The Verve: Urban Hymns (180g) Vinyl 2LP

5 stars is for the music, not the quality of the vinyl. I've been reluctantly waiting to buy this record, but hesitant due to the many reviews of defective, warped, skipping records. Received my copy today, and here are the pros/cons. One of the 2 records was slightly warped, but not enough to affect playback. None of the songs skipped, and there were no obvious defects. The outer sleeve was a little dinged and slightly bent back, even though it was shipped in a larger cardboard protector.One odd thing was that they put a shipping label on the back of the record's shrinkwrap, so after peeling it off, I pretty much had to remove the entire shrinkwrap since it stretched it out and it looked saggy. I've never seen this on any vinyl record I've bought from Amazon, and don't understand why you would do this when there is a shipping label on the outside of the box. While there are no defects on my copy and the issues are minor enough to not exchange it, the overall mastering sounds a bit muffled. Not terrible, but it almost sounds like they took the CD mastering and burned it onto vinyl. For reference my TT set up is a Music Hall MMF5.3 w/ an Ortofon Blue cartridge. Overall, I'm glad there are no major defects on the records and I'm happy to have it on vinyl, but I wish it sounded a bit more pristine.

First gotta say The Verve are my absolute favorite band, so when I saw the announcement for this deluxe edition I was super excited. The price seems right for what you get and the quality/presentation. It's all packaged very nicely. First on top is a hard cover book with interesting comments on making the album and touring at the time from all of the band members along with some nice photos of the band. Then there are a couple of postcards, and a poster(of the album cover). Finally the main deal the music. 4 CD's and 1 DVD. The remastered tracks sound great to me but I'll admit I'm nowhere near a audiophile. What really excited me the most about this set was the live material. I think The Verve sound even better live than on the albums. Up until now pretty much the only official release of live material was the Haigh Hall concert back in the late 90's on VHS. You can easily find most of it online even just on YouTube but the quality is terriable. Same goes for the large majority of the other live material/video from this time in the bands history. Hearing these live tracks on a official release is a night and day difference. It sounds SO good. The DVD is quite nice as well. You get the full Haigh Hall concert in quite good quality in my opinion. Its still SD and 4:3 but its MUCH better than any copy of it that has existed before. There are a few other nice performances on the DVD as well such as a few songs from the "Later... with Jools Holland" show.Overall I'm more than satisfied with my purchase. It's something I will hold on to and take great care of. Already ripped all the music to FLAC format on my PC and made a ISO of the DVD and put everything back in the box in a sealed bag. Partly because sadly new Verve material/merchandise, at least official is super rare and probably will stay that way :( Anyways would def recommend to any Verve fan even just for the high quality versions of the live performances.

One of the great albums of 90's. Due to Mick Jagger's and Keith Richard's generously returning all past and future royalties to Richard Ashcroft and the Verve, now is the time to buy this LP. This is one of the best albums released in the 90's and it highlights Ashcroft's mastery of songwriting and composition. 180g Green Vinyl is beautiful and the sound is good, not great, but good. The masters that this version of the vinyl was pressed on has some hissing and imperfections, but I will not complain. Urban Hymns was meant to be primarily a CD release. I am grateful that the plates were kept and I can own this piece of music history on 180g vinyl.

I always loved this album. Bought it first in fall 1997 on a cassette. I still probably have it somewhere. I have it on UK and US CDs (there is some censorship on the last). Now I finally have it on vinyl. And it still sounds great, as I remember it. That's a bit odd, that someone decided not to make it as a gatefold, but I possibly just need to get used to those two amazing inserts they've made. Surprisingly the green vinyl is not noisy, as non-black vinyl usually is. There is some small manufacturing defect on side D at the very end, but it adds some character to the record, I'm keeping it. So I don't know, if that's recurring pressing problem.If you are a Verve fan and don't have this album on vinyl, don't think twice.

First, this two album set was reproduced with the utmost care and accuracy. This is one from the Capital vault series and it is on heavy, 180g vinyl that turns absolutely FLAT on your table! Your tonearm will not move while playing some excellent music. This album plays quiet with deep sound. If you're into vinyl and care about The Verve...this is a must-have for your collection. It's worth it for the Bittersweet Symphony track alone!! The packaging was meticulously reproduced as well from the outer to the inner sleeves!

Heard the song Lucky Man while binge watching Entourage. Liked the song, ordered the CD which also included the track, Bittersweet Symphony.I didn't really know much about The Verve prior to hearing those two songs, but I am enjoying the Urban Hymns CD.

Richard Ashcroft is a genius. Urban Hymns is one of the best albums of the 90s in my opinion. Songs like Lucky Man and Drugs Don’t work are packed with emotion and the all time classic Bittersweet Symphony always hits the spot. A few other underrated tunes on there too. And there’s nothing like Vinyl.

I wish I could review things and use big words and explain the band and who plays what, when all I can give are 3 reasons 1 better sweet symphony 2 the drugs don't work 3lucky man if these 3 are not classic songs , please explain what a classic song is . I don't know if they missed a note or the beat was slow all I do know is I loved it when it first came out and I still love it now ,I wish I could say something deep and it as a deep meaning about what the cd is about I cant . I just love the album , may be I should enjoy a classic album for what it is a fine music album and leave the deep meaning stuff to some one else ,

Bought from Amazon Warehouse deal, amazon note "box slightly damaged"> ok, fine. however it is more damaged than expected, is unsealed AND worst of all - I am unable to redeem the download codes on the included card as these have clearly been used by someone else prior to me!!! redeem.thesoundofvinyl.com do NOT recognise this code as registered to myself so the product I have purchased is not fit for purpose. Surely Amazon should be checking this before selling this product. Not happy at all.

In the “Stairway to Heaven” / “Yesterday” / “Wish You Were Here” sense of true classic, “The Drugs Don't Work” is timeless true classic song. “Sonnet”, “Lucky Man” and “Bittersweet Symphony” are also so good they would raise any album to 5/5. Fortunately the other songs are good in a deep cut repeated listening rewarding way.

Great album, great pressing and should have been a fantastic experience receiving it, but unfortunately it arrived in no protective packaging or box; that's right, I mean an address label slapped on a vinyl record and hence it arrived with battered corners in a not very good state. If this is Amazons new policy then I will no longer be purchasing vinyl from Amazon.