Richard Ashcroft & The United Nations Of Sound
Richard Ashcroft is a national treasure; a songwriter of the highest calibre and one of the best singers to ever come out of Britain. With the Verve he has given us some staggering moments, one of the most notable was their headlining appearance at the Glastonbury Festival in 2008. The recently reformed band ran through a greatest hits set that included ‘Bittersweet Symphony, ‘Lucky Man’, ‘History’ and ‘This Is Music’. The performance was a moment that showed the Verve in all their glory. Hot off the success of the album Fourth, it seemed everything was in place for the band to continue writing and recording. They seemed to have put their differences behind them and all was well.
But it was not meant to be. No formal press release was sent out, but it became very apparent the band and Richard had gone their seperate ways. Rumours circulated that the reason for the split was again Richard Ashcroft’s stuttering relationship with guitarist Nick McCabe, while others suggested the band had reformed purely for the financial rewards. The latter seemed likely as once all commitments had been met, the Verve split again.
Nearly two years to the day of the final Verve performance, Richard Ashcroft has a new band and a new record ready. The band are called The United Nations Of Sound (or RPA and The United Nations Of Sound). The band include Steve Wyreman – a respected session guitarist who has worked with Mary J Blige – along with Paul ‘DW’ Wright on bass and Derrick Wright on drums. Rumor also has it that Kate Radley, Richard’s wife, will play keyboards.
The most intriguing aspects of this record is the choice of producer. No ID (real name Dion Wilson) is a well known hip-hop producer from Chicago who has produced songs for the likes of Jay Z and Common in the past. Legendry Motown string arranger and rap producer Reggie Dozier has also contributed to the album; he had previously worked on Michael Jackson’s ‘Off The Wall’ album as well as working with Outkast and Marvin Gaye. With such talent and experience at his disposal, it’s hard to see how Ashcroft’s latest solo project can fail.
Earlier in the year the band released a video for the Song ‘Are You Ready’, which showed Richard in a Rocky-style montage as well as some photos of the band in the studio putting together the album. Based on this song and the recently released ‘Third Eye’, it seems apparent that the production and the musical arraignments of the songs are strong. Both tunes find Richard in religious mode, with references to God and praying plentiful. There’s also a slight poke in the eye towards The Verve – and ‘Bittersweet Symphony’ in particular – in the song Third Eye: ‘Yet it’s a-bitter, I know it’s sweet, you bought that shit but that weren’t me’.
It seems like Richard Ashcroft has finally put the final nail in the Verve coffin. The July 29th release of Redemption will see how far Richard Ashcroft has come and if he can get close to reaching the dizzying heights of the Verve. With the select tracks I have heard, Richard Ashcroft sounds reborn & full of vigour, and I’m not stupid enough to write him off.
Northern Soul and Urban Hymns are damn near perfect records I think, I even enjoyed parts of his solo efforts. Ashcroft has a great delivery, there’s no question about it. Kind of sad if he’s disowning Bittersweet…I know it’s a point of contention being their biggest hit alongside all the rights issues with the Stones that came along with it, but it’s still a great track.