The Verve's Urban Hymns turns 20 years old next month and will be reissued as an expanded set on September 1st. In celebration of the anniversary, yesterday BBC Music 6 pulled out an archive of a feature that was recorded in 2012 for Urban Hymns' 15th anniversary. The feature included an interview with leader Richard Ashcroft, who revealed some previously unknown details about the record -- the "sha-la-la" backing vocals on "The Drugs Don't Work" are a nod to the Carpenters, who he loves, and he confirmed that Liam Gallagher is indeed the one who provided the screaming on epic album closer "Come On."
Ashcroft explained how the collaboration with Liam came about:
"If you concentrate you can hear some demented guy screaming "COME ON" and I imagine everyone thinks that's me, but I remember him doing it. He arrived at the studio in Barnes with a tape of a song he'd just done with John Squire. So he proceeded, as he does, and played it 15 times in a row in the studio, so I played him "Bittersweet" and I said we're doing "Come On" now -- you've got to be on it. He went into this booth with someone else and he was going ballistic at the end of it, smashing his tambourine against the side of the vocal booth."
"Come On" wasn't Gallagher's first collaboration (so to speak) with Verve -- he famously appears on "History" as well as "Space And Time."
Stream the BBC archive on Urban Hymns here and pre-order the Verve's 20th anniversary edition of Urban Hymns here or through Amazon.
Meanwhile as previously reported Verve guitarist Nick McCabe and drummer Pete Salisbury reunited and performed for the first time in 10 years last weekend at Kendal Calling. The pair were joined by Martin Blunt (of The Charlatans) and amazing vocalist Denise Johnson who has appeared on classic songs with Primal Scream, Electronic, A Certain Ratio, and more. Fan filmed footage of the band's full set is available to view below.
The Verve's @NickMcCabe1 & Pete Salisbury together after nearly 10 years, joined by @TheDJohnsonR3AL & Martin Blunt @KendalCalling #TimPeaks pic.twitter.com/I2KaPKqhQB— Charlotte Wellings (@CWellingsUK) July 31, 2017
More KC Love this pic by Jon Mo, cheers pal, anyone got a pic of Denise' and my 2 x Line 6 M9? @jonmophoto @TheDJohnsonR3AL @KendalCalling pic.twitter.com/F5o6VxMY8G— Nick McCabe (@NickMcCabe1) August 1, 2017
Published August 1st, 2017
Updated August 3rd