A Northern Soul
A Northern Soul is the second studio album by English rock band the Verve, released on 3 July 1995 through Hut Records. With the tumultuous promotion for their debut studio album, A Storm in Heaven, combined with their friends in Oasis becoming exceptionally popular, relationships between members of the Verve became strained. After connecting with Oasis producer Owen Morris, the Verve went to a rehearsal space in Wigan to write material for the next album, which they recorded at Loco Studios in Wales. The sessions gained notoriety for the stories that emerged from the time, including Ashcroft going missing for five days and him allegedly totalling a car on the studio's lawn. In the first three weeks, they had finished 15 tracks; after this point, the situation soured as guitarist Nick McCabe grew exhausted from dealing with the other members frequently partying and taking ecstasy, in addition to vocalist Richard Ashcroft and Morris shouting and destroying objects. At one point, McCabe began to have a different working schedule from the others, starting at 10–11 a.m. while the rest of the band started at 6 p.m.
Variously described as alternative rock, psychedelic rock, and psychedelic soul, Ashcroft said A Northern Soul revolved around one person experiencing various emotions. He wrote material for it after the end of a six-year relationship, using a portastudio at co-manager John Best's house over several weeks. The Verve started promotion with a UK gig supporting Oasis in April 1995, followed by one in France two days later. After McCabe was injured in an altercation with a bouncer, a month's worth of shows were cancelled. "This Is Music" was released as the lead single from the album in May 1995, followed by the second single, "On Your Own", a month later. The Verve embarked on a UK tour in June 1995, which was followed by appearances at the Glastonbury and Phoenix Festivals. They went on a US tour, which lasted until August 1995, when they returned to the UK to play at T in the Park. At its conclusion, Ashcroft announced his departure from the band, which the press reported as if they were breaking up. "History" was the third and final single from the album, released in September 1995.
A Northern Soul received positive reviews from music critics, many of whom praised the album's musical depth, while others commented on the personal nature of the lyrics. Retrospective reviews and biographies of the Verve were also focused on the music. The album peaked at number 13 on the UK Albums Chart, going on to be certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry in 1998. All three of its singles peaked within the top 40 of the UK Singles Chart, with "History" peaking the highest at number 24. Melody Maker, NME, and Select included the album on their lists of the year's best releases; NME also included it on their list of the 500 best albums of all time, while author Colin Larkin featured it in his book All Time Top 1000 Albums. It has appeared on best-of lists for the Britpop genre by Musikexpress, Pitchfork, and Spin.
Background
The Verve released their debut studio album, A Storm in Heaven, in June 1993 through the Virgin imprint Hut Records. Reaching number 27 in the UK Albums Chart, it entered a music scene dominated by grunge, sitting against the emergence of British bands Blur and Suede. Shortly afterwards, frontman Richard Ashcroft said he wanted to record the follow-up as soon as possible. In 1993, the band promoted the album with a UK tour, a European tour with the Smashing Pumpkins – by which point they were writing songs for their next album – a US tour with Acetone, and ending with a UK tour with Acetone and up-and-comers Oasis. The Verve's notoriety as troublemakers was exacerbated by connecting themselves with Oasis. In 1994, the Verve went on a Europe tour, trekked across the US as part of Lollapalooza, and played a series of European festivals, including Reading Festival. In the lead-up to Lollapalooza, the compilation No Come Down was issued as a stop-gap release. Keith Wood of the Verve's US label, Vernon Yard Recordings, said the band initially planned to record their second album around this time, until they decided to do Lollapalooza instead.Issues plagued the members during the stint, including drummer Peter Salisbury getting arrested and Ashcroft being taken to the hospital for not drinking enough fluids. The grind of touring the US eventually took its toll on Ashcroft and guitarist Nick McCabe, with the pair not being on friendly terms. Throughout that year, interpersonal relationships between members of the Verve grew apart, spurred on by the ballooning popularity of their friends in Oasis. That band's debut, Definitely Maybe, had performed better on the charts than A Storm in Heaven, which was a commercial failure. Author Trevor Baker, in his book Richard Ashcroft – The Verve, Burning Money & The Human Condition, wrote that following the popularity of Definitely Maybe, sales predictions for indie acts shifted considerably, and the band were seen by some commentators as lucky for not being removed from the Virgin Records roster. Brian Cannon of the design company Microdot, who created art for both Oasis and the Verve, attributed the frequent support of Hut Records boss Dave Boyd as a factor.
Writing and Morris' involvement
Since the recording of their debut album, Ashcroft had some life-changing experiences that would fuel his songwriting. Towards the end of 1994, Ashcroft and his girlfriend Sarah Carpenter ended their six-year relationship when the latter became infatuated with one of the band's roadies, Andy Burke, who was also one of Ashcroft's best friends. As Ashcroft was dealing with this, Jones was also going through mental struggles. The latter found it difficult to acclimatise at home in Wigan after Lollapalooza and the US in general. McCabe was also breaking up with his pregnant girlfriend Monica; he was growing weary of others around him. Ashcroft fled to London and, subsequently, the countryside without informing anyone. Ashcroft attempted to reconcile with her in London over a period of three months. For two of those three, he was mentally and physically exhausted. When he reconvened with the rest of the band, they were performing the music that he felt conveyed the emotions he was experiencing, allowing the two aspects to go together with relative ease. Ashcroft stayed with Best, who was dating Lush frontwoman Miki Berenyi, for a period of six-to-eight weeks. Best had a portastudio in his frontroom that Berenyi used for making songs, which Ashcroft used when borrowing her acoustic guitar to write for himself.When the band wanted a different producer for their second album, Noel Gallagher of Oasis proposed Owen Morris, who had co-produced Definitely Maybe. Morris himself shared a similar perspective on the rock and roll lifestyle as the Verve. Ashcroft said they went with him as he was around their age and equally as intense as the rest of the band in "everything we do, lifestyle, music, everything..." As the members wanted to avoid repeating mistakes that they had made on A Storm in Heaven, they set about writing prior to entering a studio. The band holed up in their former rehearsal space in Wigan, which Ashcroft dubbed a "black hole, a claustrophobic pit." The space was located in a dark industrial warehouse, which they felt was inspirational to the point that Ashcroft and McCabe put aside their personal issues. The members drove around during the night on occasion, seeking further inspiration. Ashcroft learned of a tale from Keith Richards where he talked about the Rolling Stones being mocked by Dean Martin, which he connected to and used as an influence: "That's what happened to us... we just thought, 'Fuck you all, we're gonna delve into our black hole in Wigan and make the greatest music you've heard in your life. Morris, whose visibility as a producer increased after Definitely Maybe, visited the band during one of their rehearsals, feeling enthusiastic about what he was hearing. It was a fruitful period, with them having two albums' worth of songs in time for recording, contrasting with creating the bulk of A Storm in Heaven as they were recording it.
Recording
The initial idea for the recording sessions was to take recording gear to their rehearsal room, as they were the most productive there, and it had the right atmosphere. When they realised that it was impractical to use it for recording, they decided on Loco Studios in Wales. Philip Wilding, author of The Verve: Bitter Sweet, wrote that the sessions for their second album became mythologised as a combination of "lurid stories and gruesome hearsay echoing in stories of drug-fuelled jam sessions that became extensive recording sessions and bouts of reckless violence." Baker conveyed a similar situation, while singling out co-manager John Best for describing the situation as lunatics running an asylum. Author Sean Egan, in his book The Verve: Star Sail, said various tales have since come out about the sessions, including: Ashcroft allegedly totalling a hired car by driving it on the studio's lawn; the band often playing a single song for hours at a time; Ashcroft disappearing for five days; and the band debating whether to destroy a tape machine, which was valued at £100,000, so that they could get a sound to end the album on. Morris, who co-produced the sessions with them, said his job was to contain the audio of the band performing and not make it sound bland. The band and Morris were assisted in the studio by engineer Mark Lee. To aid the recording sessions, the band gave the studio a club atmosphere by playing music the entire time, taking ecstasy, and working on material when they felt inspired to. By the first three weeks, they had completed 15 songs; by contrast, for A Storm in Heaven, they only did one song a week in the same length of time. As the band as a unit strived for perfection, it meant that the individual members had strained relationships with one another. After this point, the situation soured as McCabe, bagged by the issues with Monica, became tired of the frequent partying that the other members were doing. He said Ashcroft and Morris were yelling and breaking objects. Jones said they did not need any encouragement from Morris, who was "as mad as you like", adding that it was "all... too much."While Jones did not explain what happened during the sessions, Boyd said it was a group of people growing up, combined with ecstasy consumption. There was one instance where the band was locked out from entering the studio because an employee was concerned about what they could do to the facilities. Boyd said Morris was also consuming ecstasy; there was one three-week period where Morris and the band ingested the drug every day. On one occasion, Best visited the studio only to find Morris, who was high on ecstasy, standing on the recording console with a glass of alcohol. He promptly threw the drink at the room's glass wall, leaving a hole the size of a large bullet. Best compared the encounter to entering a
turbulent celebration with a "lunatic edge to it." He noticed that the members were operating on different schedules. As McCabe had a child, he wanted to start working at 10–11 a.m. and finish at 10–11 p.m. The rest of the band, meanwhile, woke up at 2 p.m., recorded at 6 p.m., and finished at 6 a.m. the following morning. McCabe said he was emotionally distraught, reaching a point where the only common trait between them was creating music, while his life at home was equally a "disaster and I didn't feel comfortable anywhere." He was forced to contribute more during the sessions than other guitarists would, owing to him having to track both the rhythm and lead guitar parts. Egan said these parts were "already more complex than most bands' because of the atmospheric nature of The Verve's music." McCabe found the partying boring and an annoying distraction.
Ashcroft came close to being a casualty of drugs akin to Roky Erickson or Arthur Lee of Love; he was still emotionally damaged from his split with Carpenter, which did not help. When Ashcroft came to this realisation, he was distraught, only to be exacerbated when he had a vision of Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd, another drug casualty. Following this, the band returned to their habit of jamming for days at a time in an attempt to make music that was as worthwhile as something by their musical heroes. When they finished working on a song, they relaxed in the studio's lounge, listening to the likes of Miles Davis, Funkadelic, and Gram Parsons. Everyone eventually came to the conclusion that the only time work was done was on Wednesdays. Baker said the band took "three days to build up to a peak and then spend the next three days coming down." Part of this stemmed from Ashcroft becoming a more confident songwriter; he was content to offer his voice on finished backing tracks, though after the split from Carpenter, he had written stylistically different material. Baker said while their debut album appealed to music obsessives, the new material appeared more direct, with Ashcroft being enthusiastic about how his lyrics were developing for their new album. The strings for "History", performed by Gavyn Wright and the London Session Orchestra, were recorded at Studio 2 at Abbey Road Studios in London. Here, Ashcroft, Liam Gallagher, and 30 associates of the band contributed handclaps to the track.
Morris was exhausted from the sessions as the band, going as far as to say they did not need a producer as they would "do producer's head in." According to Jones, Morris exclaimed that he would never work with the Verve again, almost quitting towards the end of the sessions. Ashcroft commended Morris for involving himself to the degree that he saw him akin to a member of the band, adding that they sought a producer that was "extreme. Owen brought his personality to the record. He admitted he nearly had a nervous breakdown, and I think that's a commendable performance." He summarised the process as four challenging months that were "insane. In great ways and terrible ways. In ways that only good music and bad drugs and mixed emotions can make." Outtakes from the album's sessions included "The Rolling People" and "Come On", both of which were tackled during recording sessions in 1997. Two weeks were spent mixing the recordings, which took place at Loco. To retain a raw sound, minimal overdubs were done to the tracks. The final mix was intentionally bottom heavy, with the bass and drums being placed higher in the mix to what Egan described as a "thumping feel at odds with the sterility of the CD age. Again, this tied in with the convoluted 'soul' concept that The Verve returned to repeatedly in interview." Ashcroft said listeners ignored bass and drums "for too long. On our albums you have to turn it down, which is cool, like in a lot of good soul records, Sly records, heavy bass..." McCabe typically preferred the demos they made, as he thought the songs lost their edge when they were recorded properly. He said working with Leckie on their debut, they had to concede, and while working with Morris, it allowed them to have "a lot more control over the sound." The album was then mastered by Jack Adams at The Townhouse in London.