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Rating: What's life like after the Verve?
If your name is Richard Ashcroft, it's a sure successful solo career, but there's success and then there's success. The success that comes from beautiful and appreciated albums, or the success due to a fan base that will never abandon you no matter what beautiful or lousy thing you do. Ashcroft started off strong with his first Alone With Everybody, thanks to the aftermath of the masterpiece Vervian "Urban Hymns" and the chart-busting (mostly radio, truth be told) "A Song For The Lovers". Then, a second transitional album, "Human Conditions", and many years of silence (four, more or less), which cast a shadow on the already shadowy Richard. Then, what does our man do? The year 2005, and he pulls out a mega-hit (at least in Europe), the excellent "Break The Night With Colour", which launches the new work "Keys To The World". Suddenly, light shines again on the former Verve member. But is it true or ephemeral glory? The truth lies in between.
There's little left of the Verve, and in this sense, McCabe's absence is felt. The surprise is that the album is more "accessible" to the general public than its predecessors, thanks to good pop tracks like the aforementioned first single, the beautiful "Music Is Power" (strange echoes of Motown and Ben Harper) and the title track. What might be missing, however, is the desire to delve into the human soul that permeated the early works of the Albion songwriter, now overshadowed by excessively radio-friendly arrangements ("Cry 'Til The Morning") or downright whiny and frankly inconclusive songs ("Sweet Brother Malcolm", really noose-worthy?). On the positive side, there's the opener "Why Not Nothing?", an unusual wall of sound for the former Verve member, and the closing entrusted to "World Keeps Turning", with appreciable Dylan-esque echoes.
In conclusion, a good record for lovers of a certain late-millennium pseudo-depressive Brit music; abstain, however, if you want to see the Union Jack only on Mini roofs.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
04 Words Just Get in the Way (05:00)
When you've given all you've got
and you're feeling overcome
when you're backs against the wall
there's noone left to call, call me
when you're head is so full
and you feel misunderstood
and the fear is coming fast
you think you're time has past
you say why me, why me?
if you want it
you know i've got it
words they just get in the way
if you want it
oh yeah I've got it
words they just get in the way
words they just get in the way
in the way
when you're feeling like you've lost
when all you're hope is gone
and the bridge above the river
is only the beginning of your fall (great lyric!)
if you want it
oh yeah I've got it
words they just get in the way
if you want it
oh yeah I've got it
words they just get in the way
words they just get in the way
Sing it too me now
all my life in the way
ABC all the way (i think)
since I was a child
words they drive me wild
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Other reviews
By Adil
Ashcroft’s unwavering faith in the salvific power of music leads him to affirm, in a track inspired by Curtis Mayfield, that if 'the melody is timeless, it will never abandon you.'
The video of 'Break The Night With Colour' shows an uneasy Richard Ashcroft at the piano behind prison bars, a simple but powerful image of struggle.
By Vivio
Anyone hoping that the latest album from the former leader of the Verve is finally the one for his solo consecration will be disappointed.
The single 'Break The Night With Colour' is perfectly constructed and immediately sticks in the mind thanks to Ashcroft's extraordinary voice.
