The Verve Urban Hymns

3.5 Stars (out of 5) - "...their strongest album to date....the songs on URBAN HYMNS are anchored by propulsive guitar rhythms and sinuous, infectious vocals....a breathtaking venture, an ambitious balance of stargazing and worldweary pathos."
"...a surprising--and stunning--comeback from Britain's shoe-gazing shamans the Verve, resurrected after two splintered years. Crooner Richard Ashcroft makes it all sound like churchworthy gospel." - Rating: B+
Ranked #18 in Q's "Best 50 Albums of Q's Lifetime"
Included in Q Magazine's "90 Best Albums Of The 1990s."
Included in Q Magazine's "50 Best Albums of 1997."
Ranked #58 in Q's "100 Greatest British Albums" - "...Rose to national anthem league, an appeal to a post-club generation who now use rock'n'roll as a comedown aid..."
Included in Q's "The Best Male Angst Albums Of All Time"
"[T]he most striking qualities of URBAN HYMNS now are its musical coherence and the powerfully sustained mood of melancholic stoicism."
"[A] classic artifact of 1990s Britrock, a guitar album that resists being confined by those terms and a pop album unafraid to let its freak flag fly."
Ranked #1 on Melody Maker's list of 1997's "Albums Of The Year."
"...An album of unparalleled beauty so intent on grabbing at the strands of music's multi-hued history....all songs which sound like they've lived a little more than most."
Village Voice (2/24/98) - Ranked #18 in the Village Voice's 1997 Pazz & Jop Critics' Poll.
Ranked #3 in NME's 1997 Critics' Poll.
8 (out of 10) - "....Its sheer magnificence and spirit is such that the danger of it overwhelming anything that follows it is obvious. This, after all, is the musical signature of the year....The Verve's best album to date..."