Tag Archives: Richard Ashcroft

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New Richard Ashcroft video: Surprised by the Joy

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Video: Richard Ashcroft – “Surprised by the Joy”

Directed by Richard Ashcroft. From Natural Rebel, due October 19.

Love is a hell of a thing. It can make fools of us all, even the absolute coolest mother fuckers. And let’s be clear, Richard Ashcroft is cool. He’s so cool that Oasis wants to be him. He’s so cool that he told them that he was probably the only solo act big enough to open for them, and he wasn’t wrong. And they knew it.

So it’s a bit jarring to see Richard Ashcroft playing a bit of the fool for love. But maybe that’s where my own insecurities come in, because we can sometimes mistake aloofness for cool. Or at least I can. Here we have the man who wrote “This Is Music,” one of the all-time greatest riff songs and one that contains the line, “If love is a drug then I don’t need it.” And yet, clearly he does. And he’s high as fuck.

I might miss the bombast and pure muscle of some of his work with The Verve, but I can’t deny this is a great little love song. It’s bouncy and fun and maybe a little goofy, just like a love song should be. And he saves himself with that dope KRONK – Detroit t-shirt.

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Stream the New Verve Album

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Stream the new Verve album via MySpace now.

My main concern with this album was that it would be closer to Richard Ashcroft’s solo material, which has been steadily leaning more and more puss rock, than to the guitar heavy majesty of the band’s back catalog. First listen seems to show a bit of both. There’s plenty of orchestration and smooth production, with flourishes of guitar swells. It’s a split decision, but leaning toward puss rock.

Album details, including tracklisting, after the jump…

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Ten "Fiercest" British Frontmen Revealed

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Jake has long bemoaned the fact that British singers all sound like pansies. [Specifically, English singers -ed.] It’s his main argument for abandoning a genre that once fueled his music collection and has led to hilarious arguments at countless bars with me and Loftus. But is the Old Man right?

MuchMusic has a list of the The 10 Fiercest British Frontmen Of The Past Decade and I gotta say, there’s a fair amount of dandy-ism on display and maybe only one dude I definitely wouldn’t fight in an alley (Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher, who I am sure would fight dirty to protect his hair).

Seven sissies I could stomp and three dudes I would not fight after the jump.

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The Verve Reunite After Nearly a Decade

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Maybe the NME’s incessant haranguing of classic British bands to reform is actually effective. Could it be that bi-monthly declarations of this band reforming or that band reuniting might actually cause those parties to reconsider their splits? Could they all be self-fulfilling prophecies?

This weekend saw The Verve play their first show together in nearly a decade. It was the first show with all four members since 1998 and featured a set heavy with classics and crowd pleasers. It wasn’t so long ago that the idea of such a reunion was dismissed as folly what with the notorious riff between singer Richard Ashcroft and guitarist Nick McCabe. But all things must pass and the band reformed in June to record new material. Five months later, they debuted just one new song in a 17-song set. But who’s complaining?

What with the Happy Mondays, Jesus and Mary Chain and now The Verve reuniting, maybe it’s not so crazy to think The Smiths and Stone Roses might be far behind. Mozzer might want to start researching testicle recipes .

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No Come Down

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•Media blitz for new Justin Timberlake album: 5 million dollars

•Estimated portion of Jive Records 4th quarter profits Timberlake is responsible for: 15 million dollars

•Richard Aschroft making music unfettered by the downdraft of media and industry scrutiny: Priceless

Richard Ashcroft is mysterious. His haughty, strung-out good looks offer an alluring alternative to the corn-fed cheekbones of Ashton Kutcher; he’s a Northern Soul hippie writing love songs to his lovely wife and child. But in the dark, misty future, when Virgin Records finally sets a domestic release date for Human Conditions, his sophomore solo release, will the record’s promotional blitz include a sit-down, prime-time interview with Barbara Walters? Not bloody likely. That “honor” is reserved for Justin Timberlake. You know Justin. I’m not sure if he’s “the cute one” from ‘N SYNC, but I know that he’s not the fat one, nor is he the guy with the unfortunate dreadlocks. Timberlake does resemble – impossibly – a more effete Ryan Phillipe; he’s also a multi-millionaire at 21, with a solo debut (the cheekily named Justified) in stores today. And he sat down with Barbara on “20/20” to reveal and revel in his charmed life.

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