While North American radio audiences and Nike commercial watchers alike were introduced to The Verve upon their success with the Bittersweet Symphony single, Urban Hymns wasn’t as much the band’s penultimate album as it was the start of Richard Ashcroft’s solo career. While integral guitarist Nick McCabe did contribute to the project, this mostly involved him playing accompaniment to songs Richard had written on his own. The result was not without its merits, though it was lacking the washed-out sound the band had refined under a more even collaboration.

This standout from their 1992 debut EP is a perfect example of the band’s trademark soundscape; a delicate and soulful take on the shoegazing sound being cultivated by their peers. Lacking the excruciating pretense that plagued Richard’s later work, this song is perhaps just as grandiose, but this grandeur is offset by a genuine, albeit MDMA inspired, sincerity.

The Verve – A Man Called Sun 5:43 mins/ 160 kbps/ 6.55 MB