Alone With Everybody Still battling against the tide, the singer landed in a world of Creeds and Bizkits with an album lusher than Eden and happier than anything he's done. When the wall of sound hits the kitchen sink, as on "Brave New World" and "C'mon People (We're Making It Now)," Ashcroft revolves the very cosmos around domestic bliss. And he could still sing the Wall Street Journal like it was Tannhauser.
Urban Hymns Let's be honest. We didn't think they had it in them. From the anthemic "Bitter Sweet Symphony" to the heart-in-mouth "The Drugs Don't Work" to the closing taunts of "Come On," Urban Hymns is a rock classic that can casually pose next to any album produced during the '90s. Ashcroft had told us this was music. Now we believed him.
A Northern Soul Take a load of ecstasy, ruined studios, and a producer who fanned the flames of the Verve's immolation and this is what you get. Halfway through what was almost their valediction, Ashcroft decided to write proper songs and came up with a bona fide classic in the string-laden "History." The band split shortly afterward, but there was a last hurrah in store.
A Storm in Heaven Built out of nightlong jams the Verve held in the forests around Wigan, their debut set a psychedelic template totally out of step with the grungy times. Drugs? Yes, please. But epics like "Already There" demonstrated that with Ashcroft's commanding voice and Nick McCabe's guitar wanderlust, their ambition wasn't totally unfounded.
