Urban Hymns

An album that I remember being so bad and dull that I honestly refuse to listen to it again. Songs dragged on with little interesting instrumentation to accompany it, and the singer's wispy, psychedelic singing often came off as more posh and up its own ass than actually done well. Yes, there is a singular good riff here, that being Bittersweet Symphony's string backing to keep that song moving along at a pace just fit enough for it to become a hit both in the UK and US, but when you learn that small snippet of strings is all you get, you'll be rolling your eyes by the end of the track, and realizing it is a sample pulled from a Rolling Stones' orchestral live album makes it all the worse. Sure, sampling is cool, but not that lazily, it just makes you look bad. Otherwise, you get that same level of self-important nothingness that plagues the likes of their contemporaries, such as The Charlatans or Oasis. Pulp and other Britpop acts work for me due to their self-aware lyrics and cheeky but solid instrumentals. This just feels like they came up with "sad" lyrics then noodled on their instruments for five minutes, cut it, and shipped it out. How this is considered some of the best the UK had to offer at the time is beyond me, but I just find it ridiculously drab, and I really don't want to go through that hour of meandering songwriting again, even a year or so later.

Iconic Bitter Sweet Symphony on here. Some other okay songs as well, but not too much that stands out.

Woaaah, bittersweet symphony has been popping up a lot in my life these past couple of weeks, crazy! Let's see if the rest of the album holds up as well. Very Oasis reminiscent. Catching the butterfly sounds proto-Muse.
Overall enjoyable album, 3*.
It's interesting that this is such a high selling album; I think that is all an artifact of an era where you had to buy the whole album for just one song,, you couldn't pick and choose like we do with streaming. This means these guys had one amazing banger and that's that. A la tubthumping.
The hidden track was weird.
Highlights: bittersweet symphony

Too slow, too much production, too much not enough. Lacks any intensity. Pretty soulless. Damn, the whole thing is like the worst Lynyrd Skynyrd, but more robotic. The singer is good enough (I guess, can't really hear that well). Outside of Bittersweet Symphony, this just drags. It's so long. I tried, but the slide guitar/slow tempo/acoustic campfire strumming just feels contrived out here. Come On is okay. Rounding down one star for bad behavior and breaking up 3 times. I would love to hear something by these guys without all the echo and tambourine

Bittersweet Symphony was the only good song that I wouldn't mind hearing again. The rest were pretty forgettable and boring. I kept thinking they sounded like some other 90's/00's bands, but couldn't place it; just generic sounding. 2/5

This was HUGE at the time and it's hard for me to be too objective as I was sick of the singles so much. Saying that, I enjoyed it more than I expected but man, way overlong. There's a super tight 40-45 minutes here. A generous 3

I do have a soft spot for The Verve, especially their earlier work. This album continues some of the shoegazing sonic philosophy of their first two albums, but mixes it with crowd-pleasing maudlin tracks. 50% of this is really good, and 50% of it just isn't.

I liked this album and I will return to it one day. That said, I think it’s more accurate to say that “Bitter Sweet Symphony” is one of the 1,001 Songs to Hear Before You Die, rather than this album being a necessity.

3.5/5

Aggressively OK.

It's a good album overall. There's some really well crafted indie pop songs, and some particular standouts (basically the singles!). The longer form, meandering songs I'm not as big a fan of.

3.5 rounded up.

Urban Hymns by The Verve is a standout album that truly defined the sound of a generation—mine included. It captures a unique blend of emotion and atmosphere that still resonates today. The Verve were also an incredible live band, and that raw energy comes through in every track.

Favourite Tracks:
There are some absolute belters on this album. Bitter Sweet Symphony is iconic for a reason—its sweeping orchestration and emotional pull are unforgettable. Sonnet is another highlight, with its poignant lyrics and haunting melody.

Least Favourite Track:
Honestly, every song on Urban Hymns brings something to the table. There’s no real weak link—each track feels carefully crafted and worth revisiting.

Album Artwork:
The cover is effortlessly cool. It perfectly reflects the introspective, moody vibe of the music within.

The most middle-of-the-road Britpop imaginable.

Qué buenos recuerdos. Este disco me lo regalaron y le tengo cariño. Además de los bombazos más conocidos "Bitter Sweet Symphony", "The Drugs Don't Work" o "Lucky Man" también me gustan bastante "Sonnet", "The Rolling People", "Catching the Butterfly", "Space and Time" y "This Time". El "Come On" me ha recordado a Weekender de Flowered Up algo en lo que no había pensado nunca. La canción fantasma "Deep Freeze" es ese invento típico de los 90 para hacer una gracia con el tiempo sobrante de los CD frente a los LP de vinilo. Le voy a dar 5 estrellas aunque entiendo que son más bien 4 para el resto del público.

Not to be that guy, but it true: their early psychadelic shoegaze stuff was better than their commercial breakthrough album. Sadly this album finds them less as a Slowdive rival or a ladish Spiritualized and more as a proto-Coldplay. It retains elements of their early sound - big spacey reverb-laden ambience, swirling wah-wah & delay pedal guitar parts, trance-inducing slow riffs and looping bass parts, big builds and breakdowns - but it's filtered through a much more mainstream alt-rock, almost Pearl Jam-like, approach with a much bigger emphasis on the balladeering mournful vocals front and center which makes it somewhat more generic. I'm a sucker for the twangy lapsteel accents which give it an extra element of angelic spaciousness - functioning as a blissful contrast to the misery of the lyrics on a song like "Drugs Don't Work"

Whole album is fine. Not a huge fan of Bittersweet Symphony. Probably wouldn't go out of my way to listen to it again but wouldn't turn it off if it comes on the radio.

Middleschool me would have absolutely adored this album, which is tragic as It was out then. As it is I don't really care for his voice. That makes this album a middling affair to me.

One of my favourite 90’s albums, so completely biased review but absolutely love this album, all the singles from this album are outstanding. A britpop masterpiece.

it's not oasis

Bittersweet Symphony was one of my first "favourite songs" of my childhood that I remember clearly, I was around 7 or 8 at the time and it always takes me back. The rest of the album never really clicked with me, but listening to it again now, it is very solid.

Better than I anticipated. I had always felt the Verve was Bitter Sweet Symphony and not much else, but the whole album is a decent listen. 3.5/5