Customer Reviews
Forget your expectations, chill out and prepare to be taken on a soulful musical journey.. - By: The Invisible One, 05 Nov 2008 
Obviously Love is Noise is a great track, certainly the most obvious choice for a single, their stunning live performance of it at Glastonbury was certainly a testament to its energetic, crowd pleasing potential. However, if I had to take a pick of the bunch, I would go for Appalachian Springs & Sit & Wonder as being my favourites, closely followed by Valium Skies & Judas - each one equally as detailed & soulful as the next.
So that's 5 tracks that instantly grabbed my attention upon first listen!!! - & you know what? - that's FIVE more tracks than any other album I've heard this year, or for the last 5 yearsin fact, so for that reason alone, 5 stars is well deserved.
Overall the detailin each composition is excellent, the guitar work superb, & the lyrics are deliveredin a powerful, emotional way - exactly how they should be, &in terms of track running order, it flows nicely too.
I think it's one of those albums that will certainly grow on people more & more with each listen, & I would say the environment & mood you arein whilst listening to it will make a whole lot of difference too - this is especially true for the additional tracks I've not yet mentioned - they are all growers. The vibe is deep & detailed, & requires a bit more than just a passing flick through the CD to find out what's going on. If all you want is a collection of lame 3 minute pop songs, then look elsewhere.
Chill out, & listen to it properly from start to end several times, just relax & be prepared to be taken on a journey, & I'm sure you'll come back appreciating it more & more each time.
With Forth I think The Verve done a stellar job, it might not have so many obvious 'stadium anthems' as Urban Hymns, but it's certainly very deep & detailed with plenty of soul, which for me, is what music should be all about - here's to hoping they can hold it together long enough to pull off another one, & with any luck do a few more gigs too!
They got away with a forth? Not on my watch! - By: Des Curd, 22 Oct 2008 
I bought this album last week & forcefully misplaced it. It's not a happy do, this. I listened to it twice just to be sure i was once again medically depressed. We are nowin an age where happiness is of paramount importance. This should be the soundtrack to Emmerdale or Eastenders. That would just about finish off the nation! How much more self pity & auditory gruel can we take? How have they got away with a forth? Go spank your stereo, spit it out! spit it out! dirty! Now slipin a bit of Corrosion of Conformity & whack out the good vibes dude & CHEER UP! COC know how to complainin a positive, happy fashion. See! "positive happy fashion" now that's a name for an album. Forth? not on my watch buzzo.
Storm in a teacup - By: Chris J, 15 Oct 2008 
Is this actually any good? Is it another Urban Hymns/Northern Soul/Stormin Heaven? Is it another Ashcroft-solo-effort-middle-of-the-road-also-ran dressed up as The Verve? I think you can guess without even listening, but you should still listen. To my ears, it's not a five out of five, let's put it that way.
But don't be too disheartened. Life's a bitter sweet symphony, "Mad" Richard may be history, "Forth" might not work, you comein on your own & you leave on your own...
Here's how to deal with it: If you're looking for a fix of 1990s Verve, there's quite a bit of relatively undiscovered Verve material out there that you may never have heard. Have you tried This Is Music: The Singles 92-98, which has a few tracks not on the albums, including the stonking Gravity Grave? Or what about No Come Down: B-Sides & Outtakes -- a few more unheard chunes on there, including a brilliant live version of Gravity Grave from Glasto 1993. Also worth tracking down are the various single releases from Urban Hymns -- two or three B-sides on each one. Scout around & you can actually find maybe a dozen more tracks from the 1990s that you may quite like. If you're just an Urban Hymns devotee, try A Northern Soul & A Stormin Heaven -- many Verve fans (me included) think those are far better. Sorry that's not really a review of Forth, but it might be helpful to you if you're feeling frustrated that Forth isn't more of the "classic same".
An album for all music fans - By: Rpalmer, 09 Oct 2008 I wasn't sure whether i would like this album as i bought it without even hearing a single song off it, the cover did it for me, i don't know why but it's just a beautiful image & i imagined that any music contained within would be just as good. The music fits that image well. Out of the whole album there is only one song i'm not too keen on but it's certainly not a bad song, the rest i loved on the first listen through & that's a very rare thing for me. I really don't understand people giving this bad reviews, you will not regret buying this.
Don't listen to the haters - By: Abbey Account, 06 Oct 2008 As a Verve fan I've listened to the album over & over again on my work PC &in my Car & I rate it highly!
Stand out songs for me are 'Numbness', 'Noise Epic' & my personal favourite 'Columbo'.
Great Album.....Buy it!
