The Verve: Review

Cutting in suddenly and without warning, The Verve's first new music for over 10 years at first recalls their more experimental B-sides - the likes of 'Feel' or 'Stamped'.

Initially, the track is driven along by a Lalo Schifrin-esque bassline, with Nick McCabe's atmospherics augmented by a single treated guitar note that hangs in the background throughout and Richard Ashcroft repeating the line "in the end/all I've got is love...", mantra-like, over the top. At 03.25, McCabe introduces an e-Bow guitar line, and the drums almost shift into waltz time, while at 11 minutes in there are backwards guitars, all the while underpinned by shuffling bass and drums that could almost have been culled from Miles Davis' 'Bitches Brew'. From there on, it builds into a classic Verve groove (most closely resembling 'Catching The Butterfly'), with Ashcroft's improvised vocal becoming more and more impassioned. "It's been so long, it's been so long," you can hear him sing in a quivering falsetto at one point. He is not wrong.

Please note, this download is no longer available.