The Verve’s Richard Ashcroft has re-imagined his back catalogue for the first of a series of album ‘Acoustic Hymns Vol. 1’.
Richard, with musicians Chuck Leavell (The Rolling Stones, The Allman Brothers) on piano, Roddy Bloomfield leading the brass section, and Steve Wyreman (Leon Bridges, Vic Mensa) on acoustic guitar and backing vocals, gathered at London’s Abbey Road Studios after the end of the UK lockdown with Chris Potter to get to work on the first album.
Some of the arrangements proved to be timeless and remained similar to the originals, with years of experience and a newfound passion that saw Richard’s vocals express a fresh empathy within their lyrics. Meanwhile, other songs took on a new shape in this stripped-back set-up.
The album will feature the controversial ‘Bittersweet Symphony’, the song that got Ricard into legal issues with The Rolling Stones of the copyright of the song. In 2019, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards reversed the copyright and awarded Richard full credit for his song.
The controversy was over the song’s similarity to an orchestrated version of the Stones ‘The Last Time.
In 2019 Richard said in a statement, “It gives me great pleasure to announce as of last month Mick Jagger and Keith Richards agreed to give me their share of the song Bitter Sweet Symphony.
“The life-affirming turn of events made possible by a kind and magnanimous gesture from Mick and Keith, who have also agreed that they are happy for the writing credit to exclude their names and all their royalties derived from the song will now pass to me”.
Acoustic Hymns Vol 1 will be released on 29 October.
Acoustic Hymns Vol. 1 tracklist:
1. Bittersweet Symphony
2. A Song For The Lovers
3. Sonnet – UH
4. C’mon People (We’re Making It Now) (featuring Liam Gallagher)
5. Weeping Willow
6. Lucky Man – UH
7. This Thing Called Life
8. Space & Time
9. Velvet Morning
10. Break The Night With Colour
11. One Day
12. The Drugs Don’t Work
TOUR DATES
OCTOBER
16th – London, Palladium (SOLD OUT)
17th – London, Palladium (SOLD OUT)
29th – Liverpool, M&S Bank Arena
NOVEMBER
1st – London, Royal Albert Hall
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