For those willing to seek out artists who appear to have influenced Nick McCabe's guitar playing, the following albums are recommended. Note that these are NOT Nick's own choices, but how Michael personally sees the roots of his sound. The Jimi Hendrix Experience:Electric Ladyland (MCA, 196<img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/glasses.gif ALT="8)"> Practically every guitarist since the '60s owes a debt to Hendrix though, interestingly, McCabe favours Hendrix's delicate use of volume swells, psychedelic washes and soul guitar licks rather than JH's more widely-imitated proto-heavy metal wailing. Funkadelic: Maggot Brain (Westbound, 1971) ï¿½ sprawling rock/soul/psychedelic masterpiece featuring Eddie Hazel, one of McCabe's favourite players. John Martyn: Solid Air (Island, 1972) ï¿½ Veteran Scottish singer/songwriter who supported The Verve at Haigh Hall; his influence on McCabe can particularly be heard on No Come Down's more folky acoustic tracks. Led Zeppelin: Physical Graffiti (Swansong, 1976) ï¿½ McCabe denies any direct admiration for Jimmy Page's mega-heavy riffing, but it's likely he's absorbed a little Zep Joy Division: Closer (Factory, 1980) ï¿½ Bernard Sumner's wiry 'no blues' guitar lines are some of McCabe's favourites. The Chameleons: Script Of The Bridge (Statik, 1983) ï¿½ McCabe has never mentioned this early '80s cult Mancunian band in interviews, but their heavily chorused and echo-ey guitars are something of a precursor to his style The Cocteau Twins: Treasure (4AD, 1984) ï¿½ again, not an influence cited by Nick, though Robin Guthrie's 'ethereal' approach influenced many a young Brit guitarist in the early '80s. Some moments on ASIH, particularly, show an appreciation of the Cocteaus The Durutti Column: The Guitar And Other Machines (Factory, 1987) ï¿½ another Mancunian cult player, Vini Reilly's reliance of delays, loops and effects pedals to build up an 'orchestra' of guitars had a keen impact on Nick's textured approach. NB:Reilly also appears on Morrissey's Viva Hate (EMI, 198<img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/glasses.gif ALT="8)"> <a href="http://worldofpop.blogspot.com/2005/09/ ... html">part 1</a> <a href="http://worldofpop.blogspot.com/2005/12/ ... html">part 2</a> "Dream as if you'll live forever; Live as if you'll die today." --James Dean

BSMhockey11 · Post by **BSMhockey11** » Mon Mar 06, 2006 8:22 pm

im not gunna lie the verve has some pretty good tunes.

Nostalgic Nerd · Post by **Nostalgic Nerd** » Mon Mar 06, 2006 8:37 pm

One day I had to go run an errand in the car so I put on some ASIH. It was one of the rare moments my mind was clear of all thought. I played it and it was something words cannot satisfy. A beautiful orangish sun setting on top of a highway surrounded by beautiful country. I cannot recommend that method enough or a similar one for the full effect.<img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/smokin.gif ALT=":smokin"> "Dream as if you'll live forever; Live as if you'll die today." --James Dean

Nostalgic Nerd · Post by **Nostalgic Nerd** » Tue Mar 14, 2006 10:34 pm

The Decembers Architects/Mimosa Peloria were a part of the "math rock" genre a little while ago. Others have commented on just how exceptional these guys were as musicians. I discovered them by accident at 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis when they opened for Smattering some five years or so ago. I was completely flabbergasted. The thought at the time was how can they do that with their guitars?! These recordings are great, but it doesn't even tell the story compared live. It of course is an acquired taste, but man, thankfully these recordings are still available. They were the new revolution as far as I'm concerned, but nobody knew. Check out all the other Adonis bands as well. Enjoy. <a href="http://www.adonismusic.com/decarch.htm" ...  "Dream as if you'll live forever; Live as if you'll die today." --James Dean

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