Bitter Sweet Symphony: The Verve’s ‘Urban Hymns’ Gets Box Set Edition

July 18, 2017 By Mike Duquette — 1 Comment
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The Verve’s third album, 1997’s Urban Hymns, may be the band’s most famous in any part of the world. It’s little surprise, then, that Universal is going big for the album’s 20th anniversary with a multi-format deluxe edition due in the fall.

Recorded after the band’s first breakup and reformation (with the subsequent addition of guitarist/keyboardist Simon Tong), Urban Hymns was an ambitious piece of Britpop and balladry, recorded with producers Youth and Chris Potter. Three of its singles were Top 10 hits in the U.K., including “Bitter Sweet Symphony,” the chart-topping “The Drugs Don’t Work” and “Lucky Man.” “Symphony” was also the band’s inescapable crossover hit in the U.S., where it peaked at No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100–augmented by a catchy music video and a widely-seen Nike commercial during the NFL playoffs that shot the album up the charts.

Ultimately, it was indeed bittersweet for frontman Richard Ashcroft and company–the “Symphony” sample of an Andrew Loog Oldham-led orchestral cover of The Rolling Stones’ “The Last Time” led to a lucrative lawsuit with ABKCO Music that cost the band its entire royalties to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, and within two years the band would break up once more. (Ashcroft, who pursued a solo career thereafter, reunited the original lineup of the group, minus Tong, for Forth in 2008; a year later, they had split up again.) But Urban Hymns remains one of the era’s most enduring albums, having topped Melody Maker‘s year-end poll, going 11 times platinum in England and earning the group a spate of awards and nominations (including a BRIT Award for Best British Group and a Grammy Award nomination for Best Rock Song).

The sprawling, deluxe Urban Hymns collects a variety of bonus material on five CDs and a DVD or seven pieces of vinyl. The bands complete Urban Hymns B-sides are featured, along with scores of live material (a BBC session, a full live show at Haigh Hall in Manchester and highlights from the band’s 1997-1998 world tour. The DVD content includes the premiere of The Video 1996-1998 on the format, along with the complete Haigh House show, music videos and footage from a performance on Later…with Jools Holland. (A 12″ exclusive to the vinyl box features a rare promo-only alternate version of “Bitter Sweet Symphony.”)

All formats of this title will be available worldwide on September 1. Full track lists and order links for each one are available below!

Urban Hymns: Deluxe Edition (Virgin/UMe 5756236, 2017)

Remastered CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon Canada / Amazon U.K.
2CD Deluxe Edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon Canada / Amazon U.K.
5CD/1DVD Super Deluxe Edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon Canada / Amazon U.K.
6LP/12″ Super Deluxe Edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon Canada / Amazon U.K.

CD1/LPs 1-2: Remastered original album (released as Hut Recordings/Virgin CD HUT 45 (U.K.)/72438 44913 2 1 (U.S.), 1997)

  1. Bitter Sweet Symphony
  2. Sonnet
  3. The Rolling People
  4. The Drugs Don’t Work
  5. Catching the Butterfly
  6. Neon Wilderness
  7. Space and Time
  8. Weeping Willow
  9. Lucky Man
  10. One Day
  11. This Time
  12. Velvet Morning
  13. Come On

CD2/LPs 3-4: B-sides

  1. Oh Lord I Guess I’ll Never Know
  2. Country Song
  3. Bitter Sweet Symphony (James Lavelle Remix)
  4. So Sister
  5. Echo Bass
  6. Three Steps
  7. The Drugs Don’t Work (original demo)
  8. The Crab
  9. Stamped
  10. Never Wanna See You Cry
  11. Bitter Sweet Symphony (MSG Version)
  12. The Longest Day
  13. Lucky Man (Happiness More or Less)

CD3: B-sides continued (included on LPs 3-4) and BBC session

  1. Bitter Sweet Symphony (Extended Version)
  2. This Could Be My Moment
  3. Monte Carlo
  4. Life’s An Ocean (BBC Evening Session – 8/27/1997) *
  5. A Man Called Sun (BBC Evening Session – 8/27/1997) *
  6. The Drugs Don’t Work (BBC Evening Session – 8/27/1997) *
  7. On Your Own (BBC Evening Session – 8/27/1997) *
  8. So Sister (BBC Evening Session – 8/27/1997) *

Disc 2, Tracks 1-2 and 4-5 and Disc 3, Track 1 from “Bitter Sweet Symphony” CD singles – Hut Recordings HUTDG/DX 82, 1997
Disc 2, Track 3 from 12″ promo – Hut Recordings HUTTR 82, 1997
Disc 2, Tracks 6-9 from “The Drugs Don’t Work” CD singles – Hut Recordings DG/DX 88, 1997
Disc 2, Tracks 10-13 from “Lucky Man” CD singles – Hut Recordings HUTDG/DX 92, 1997
Disc 3, Tracks 2-3 from This is Music: The Singles 92-98 (Virgin/EMI CDV 2991, 2004)

CD4/LPs 5-6: Live @ Haigh Hall – 5/24/1998 (Tracks 1-5 and 7-12 also included on CD2 of deluxe edition) *

  1. This is Music
  2. Space and Time
  3. Catching the Butterfly
  4. Sonnet
  5. The Rolling People
  6. Neon Wilderness
  7. Weeping Willow
  8. The Drugs Don’t Work
  9. Lucky Man
  10. Life’s An Ocean
  11. Velvet Morning
  12. Bitter Sweet Symphony

Disc 5: More live material (Tracks 1-3 included on LPs 5-6; Tracks 4, 7 and 9 also included on CD2 of deluxe edition) *

  1. One Day (Live @ Haigh Hall – 5/24/1998)
  2. History (Live @ Haigh Hall – 5/24/1998)
  3. Come On (Live @ Haigh Hall – 5/24/1998)
  4. A New Decade (Live @ The 9.30 Club, Washington, DC – 11/3/1997)
  5. The Rolling People (Live @ Brixton Academy, London – 1/16/1998)
  6. On Your Own (Live @ Brixton Academy, London – 1/16/1998)
  7. History (Live @ Brixton Academy, London – 1/16/1998)
  8. The Drugs Don’t Work (Live @ The 9.30 Club, Washington, DC – 11/3/1997)
  9. Slide Away (Live @ Manchester Academy – 8/11/1997)
  10. A Man Called Sun (Live @ The 9.30 Club, Washington, DC – 11/3/1997)
  11. A Northern Soul (Live @ The 9.30 Club, Washington, DC – 11/3/1997)
  12. Space and Time (Live @ Brixton Academy, London – 1/16/1998)
  13. This is Music (Live @ Manchester Academy – 8/11/1997)
  14. Weeping Willow (Live @ The 9.30 Club, Washington, DC – 11/3/1997)
  15. Stormy Clouds/Reprise (Live @ Manchester Academy – 8/11/1997)

Disc 6: DVD

  • The Video 1996-1998 (released as Hut Recordings/Virgin HUTVID1, 1999 – previously unreleased on DVD)
  • Lucky Man (Live on Later…with Jools Holland – 11/1/1997) *
  • Life’s An Ocean (Live on Later…with Jools Holland – 11/1/1997) *
  • The Drugs Don’t Work (Live on Later…with Jools Holland – 11/1/1997) *
  • Bitter Sweet Symphony (Live on Later…with Jools Holland – 11/1/1997) *
  • Live @ Haigh Hall – 5/24/1998 (same track list as Discs 4-5) *
  • Bitter Sweet Symphony (promo video)
  • The Drugs Don’t Work (promo video)
  • Lucky Man (promo video)
  • Lucky Man (U.S. promo video)
  • Sonnet (promo video)

12″ in vinyl box set

  1. Bitter Sweet Symphony (Alternate Version) (from Hut Recordings 12″ promo HUTTP 82, 1997)
  2. The Drugs Don’t Work (Live @ The 9.30 Club, Washington, DC – 11/3/1997)
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Mike Duquette
Mike Duquette

Mike Duquette (Founder) was fascinated with catalog music ever since he was a teenager. A 2009 graduate of Seton Hall University with a B.A. in journalism, Mike paired his profession with his passion through The Second Disc, one of the first sites to focus on all reissue labels great and small. His passion for reissues turned into a career, having written at and worked for all three major catalogue music labels and contributing to Allmusic, Billboard, Discogs, City Pages and Ultimate Classic Rock. He's penned liner notes for Verve, Chess, Mondo and Soul Music Records.

Born and raised in New Jersey, Mike lives in Astoria, Queens with his wife, a cat named Ravioli, twin daughters and a large yet tasteful collection of music.

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1 thought on “Bitter Sweet Symphony: The Verve’s ‘Urban Hymns’ Gets Box Set Edition”

  1. Patrick Shirley

    Now THAT is a box set!!
    That is what I want when a band puts out a box set of an album. So many reissues and box sets are disappointments for what they leave out. For me this is an unqualified home run. Seems like every B-side is included. The Haigh Hall show was a must, one CD and DVD no less! And then there are other live tracks on there as well. I’m actually excited about a box set for once rather than bemoaning what was left off. Whomever put this together is to be commended for making it comprehensive and taking into account what a hard core fan would desire out of a box set on this album.

    Reply

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