The post grunge years for the music industry was an interesting time in the States- heavy hitters such as Nirvana were gone after Kurt Cobain’s suicide, Alice In Chains went on hiatus as singer Layne Stayley struggled with drug abuse, Soundgarden broke up due to creative differences, and Pearl Jam spent a few years under the radar as they battled Ticketmaster over exorbitant fees.  Where was the young music fan to turn?  Why, bloody Great Britain you bastards!

Kicking off with a symphonic sample from the Andrew Loog Oldham Orchestra (more on that later), “Bittersweet Symphony” made a grand melodic statement and was a staple on Top 40 radio stations during the summer of 1997.  The Verve had been quite the popular band in their native England, having released a couple of psychedelic flavored discs with tons of guitar sonics courtesy of Nick McCabe and the mesmerizing and lax cool vocals of Richard Ashcroft.  Come the third album McCabe was out but eventually brought back in to help flesh out the songs, which had become a bit more melodic and soul searching lyrically but still retained a fantastic swirl of sound that hearkened back to their earlier material.  The main theme of “Bittersweet Symphony” was built around  a six note sample from “The Last Time” from the Andrew Oldham Orchestra, which itself came from the Rolling Stones song of the same name.  The band and former Stones manager Allen Klein agreed on the sample; however, once the song’s popularity took off Klein reneged on the original agreement and filed suit, claiming that the band used a larger sample.  Klein won, and “Bittersweet Symphony” is now fully credited to Mick Jagger/Keith Richards (as writers of “The Last Time” riff) and Richard Ashcroft (as writer of the lyric).

You can argue both sides here but the bottom line is that The Verve’s creative use of the slightly sped up sample mixed with Ashcroft’s carefree lyric and the swirling guitar pattern from Nick McCabe and Simon Tong produced a classic song that stands on its own.  That four note introductory cello pattern counterbalanced with those oh so magnificent violin strums certainly forms the backbone of the song, but there is enough extra built into the melody and production that pushes this song to another level.  Cool guitar touches pop in and out of the mix and Ashcroft’s vocal melody is brilliant and plays perfectly against the backdrop of the sample and straightforward drum pattern.  But not all symphonic pieces on here are pulled from that original album sample- extra violin washes are added to the mix to beef up the sound and sweeten the melody.  Strip away the sample and the additional sonics from this and you’d still have an excellent song for just vocal and acoustic guitar.  Pure magic on multiple fronts.

I’ve always been a bit iffy on sampling but in this instance it works brilliantly.  Listen to Andrew Oldham Orchestra version and you’ll note that the sample is a part of the song but doesn’t serve as the core melody.  The Verve was able to take that and layer different things on top of it and create a unique statement which they should be credited for, but NOT Jagger/Richards.  Interestingly enough, the distinctive string sample taken from the orchestra version sounds NOTHING like the Stones original-  that comes courtesy of composer David Whitaker, who should have received the credit.  However, being that the orchestral “The Last Time” was in itself a radical reinterpretation of the Stones original, Jagger/Richards get the credit.  Funny how the music business works sometimes…