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Urban Hymns
Rock · 1997

Urban Hymns

September 29, 1997 · Virgin Records America, Inc.

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Urban Hymns feels like the precise moment the sun begins to burn through a thick layer of morning fog over a concrete skyline. It is an album of immense scale, where the intimacy of a man with an acoustic guitar is suddenly swallowed by a tidal wave of orchestral strings and swirling, delay-drenched electric guitars.

There is a profound sense of triumphant sadness here; it is music for the moments when you are most aware of your own fragility but feel strangely invincible because of it. It captures the grit of the street and the vastness of the sky simultaneously.

Moments Worth Listening For
The iconic, looping string motif that drives the entirety of the opening track.
The way the feedback swells and dissolves into a delicate acoustic strum on The Drugs Don't Work.
The explosive, wah-drenched guitar freak-out that closes the eight-minute The Rolling People.
Reviews

How does Urban Hymns sound next to the rest of The Verve's catalogue?

PROINSMOOLYRVOC

This album stays in step with the catalogue across the board — no axis departs enough to be worth its own note. Hover the dots to see where each one sits.

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