Despite loving the first three Verve albums when I was a teenager - and again at various points throughout my adulthood - I've never really cracked their b-sides and early EPs. I suspect timing was an issue - I got the No Come Down compilation when I was 21, six long years after I'd got all their proper albums (a long time at that age), and it just wasn't what I was into at the time (the same day I bought cds by Thursday and the Murder City Devils). I'd seen it about for years and knew I should have bought it sooner, but just never did. In the end, I bought a copy on the other side of the world to where I'd been when I got into them.
I can see the parallels between these songs and those on A Storm in Heaven, but these are far more psychedelic and wandering, compared to the slightly more concise and hard-hitting songs on that album. She's a Superstar, their second single, has hints of those themes they'd lean into later, but it doesn't do loads for me. I'd known of the song Gravity Grave from early on, but I don't see the fuss. Endless Life is five minutes where nothing happens at all and Feel isn't much better (and twice as long).
Anyway, when this record was announced for Record Store Day in 2013, I knew I wanted it even if I wasn't familiar with the exact release, or what songs were on it. I remember opening the sleeve for Urban Hymns when I was 13 and seeing all the single, EP and album covers and just thinking it was really cool to see - I suspect that was an influence on me becoming a record collector - but it was also kinda daunting. It definitely instilled the idea that having a vast collection of Verve releases would be cool, even if it wasn't something I'd actively indulged in.
Format: 12"
Tracks: 5
Cost: £12 new
Bought: Banquet Records, Kingston
When: 20/04/13
Colour: Transparent red
Etching: none
mp3s: no
