Richard Ashcroft – These People (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 51:08 minutes | 639 MB | Genre: Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Righteous Phonographic Association
Six years after forming the United Nations of Sound — a pseudo-group that lasted no more than a single record — Richard Ashcroft pushes himself back into the spotlight on These People, a 2016 album that finds the former Verve singer reuniting with Wil Malone, an orchestrator who worked on Urban Hymns and Northern Soul. Malone’s presence suggests These People may achieve a certain symphonic heft, yet Ashcroft sidesteps the churning psychedelia and progressive majesty of the Verve’s prime. In its place, the singer/songwriter taps into a certain insouciant sophistication, favoring insistent arena anthems and finely tailored Eurodisco. Often, Ashcroft’s intentions are apparent — it’s evident whenever he’s following the blueprints of “Bittersweet Symphony” and “The Drugs Don’t Work,” just as it’s clear that the dance beats and electronics are a bid for hip credibility — but he winds up with sounds that aren’t the ideal vehicle for whatever vague sociological protest Ashcroft attempts to mine here. If the music is separated from the message — which is fairly easy to do, due to its slippery shimmer — These People functions as a pleasing adult alternative record. True, it’s an album that favors mood over form but after several somnolent solo records, not to mention the botched ambitions of the United Nations of Sound, the cool assurance and shiny veneer of These People is quite welcome. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
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Richard Ashcroft – Acoustic Hymns, Vol. 1 (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:00:35 minutes | 826 MB | Genre: Indie Pop, Folk
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © BMG Rights Management (UK) Limited
Richard Ashcroft has today (September 8) shared details of ‘Acoustic Hymns Vol. 1’, an album of newly recorded acoustic versions of his solo work and The Verve classics.
‘Acoustic Hymns Vol. 1’ will be released on October 29 via RPA/BMG. Fans can pre-order the record here, which gives them an instant download of The Verve’s re-recorded 1997 hit ‘Bittersweet Symphony’.
Among the 12 tracks is a completely reworked version of ‘This Thing Called Life’, which featured on the 2010 debut album by Ashcroft’s side project band RPA & The United Nations Of Sound.
Additionally, Liam Gallagher features on ‘C’mon People (We’re Making It Now)’, a single from Ashcroft’s 2000 debut solo album ‘Alone With Everybody‘. Per press material, the song has been a favourite of the pair since Ashcroft “originally played it to Liam on a piano somewhere in Majorca in 1998”.
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