Subsumed in myth and hearsay, the backdrop to the making of The Verve’s second album, issued in July 1995, has been thoroughly documented. It is a matter of record that the turbulent chemistry within the band – Richard Ashcroft, Nick McCabe, Simon Jones and Pete Salisbury - during its making forced the first fracturing of their union shortly after its release, but listening now it is also clear that it is one of the finest rock albums of the era.

As such it is a worthy addition to the UK National Album Day 2025 celebration of the genre; a record of towering musicianship on which four lads from Wigan delivered more than an hour of frequently heavy, brooding and confessional grooves, with their trademark psychedelic blooms and affecting melodies in full effect. And it’s worth noting that producer Owen Morris, who was central to the excesses that fuelled the album sessions, made a significant creative contribution. According to guitarist McCabe, he managed to capture the power of the band’s live performances on record better than anyone they have ever worked with.

Though it was largely disregarded by mainstream press and radio outlets when it first appeared, A Northern Soul has deservedly picked up a ‘cult’ following on both sides of the Atlantic, with many of those that missed it first time around becoming converts following the monster success of Urban Hymns.

As lead singer Richard Ashcroft put it at the time: "[The] doors have opened for me personally with my writing. We've been liberated. Touring, you get lost on a rock and roll adventure. You're on the Stardust trip…. But then you come home and it's time to get twenty Regal and a pastie and assess who you are. That's why the new album's got more soul to it. It's modern Northern blues."

The bone-crunching riff of ‘This Is Music’ was unleashed as the lead single in May 1995, followed by the reflective acoustic gem ‘On Your Own’ a month later. The group then went on the road in the UK - including appearances at the Glastonbury and Phoenix Festivals - and the US before returning to the UK to play at Glasgow’s T in the Park.

At its conclusion, Ashcroft announced his departure from the band and the third single, ‘History’, was released after they parted ways. In retrospect it offered a foretaste of Ashcroft’s songwriting direction on Urban Hymns but on its release the idea that another album by The Verve might ever exist appeared fanciful and A Northern Soul was regarded as a worthy full stop to short but incandescent career.

This 30th anniversary pressing, using the acclaimed 2016 remaster, is on ‘red opaque’ vinyl, chosen for its proximity to the colour of the corduroy trousers worn by bassist Jones on the reverse of the sleeve.

TRACK LISTING

Side 1
A New Decade
This Is Music
On Your Own
So It Goes

Side 2
A Northern Soul
Brainstorm Interlude
Drive You Home

Side 3
History
No Knock On My Door
Life’s An Ocean

Side 4
Stormy Clouds
(Reprise)

THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2025 EXCLUSIVE, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

Voyager 1 can reasonably be described as a ‘pseudo-bootleg’ album, in that it was a band-endorsed, official recording designed to look like an unofficial, pirate release (and given the catalogue number Jolly Roger 2 accordingly).

Made to introduce the band to the American market via Virgin’s then-newly inaugurated US ‘indie’ label Vernon Yard Recordings, the music it presented was recorded in concert in London and New York during 1992 and, and issued prior to their debut album, A Storm In Heaven, the following year.

As a live band, Verve (as they were then-known, before they were forced to change their name by legal action from the US jazz imprint of the same name) were already a significant force. Simon Jones’ bass and Pete Salisbury’s in-the-pocket drums provide a substantial foundation for Nick McCabe’s virtuoso guitar work, which deftly blends feedback, delay and reverb to sound like several instruments at once, while singer Richard Ashcroft rides the groove; swooping, raging and providing ad-libs in compelling manner.

The versions of two of their UK indie number one singles, ‘She’s A Superstar’ and ‘Gravity Grave’ are more rugged than their studio counterparts, the dynamics between the changes more intense, while the three cuts that were later included on their debut album - ‘Slide Away’, ‘One Way To Go’ and ‘Already There’ - provide a breathless, psychedelic experience that few of their peers were ever able to match.

The sixth track, "South Pacific", is the one song that remained unreleased in studio form for over 20 years (until the ‘A Storm In Heaven’ boxed set in 2015) and is aptly described by Brian Horgea on allmusic.com as, “like an ocean crashing down around your ears.”

Limited to 1000 copies in its original form (although legend has it that several hundred were damaged in transit, making it even more scarce), this reissue has been mastered from the original analogue sources and the lacquers cut by Geoff Pesche at Abbey Road Studios.

TRACK LISTING

Side 1
1. Slide Away
2. Gravity Grave
3. One Way To Go

Side 2
1. South Pacific
2. Already There
3. She's A Superstar

Originally released in November 2004 it featured two non-singles, tracks pulled from the sessions for their third album Urban Hymns, ‘This Could Be My Moment’ and ‘Monte Carlo’.

2024 marks the 20th anniversary of the release of an album that has never been pressed on vinyl and, under the group’s direction, this long overdue reissue replaces the bonus tracks with the powerful singles from the band’s 2008 reunion album, Forth – ‘Love is Noise’ and ‘Rather Be’ – as well as including their second single ‘She’s A Superstar’ (1992) in its original, full-length, eight-and-a-half-minute form (rather than the five-minute edit). As such, the album now represents the complete story of The Verve’s singles.

Named after the band’s sixth single, the first issued from their second album, A Northern Soul, it brilliantly documents the potency of The Verve’s relatively short but epoch-making journey through the musical cosmos.

On their emergence (when they were known simply as Verve), they were frequently referred to as purveyors of the shoegaze sound, although their output was more expansive, cinematic and genuinely psychedelic than that description implies, as evidenced by their first three non-album singles/EPs, all of which reached the summit of the UK indie charts.

After splitting up for the first time in 1995, they reconvened (with the addition of guitarist and keyboard player Simon Tong) to reach their commercial peak in 1997 with the hugely successful Urban Hymns, which was centred around a brilliantly accomplished suite of songs written by Ashcroft, including the worldwide smash ‘Bitter Sweet Symphony’, the UK number one ‘The Drugs Don’t Work’ and the beautiful and evocative ‘Lucky Man’.

Combustible, intense and highly influential, this stellar journey is finally available on wax, where, in its definitive form, it easily stands comparison with any other singles collection from the last three decades.

STAFF COMMENTS

Andy says: Three non album early singles make this an extra special collection, for me. Absolutely no one was making the hugely scoped out, psychedelic, shoegaze, groove-laden, wonder- sound that The Verve were coming up with in the early 90s. They were a band right out (there) on their own. Then Richard must've got himself an acoustic guitar (and famously toured with Oasis, in support, no less!) and bingo: enter the land of classic single after classic single. They're all collected on this imperious compilation, and the rest is as they say, history.

Barry says: I mean, you know the singles from Urban Hymns already obviously because they're all stunning and they were on the radio constantly, but do you know the other singles from Northern Soul or Storm In Heaven? I didn't until early last year, and I wish this had been about at the time. A superb greatest hits of a brilliant, genre-spanning act.

TRACK LISTING

LP1 Side A
This Is Music
Slide Away
Lucky Man
History

LP1 Side B
She's A Superstar
On Your Own
Blue
Sonnet

LP2 Side C
All In The Mind
The Drugs Don't Work
Gravity Grave

LP2 Side D
Bitter Sweet Symphony
Love Is Noise
Rather Be

Released in 1971 on Impulse and recorded with two different ensembles, Thembi marked a departure from the slowly developing, side-long, mantra-like grooves Sanders had been pursuing for much of his solo career. Instead, it offers an intriguingly wide range of relatively concise ideas resulting in something of an anomaly in Sanders' prime period.

This Verve By Request title is pressed on 180-gram vinyl at Third Man in Detroit.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1. Astral Traveling
2. Red, Black & Green
3. Thembi
Side B
1. Love
2. Morning Prayer
3. Bailophone Dance

Every now and again, the world of music throws up a record that is out of the ordinary, something in its timing, quality and spirit that just feels right. The Verve’s 1997 album Urban Hymns, released on September 29th 1997, was one such record. The album spawned three highly successful singles. The first was the epoch-making worldwide smash Bitter Sweet Symphony, which trailered the album and became the sound of the summer. It was followed in the UK by The Drugs Don’t Work (No. 1) and Lucky Man (No. 7).

Kicking off what will be an Alice Coltrane year with more releases to come in the next 12 months, is a previously unreleased, killer live recording from 1971. Recorded live, by Impulse! at a charity gala given at Carnegie Hall for the benefit of the Integral Yoga Institute in 1971, this incredible set never saw commercial release until now. The gala concert was one of two halves with the first two transcendental tunes by Alice taken from the album she had just released on Impulse! and then two explosive tunes by her late husband John Coltrane. Naturally, à la Coltrane/Dolphy at the Gate, which picked up the recent Grammy nomination for Best Liner Notes, the package includes some knockout editorial, with essays by Lauren Du Graf and Alice’s producer Ed Michel. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Darryl says: Including the incredible “Journey In Satchidananda”, this live recording comes from a 1971 charity gala given at Carnegie Hall for the benefit of the Integral Yoga Institute. Unreleased commercially until now it showcases Alice at her transcendental best.

TRACK LISTING

Journey In Satchidananda
Shiva-Loka
Africa
Leo 

Space Is The Place – highlighted by the rousing 21-minute title track – is both an essential album and a great onramp for new listeners to travel the spaceways of Sun Ra’s other-worldly blend of avant-garde jazz, experimental rock, and Afrofuturism.

This Verve By Request title is pressed on 180-gram vinyl at Third Man in Detroit. 

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1. Space Is The Place
2. Images
Side B
3. Discipline 33
4. Sea Of Sound
5. Rocket Number Nine

The Comet is Coming returns with their second full length album on Impulse! Records. King Shabaka, Danalogue, and Betamax’s newest effort finds the Mercury Prize-nominated trio creating a musical landscape that is equally cerebral as it is physically enthralling. While containing elements of jazz throughout, this release leans further into heavy dance-hall themes, providing hypnotic, electronic soundscapes to dance to while keeping you intellectually stimulated.

TRACK LISTING

1. Code
2. Technicolour
3. Lucid Dreamer
4. Tokyo Nights
5. Pyramids
6. Frequency Of Feeling Expansion
7. Angel Of Darkness
8. Aftermath
9. Atomic Wave Dance
10. The Hammer
11. Mystik

3 popular studio albums by The Verve are being made available again as deluxe formats and on vinyl. A Storm In Heaven, the bands debut album from 1993, gets a thorough overhaul with this wonderful 4-disc boxed Super Deluxe Edition.

Remastered by Chris Potter (co-producer of the band’s ‘Urban Hymns’) the original album comes amply augmented by all of the legendary pre-album EP tracks, associated acoustic versions, as well as two previously unreleased BBC radio sessions and two excellent previously unreleased studio albums – ‘South Pacific’ and ‘Shoeshine Girl’.

The album will also be available on vinyl.

STAFF COMMENTS

Andy says: There was a lot of excitement around the release of (the)Verve's debut album. This was because they were a completely unique proposition back at the dawn of the nineties. There were elements of Shoegaze, but mainly this was drifting, blissed-out psyche rock. A classic band was born!

A Northern Soul spawned three Top 40 singles – ‘This Is Music’, ‘On Your Own’ and ‘History’.

Absolutely massive album in our shop back in the day. This has deep, heavy grooves, ballads and sky-scraping believer-anthems. It's an incredible record.

Almost 45 years have passed since the death of 'Lady Day'. About 50 years ago she could be seen and heard in just a few rare concerts outside the USA. Alcohol, drugs, affairs and racial discrimination in the USA had all left their mark on her and only her voice served as a reminder of her great successes. It is thanks to Norman Granz that Billie Holiday signed a new, lucrative contract with Verve / Clef in the early Fifties. He drew the very best musicians into the studio and paid for excellent arrangers so that Billie had an opportunity to sing her old songs once again and record them for posterity in the very best sound quality. Recorded between 1954 and 1956, "Lady Sings The Blues" features some of her best-loved jazz-blues numbers, including a never-bettered version of "Strange Fruit", "Good Morning Heartache", "Trav'lin' Light", "I Must Have That Man", "God Bless the Child" and the fantastic title track of course. Holiday is at her heart-rending best here, her voice cracking with emotion and pain at times, which only adds to the brilliance of this set, and the amazing remastering means we get to hear every drum brush stroke and every horn note as well. Wonderful.

TRACK LISTING

1 Lady Sings The Blues 3:44
2 Trav'lin' Light 3:13
3 I Must Have That Man 3:07
4 Some Other Spring 3:38
5 Strange Fruit 3:09
6 No Good Man 3:26
7 God Bless The Child 3:59
8 Good Morning Heartache 3:32
9 Love Me Or Leave Me 2:36
10 Too Marvelous For Words 2:18
11 Willow Weep For Me 3:15
12 I Thought About You 2:52

A deeply satisfying suite of standards sung with remarkable sensitivity reminiscent at times of Jimmy Scott, "Nature Boy" is both a hallmark and a revelation: Neville's feel for sweetly swinging jazz is pitch-perfect. Including songs from Gershwin, Cole Porter, Ray Noble, Lionel Bart, Oscar Levant and others, "Nature Boy" is a swinging labour of love.

What can you say? Everything a rock and roll record should be? Sexy, dangerous, moody, poignant, poetic, arty. One of the most influential records ever. A music peopled with misfits, dreamers, musicians and magicians. A world created by Lou Reed, John Cale, Sterling Moss and Mo Tucker for us to step into, for us to believe in. And to think in '67 no-one was listening! 

45th Anniversary Edition includes remastered sound from the original tapes, original gatefold sleeve artwork with peelable banana sticker on front, 180g heavyweight vinyl.

TRACK LISTING

Sunday Morning 2:53
I'm Waiting For The Man 4:37
Femme Fatale 2:35
Venus In Furs 5:07
Run, Run, Run 4:18
All Tomorrow's Parties 5:55
Heroin 7:05
There She Goes Again 2:30
I'll Be Your Mirror 2:01
Black Angel's Death Song 3:10
European Son To Delmore Schwartz 7:44