I’ve never been a Britpop fan and that’s not to say that I don’t like Britpop, I just never really got into it that much. I liked a few of the tunes — probably some of the more obvious ones — like “Girls and Boys” and “There Is No Other Way” by Blur and a few tunes by The Verve, but never threw myself into it. I had friends back home in the old country who were bang into all of it, and who were constantly quoting Jarvis Cocker. OK, I’m talking about two guys in particular, who shall remain nameless for fear that their mammy will read this blog and great ructions will ensue. Anyway they were identical twins, or near identical, and they would quote Jarvis and pull Jarvis faces, which invariably involved sucking their cheeks in and speaking in a Nawthun English accent. They would also do chicken arm flap dances to David Morales remixes that had those hooty, M1 organ sounds that were so prevalent in the early ‘90s. If you have his Overweight Pooch remix then you know what I mean.
They were fond of responding to requests to do something or go somewhere with the retort, “Sorry but I’m practicing an Albert Camus novel right now,” which was a reference to a Manic Street Preachers interview in The Face, in which a typically English caption under a picture of an aloof looking Richie claimed that he was practicing an Albert Camus novel. And they liked having conversations with people on acid that involved verbally punctuating everything they said, for example, “Open quotation marks, hey Sean, comma, how — apostrophe — ‘s it goin' apostrophe, question mark, close quoatation marks.” This would go on for about a half an hour or until the unfortunate tripper on the receiving end of the conversation ran screaming for the door. High stair...ical as I would say myself.
What has any of this go to do with the new Verve album? Well, they were, or are, a Britpop band, one of the finest, some would wager, and their new album, Forth, which was resting in my greasy little mitt not two score minutes ago, is pretty damned good, epic, intense and dramatic. Sometimes Ashcroft and the music itself sound a bit like U2, but with less pomp and more texture. It’s a strong rock album crafted lovingly by some old hands in the game. It’s ten tracks long, is out on Tuesday the 26th of August and I’ve only given it a once over listen and it’s grabbing me big style already. It's kinda shpacey shoundin' too.
Perhaps I should leave aside my David Morales remix fixation and start collecting all the ‘90s rock twelves I missed, starting with that tasty, remastered 12 inch of The Pixies’ “Debaser.” Hmmm, I wonder who has one of those? Anyways, keep eyes peeled for the new Verve and I’m off and away, comma, OK period.
Orr
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