The Verve – A Storm in Heaven [180g Vinyl LP]

The Verve – A Storm in Heaven [180g Vinyl LP]

Details

• Format: Vinyl LP, Album, Reissue, Remastered, Gatefold, Stereo
• Catalogue Number: 4786538
• Barcode: 602547865380
• Genre: Psychedelic Rock / Shoegaze / Space Rock / Indie Rock
• Label: Virgin / Universal Music
• Originally Released: June 1993
• Reissue Released: 9 September 2016
• Pressing: 180 Gram Vinyl
• Condition: New & Sealed

Description

A Storm in Heaven is the debut studio album by The Verve — released in June 1993 on Hut Recordings — and one of the most distinctive and misunderstood British albums of the decade. Recorded in the winter of 1992–93 at Sawmills Studios in Cornwall with producer John Leckie — who had worked with XTC, Stone Roses and Magazine — it arrived at the height of grunge's commercial dominance and sounded like nothing else in British music: eight extended psychedelic pieces built from layering, reverb and texture rather than conventional song structure, with Nick McCabe's guitar work at the centre — a sound that drew equally from Kevin Shields's approach on Loveless, the Velvet Underground's drone experiments and John Coltrane's modal improvisations. At the time it received respectful but limited commercial attention; in the three decades since, its critical reputation has grown steadily into that of a lost masterpiece, and it is now widely regarded as one of the finest British psychedelic records of the post-shoegaze era.

The band — Richard Ashcroft (vocals, guitar, bass, percussion), Nick McCabe (guitar, keyboards, piano, accordion), Simon Jones (bass) and Peter Salisbury (drums) — were from Wigan, and had built a following on the British festival circuit since 1990. The album's ten tracks occupy a specific and difficult-to-replicate atmospheric register: billowing, open, unhurried, with Ashcroft's vocals frequently buried deep in the mix rather than foregrounded, functioning as another textural element rather than a primary melodic voice. "Star Sail" opens with a slow-building space-rock ascent; "Slide Away" shifts between quiet and powerful in a pattern that anticipates the dynamics of A Northern Soul (1995); "Already There" is the album's most hauntingly complete piece — a slow, reverb-drenched meditation that AllMusic described as the album's best track; "Beautiful Mind" and "The Sun, The Sea" sustain the album's atmospheric plateau through Side A's closing sequence. Side B's "Virtual World", "Make It 'Til Monday" and "Blue" hint at the more structured songwriting that would follow; the closing "See You in the Next One (Have a Good Time)" ends the album with characteristic economy.

This 2016 Virgin / Universal reissue presents the album remastered by Chris Potter — co-producer of Urban Hymns (1997) — and Tony Cousins, from the original ½-inch analogue master tapes, and cut by Matt at Alchemy Mastering. It is pressed on 180 gram black vinyl in Germany and housed in a gatefold sleeve faithfully reproducing the original first pressing packaging in full — the cover photography and interior design restored to the specifications of the 1993 Hut Records original.

Tracklist

Side A

1. Star Sail
2. Slide Away
3. Already There
4. Beautiful Mind
5. The Sun, The Sea

Side B

1. Virtual World
2. Make It 'Til Monday
3. Blue
4. Butterfly
5. See You in the Next One (Have a Good Time)

Credits

• Richard Ashcroft – Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Percussion
• Nick McCabe – Guitar, Keyboards, Piano, Accordion
• Simon Jones – Bass
• Peter Salisbury – Drums
• John Leckie – Producer, Mixing
• John Cornfield – Engineer, Programming
• Chris Potter – Remastering (2016)
• Tony Cousins – Remastering (2016)
• Matt – Lacquer Cut, Alchemy Mastering
• Roddy Lorimer / Kick Horns – Horn Arrangements
• Label – Virgin / Universal Music