Urban Hymns

spent too much of late 90s listening to this album while playing battletanx on n64

When I first heard Bitter Sweet Symphony in 1997, I was thrilled. Back then, music channels like VIVA and MTV were still an important source of information for music and clips. I also liked the video for the song. This song was played over and over again on my music station, so at some point I got tired of it. In the meantime, I can listen to it again in good doses.
Even then, I wondered what the rest of the album would sound like. I didn't want to buy the album without further ado. At some point I was able to listen to it. I wasn't particularly interested in it, so I was curious to see how I would get on with the album now.
Well, not much has changed. I occasionally listened with interest. But that wasn't enough for me to pay more attention to it. And so the album rushed through on the side. I don't need to listen to it again.
3/5

This album came out swinging with the first song being their most well known, Bitter Sweet Symphony. After Lucky Man, the album got a bit boring for the last few songs on the album. Definately a front loaded record. The "hidden track", Deep Freeze, we pointless. It sounded like a baby crying in space.... That's it..... No music, just noise. Kind of dumb. Overall, not a bad album. Pretty solid 90's alt rock, and loads better than their other album I reviewed on here, A Northern Soul.

Favourite songs: Bitter Sweet Symphony, Lucky Man, The Rolling People, Weeping Willow, Space and Time, Sonnet

Least favourite songs: Neon Wilderness

4/5

So very late 90s...

In the late 90s, we all fell under the spell of a long, rambling British pop song that felt vaguely spiritual and uplifting. Champagne Supernova. Tender. The Universal. All You Good Good People. And yes, Bitter Sweet Symphony.

This album dares to ask the question, “What if we made the whole plane out of those songs?” And let me tell you, unless you’re Blur, you just don’t have two of them in you. Two great ones, at least. (I did kind of like Lucky Man, I’ll admit, but it’s under 5 minutes, so I’m not even sure it counts, and it’s certainly not at the level required to justify this experiment.) So it’s a pretty disappointing album all told.

Oasis' Be here now from Temu. It feels really overindulgent. There's some nice songs here like The Drugs Don't Work, but the overall thing is a lengthy 75 minutes with songs that have been needlessly dragged out. Can't say they aren't nice noisy soundscapes though.

Super duper forgettable, except that one song, where they infringed on some copyright..

Of course the opening track is a classic, but when the second track kicks in, you know you're in for a real treat! Enjoyed this album much much more than The Verve's previous album.

I was fully prepared to give this album a three-star and move on with my life, but I listened to it again with headphones on and the volume up and I have to give credit where credit is due— this album is actually pretty good.

It's very 90s-alternative-but-what-is-it-the-alternative-to type of music. Mainstream and accessible, sure, but I don't necessarily think that means it's boring and middlebrow.

And tbh, it takes a bit of adroitness to pull off a towering, anthemic song like "Bitter Sweet Symphony." Not many bands can do that.

I love discovering where certain sounds originate from. Without this generator, I’d have never known the intro to Bitter Sweet Symphany

This album is far too long for what it offers. Bittersweet Symphony is a great song to start the album. The rest of the album features the lead singer alternating between doing his best Thom Yorke and best Bono impressions over forgettable instrumentals. I get why someone might enjoy this, but I don’t see myself revisiting this over other Britpop albums.

I expected to be less into this than I was back in the day, but I enjoyed it a fair bit; there are some good tracks on here.

Nice 90britpop

Oh they just made Oasis again

Solid 3. The hits are a five, but they do not pull the rest of the album with them.

The 90s decade rating is really suffering at the hands of these middling brit pop acts. Why does it have to be so long?

I liked this more than I thought I would. Bittersweet Symphony was always a song I sort of enjoyed but it drags on. The rest of the first half is solid, way more trance-y than I expected. The second half got a little dull. Also, it was far too long.

First four songs I'm thinking this is alright, better than I remember, probably 3 stars. But then it just keeps going and going, all one pace, one song blending into another with the same vocal ticks on display again and again until you are lost in the mush.

When I worked in a pub in the late 90s we would put this on Sunday afternoons as it seemed something we could handle while working through our murderous hangovers. It rarely lasted its full length before someone pressed eject and reached for Moon Safari by Air instead.

I started this album only knowing the one song (Bitter Sweet Symphony) but I have enjoyed the other songs, they are rather calm. The lyrics can get pretty repetitive though.

I'm not really a fan of most Britpop, but this album was much better than I expected. Three things keep it from being a five: 1) Whiny Britpop vocals. 2) After a while it gets repetitive. It's a pretty long album - if they dropped 4 - 5 songs it probably would be nearly perfect. 3) Hidden tracks are seriously annoying. Glad this doesn't seem to be a thing anymore in the streaming era. Favorite tracks: Bitter Sweet Symphony (what a rollercoaster story about songwriting credits and royalties), The Rolling People, Sonnet, The Drugs Don't Work, Catching the Butterfly, Weeping Willow.