The Verve - Forth

Aug 19, 2008

As Richard Ashcroft's solo career descended ever further into irrelevance with each new release, it was perhaps inevitable that he would eventually make that call and reform The Verve once again. After all, what use is a messiah complex if no one's listening? A reunion would provide Ashcroft with a guaranteed platform, and might just lift him from his undoubted rut.

For long time observers, perhaps more intriguing than any potential music to be made though, was whether the fractious relationship between Ashcroft and Nick McCabe could survive another tour and album. Having already broken up acrimoniously at a creative (A Northern Soul) and commercial (Urban Hymns) peak, it seems unlikely that this reunion was built from any desire to get personally reacquainted. So is Forth a cynical cash cow, or an artistic rebirth?

Well, neither in truth. It begins promisingly enough, with the mystical shuffle of 'Sit and Wonder'. The rhythm section is as propulsive as ever, and when the first of McCabe's trademark flourishes appears, it's almost possible to forgive Ashcroft's predictably self important but ultimately vacuous lyrics. If you were singing over that band, you'd feel a touch arrogant too. However, the song lasts a good two minutes after the last idea departs, and much of its momentum is lost. What momentum is left is then inhumanely obliterated by the truly lamentable 'Love is Noise'.

From here, Forth develops into an album as schizophrenic and awkward as the band that made it. It's as if for matters of inter band harmony, The Verve decided to follow each Ashcroft ballad with a groove led McCabe excursion. One such excursion is 'Numbness', the closest in sound we get to A Northern Soul. Its distorted blues guitar and rolling bassline give way to an extended jam that provides a reminder of what this band is capable of. Yet this is inexplicably followed by the horribly overproduced 'I See Houses', a mid paced plod that wouldn't sound out of place on an Ashcroft solo album. Like the prophet he is, Ashcroft sees rows and rows of houses. And he 'gets the feeling he's been here before'. Whether he's actually just confused and on his way home is never ascertained, but one can guess that the reality is pretty fucking deep.

Next is 'Noise Epic', Forth's standout track. With a 'Slide Away' bassline and hypnotic guitars, it's classic Verve that not even Ashcroft's incessant chatting can spoil. In fairness to Ashcroft, when his proper vocal arrives, it's the first time he sounds like he's got fire in his belly. After a false ending, the 'noise' element of the title kicks in in a glorious distorted wall of sound. 'I've got spirit' spits Richard, and you actually believe him. Of course, with 'Valium Skies' the cycle continues and we're returned to banal balladry, albeit this time underpinned with lovely shimmering guitar.

The problem with Forth is twofold. As already mentioned, there is no flow to the running order, and the album as a whole jars for that reason. But in truth, if the ballads were as good as 'History' or 'The Drugs Don't Work', this wouldn't even be an issue. But so nondescript are they that they are forgotten as soon as the music fades. Even the heavier, more classic Verve stuff on display rarely provide more than glimpses of what they once had. I doubt very much whether the Ashcroft/McCabe axis will stretch to a Fifth, but I'm pretty sure that I won't care if they do.

Oliver W J Rock

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