Despite the numerous moments of brilliance found in The Verve’s first three albums, many people still have trouble recalling any of the group’s songs other than the epic “Bittersweet Symphony.” While the anthemic single was one of the best songs of the 1990s, to reduce the band to that one bit of music would be an insult to the myriad other great songs they have created.
Punningly titled Forth, the group’s long-awaited fourth album picks up right where Urban Hymns left off 11 years ago — swirling, distorted, noisy (yet beautiful) prog rock that is unlike anything else on the radio today.
Clocking in 10 tracks at a little more than 60 minutes, the disc contains only one song shorter than 5.5 minutes. Yet even for a listener with a short attention span, the album’s first half does not drag at all, especially with the one-two punch of the first two songs. The opener, “Sit and Wonder,” is a slow build that sets the stage for the rest of the album and reaffirms why lead singer Richard Ashcroft’s drawling voice is known as one of the best in rock.
Next comes “Love is Noise,” the album’s first single and set-closer for their live shows this past summer. Despite a driving beat that makes the song as close to a dance floor anthem as The Verve will ever get, the opening line “Will those feet in modern times / Walk on soles that are made in China?” displays exactly the sort of intellectual lyrics that has made the band a favorite of musicians like Chris Martin.
“Rather Be” is another favorite that will surely be appreciated by fans of The Verve’s past albums. This is the Verve that we know and love — a spiritual, groovy throwback to the sound of the late ‘80s British music scene. The song also contains a piano bit leading up to the melody that can’t be described as anything other than just plain pretty.
Around the middle of the album, however, comes the only sequence that can feel a little slow-moving for those listeners not used to overly long songs. Of course, for bands that could be described as “progressive” or “psychedelic,” 6- or 7-minute songs are hardly excessive — think of the half-hour-long jams of Coheed and Cambria. “Judas,” the album’s fourth song, does not come to life until around the 4-minute mark, and until then the track feels a bit drowsy.
Things don’t pick up for a few tracks. Next up, the appropriately titled “Numbness” makes you feel just that — the painfully slow track is clearly the weakest of the album. “I See Houses” doesn’t do much to pull the album from its funk, either.
Finally, the longest song of the album things begin to turn around. “Noise Epic” ironically starts out a bit quiet in the beginning, but the slow jam soon turns up-tempo. Eventually, you get a dance groove that makes you want to bob your head to the driving bass line and barely audible vocals that come to a climactic end after around 8.5 minutes. This is easily the strongest track of the album, though its length would keep it from ever being a single.
The final three songs are a good way to come down from the bigness of this album. “Valium Sky,” the eighth track, is a mere 4.5 minutes. The final song, “Appalachian Springs,” is upbeat and hopeful, which seems to be the theme of the album — that the group can rebound from their tumultuous past (including two breakups) stronger than ever.
With such a long break since their previous record, The Verve clearly proves with Forth that they’ve still got it, to say the least. Here’s hoping that whatever personal issues the group has dealt with in the past are over and done with, and we fans will be able to hope for more music like this in the future.
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