Out of the entire Favorite 90s Albums list, Urban Hymns is the one that sticks out like a sore thumb-  not in comparison to the rest of the albums on the list, but for two reasons in particular…  number one, I probably listened to this album the least in the 1990s- thought “Bittersweet Symphony” was (and still is) a classic and never gave the rest of the album much of a chance.  And number two…  I may have listened more to this album over the last few years than I have any other album from the 90s.  Why is that?  Hard to say, but this disc has really grabbed me more over the past few years and my Verve fandom has increased tenfold since I originally purchased this disc in the late 90s.

OK, I’ll fess up…  I’m a rock dude first-  the heavier the guitars, the better I’m gonna dig it.  Throw in a lungbusting, charismatic vocalist and a solid thumping beat and I’m sold.  But…  I love hooks too, especially with a great riff and a killer chorus that sticks in the brain like an earworm.  So when I heard “Bittersweet Symphony” I was immediately knocked out-  there’s really no rock on the song at all but THAT HOOK…  there was just something psychedelically groovy in the soaring, uplifting vibe in the vocal and the orchestration that grabbed me.  This was quite a bit different from what I normally listened to although my tastes had grown quite a bit over the years (working in a record store will do that to you).  I bought the disc, played “Bittersweet Symphony” a gazillion times, then went on to the next song…  ummm…  kinda slow…  next song…  hmmm…  tempo picks up but this song kinda drags along…  next one…  oh jeez, another slow one.  It’s kind of pretty, but… next…  ah screw it, let’s play “Bittersweet Symphony” again!

And so it went for a few more years until one day I decided to revisit the disc again-  don’t remember exactly why; it could have been the iPod on shuffle mode and I heard something that I didn’t recall but was pretty intriguing, or it could have been that I started revisiting music from the 90s again (or maybe it was another viewing of 24 Hour Party People, a fab movie about the “Madchester” music scene in the early 90s).  At any rate, I pulled out Urban Hymns once again and this time something different hit me-  there are vast sonic soundscapes on this disc that I’d never really picked up on before.  This time I pretty much went into the disc with zero expectations and came out after a full listen a big fan of what I was hearing:  granted, there are some beautiful melodies here in the softer songs like the yearning “Sonnet”,  the sad and wistful “The Drugs Don’t Work”, and the melancholy “Velvet Morning”; all three songs filled with lush orchestration reminiscent of some late 60s/early 70s mellow singer songwriter led pop music from Great Britain.  But there was one slight difference that I’d not really noticed before-  the incredible work of guitarist Nick McCabe.

As I’ve gotten older my tastes have grown in various extremes and one of those ways is more atmospheric music of various shades and hues across the sonic spectrum and not just the headbanging, loud riffing of some older favorites.  An example of this is Nick McCabe’s brilliant work on Urban Hymns; everything from beautifully strummed acoustic passages, various washes of feedback, volume swells, tasty reverb and wah wah, and the occasional moment of heavy distortion.  While Richard Ashcroft’s melodies are often the key focal point of each song McCabe’s work is layered deep in the mix, offering up an outstanding, darker counterpoint to the often light and sweeter vocal.  Take “Weeping Willow”, a fairly easy going and casual Ashcroft vocal awash with various layers of McCabe guitar goodness- phased rhythm washes, heavy strums, beautiful guitar runs, and shimmering beauty.  Or take the menacingly understated psychedelia of “The Rolling People”, which rides a soupy riff awash in a maelstrom of feedback and dense guitar reverberations, or the stomping nod to the early days with “Come On”‘s heavy riffs and wall of noise.  And if that’s too much noise for you check out his counterplay to the acoustic rhythm and orchestrations in the gorgeous “Lucky Man”- no feedback overkill here, just some sweet electric guitar runs and tasty feels that fully supports this beautiful song.

If you’ve ever put an album on a shelf and not revisited it in a while, it may be worth it to give it a relisten as you may hear things differently than you did before.  And if you ever picked up the original Urban Hymns, I highly suggest that you pick up the super deluxe six disc box set that was released last year which includes the original album, b sides, live cuts, demos, and a DVD.  It is well worth it.  You may hear it in a way that you’d never quite heard it before.