A Northern Soul

Ok

Even the shorter songs somehow feel like they go on forever. I’m not generally an Ashcroft fan but even by his standards the vocals on ‘no knock on my door’ are shocking

A surprise second Verve album on the list - I genuinely wasn't expecting another after Urban Hymns. Last time I got gradually worn down by the aural assault of Richard Ashcroft's voice over the full length of the album, and this is over an hour long again, so I'm buckling in.

I could definitely have done without hearing him panting on A New Decade...

I like the single I already know (History). I'm not sure I really liked anything else that much, and the cumulative effect was that I just found it really dull?

Just not exciting for me.

2/5

The *nerve* to give me this album instead of Peter Gabriel's solo work...

The songs are longwinding and are more focused on instrumentals. And they're all 5+ minutes long, which just makes this so one-note (2.5-3).

Back then, The Verve had sort of faded into the background in the public eye compared to Oasis. Yet the two bands are quite different: To me, The Verve sound much more mature, while Oasis (and most other Britpop bands of the mid-'90s) were more part of the pop mainstream.
“A Northern Soul” has turned out to be a pretty enjoyable alternative psychedelic blues-rock album that I, at least, really enjoy listening to. It might be a little monotonous at times, but given the overall high quality of the performance, I find that somewhat forgivable.

More psychedelic than id imagined. Pretty aimless stuff though.

Enjoyable but too long

2nd Verve album I’ve had and 2nd time I’ve really enjoyed it without being blown away.

Same producer as definitely maybe. No wonder I thought it sounded a bit like oasis.

I like Drive You Home, Life's an Ocean, and (Reprise). The rest pretty much sounds like middle-of-the-road 90s alt-rock, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it doesn't stick to my ribs. The production is a little too neat and bloodless and the vocals too prominent.

A Northern Soul, i.e., the one that doesn't have 'Bittersweet Symphony,' is surprisingly strong, given just how much Urban Hymns disappointed. This '95 album can hardly be said to be a part of the whole Britpop craze, & it's for this reason that it works & their next release doesn't. I don't think they are really psychedelic rock, or psychedelic at all, but The Verve, at least on this album, are firmly in that of milieu Spacemen 3 & Spiritualized. ''Cause I don't need no cause / When my feelings fall.' Ashcroft, tho he'll ne'er be a great lyricist, impresses linguistically on this record, but the creativity - the creativity that's missing on Urban Hymns - is all about what's going on at the instrumental level: loosey-goosey coinages meet down-to-earth funk.

too moody

2.0

Meh

Very 90's. Didn't really have the oomph to make me want to seek it out again. But it wasn't terrible or anything.

Pristine example of Dimery's Idiotic British bias that clogs the list with unnecessary insipid gunk like this that nobody outside of one tiny island has ever heard nor thought about.

A Northern Soul is much vibier and jam based than Urban Hymns. It's full of quintessential 90s grooves, the first half sitting on the rougher edges of Britpop, the latter half being much smoother. None of it is the output of aspiring hit makers. I'd struggle to pick out the singles, but it's a pretty robust and compelling whole.

Haven't listened to this before, although I've listened to their album Urban Hymns and remember liking it a lot . . . Kind of surprised this one is on the list; it's fine, but I don't think it was particularly influencial??

I gave this one a couple listens. There are good songs but most overstay their welcome. I don’t agree that this is one album that needs to be heard. It’s good but I don’t feel like I’d missed something by not hearing it until now.

Ultimately I was disappointed with this. You can tell that Urban Hymns was a big step-up in terms of their song-writing chops, while they've yet to really develop here. It's a shame because one of the very early tracks was incredibly atmospheric, with some really nice, deep guitar. After that it all got a bit meandering and droney with no real highlights. It's still not a bad listen, but it's also doing nothing particularly interesting either.

2.5 rounded up.