Product description NEW Combo BLUWAVS CD and FLAC FILE .com Five years before the group's Urban Hymns broke the band into the mainstream, The Verve's first full-length effort, A Storm in Heaven, gave incredible insight into the band's ability to mesmerize it's audience. Hypnotic vocals courtesy of vocalist Richard Ashcroft and layered musical textures from the band make for an incredible, memorable album. This is not the stuff of background music but instead best suited to provide the soundtrack for a candlelit, incense-filled Saturday night. Perhaps the band's best effort to date. --Denise Sheppard
M**Z
๐ผTranscendent. With gravitas.
๐คEpic.๐ธ๐
S**E
Rich content and exquisite packaging
I bought this set from a local bookstore yesterday.The original album itself is absolutely wonderful, and this edition of it takes things up a few notches by including two more audio discs with B-sides and studio/live recordings, plus a DVD with live videos and other goodies. Aside from the musical extra content, included are 4 really good quality photographs of the band members, a poster (not much to say about it) and a book that contains a quite lengthy interview, photos and additional details about the music and the discs (but no lyrics, sadly).What makes me appreciate this set, though, is the above average quality and attention to certain details. Whereas many such album sets may be put together like some CDs were thrown together for a quick buck, this one looks to be made with most consideration for the fans of the band and the music it contains. There's no doubt The Verve is an important band, and this release pays respect to that with a sturdy box that feels "meaty' instead of cheaply made. The book and photographs also look and feel really good in how they are made, and the discs are numbered, each having printed on it DISC 1-4, showing they were pressed specifically for this box, not recycled from unsold inventory. And then there's that silky black ribbon which helps taking the stuff out of the box, which is a nice touch.To end this review, I'd say for the fans of the band or generally for people who enjoy the band, this set is a good buy, if not a must have. I certainly would like to get the other three albums in the same fashion.
A**S
Best money I have spent on music of any genre ...
Ordered both the Storm in Heaven and A Northern Soul box sets. Best money I have spent on music of any genre in a long time. Most of the bonus tracks I had heard before or downloaded from around the internet, but everything sounds so epic on these and there were still versions of some songs I had not heard, as well as songs I never heard before at all. The BBC versions of She's A Superstar, and A Man Called Sun are out of this world. Shoeshine Girl is a new favorite and Brake Lights is superb. If you ever liked anything Verve / The Verve did just order both sets already. Can't wait for Urban Hymns next year, it must happen!
J**N
This "Storm in Heaven" Deluxe box set is specifically designed for hardcore Verve fans, so beautifully put together for us.
This is without a doubt my favorite "Verve" album. It was not the huge commercial hit they had with "Urban Hymns" which I definitely love, but "Storm in Heaven" is in my opinion sublime. They have different versions of some of their most amazing songs and it's interesting to hear how they polished their music and harmonies to the distinct sound that have clearly define them as a band. I can listen to this all day, it soothes the soul. I am so glad this set was available for my music collection. This is without a doubt one of my favorite bands.
J**Y
Rock Fans Rejoice - Great Albums are Still Out There
One of the greatest mood setting albums ever to be released. It has the coolest vibe. If there is such a thing as the shoegaze genre, this is the defining work. It is so clearly English and actually makes you feel English (I am from US) while you listen to it. I vow to make it over to jolly old before I die so I can ride around smoking cigs listening to this album, Stone Roses, Blur, Oasis etc and then head off to Old Trafford. It will happen. Highly recommend this to fans of good rock music looking for an old school "album" they can enjoy from start to finish. The guitar work on this effort is brilliant, no sense trying to describe it, you need to hear it.
P**E
Music for late-night psychic sailing
I first heard "Slide Away" on the soundtrack of an obscure movie called "The New Age" (well worth a look, BTW). Obsessed,I scrutinuzed the end credits until I could make out the name of the band and rushed to my used record store and bought A Storm in Heaven. I was stunned, mesmerized, lost in a state of reverberating bliss. I could not stop playing this disc, and it has remained my favorite rock record for 8 years. Among the reviews here, I've noticed a similar trend -- listeners who were so captivated that they played this disc every day for years.Some rock is beautiful, some rock is powerful -- but this album achieves a fusion of beauty and power like no other I have heard.Listen to it at 2 AM, on a good stereo, very, very loud -- or soak it up in on a midnight drive through the moonlit desert. You will be forever changed.
H**D
Must-have masterpiece
Read the reviews here and think if you can find any other CD that has so many off-the-chart reviews. You owe it to yourself to spend less than 10 bucks for a total masterpiece in music. I have purchased numerous copies for other people, and an extra copy for myself just in case it ever goes out of print. This truly is an album you must own and listen to repeatedly the whole way through. I am not some Verve groupie and I didn't swoon over "Bittersweet Symphony" or the other better known Verve songs. I can simply say that I can't think of any other album in my long listening life that has so deeply affected and inspired and touched me, and that includes all the known masterpieces like "Abbey Road," "Dark Side of the Moon," and "Zenyatta Mondatta."
P**0
Amazing!!!
The Verve are easily one of the greatest bands ever! So glad to get my hands on the deluxe version of Storm In Heaven. It's great to hear the re-mastered version of Verve's debut lp. Its worth buying for all bonus material and the dvd concert from this era. Just incredible music from an outstanding band. Nick McCabe's guitars are other-worldly. Pete and Simon create first rate rhythm section and Mad Richard's vocals are straight from heaven! BUY THIS DELUXE VERSION!
M**N
Not all that stormy, but pretty heavenly
The first LP by the then named Verve (the definative article was added after a lawsuit filed by Verve Records) stands out in the bands catalogue, in that this is very much more dreamy and ethereal than the 3 LP's the band released before dispanding for the 3rd (and very probably final) time in 2009. The vocals by Richard Ashcroft are lower in the mix for a good chunk of the record, the production is reverb soaked, and the guitar parts by Nick McCabe are far more influenced by space rock and the shoegazing bands around at the time Verve dropped their debut album.If you are expecting something similar to Urban Hymms, with strutting vocals and anthemic songs, then this may suprise you, though "Slide Away" and "Blue" do give a taste of the direction the band would head in the future, with their strutting, anthemic choruses.What can be found here are 10 tracks of very atmospheric psychedelic rock, with mostly hushed vocals and dreamy, hazy guitar work. Despite the albums title, most of the music is gentle and soothing, though "Slide Away" and "The Sun, the Sea" do have epic riffs, the latter in particular one of the strongest songs on the record, with an anthemic chorus coupled with spacy verses and a sax freakout towards the coda. A blues influence can be heard on the slide guitar on "Virtual World", another great track with a beautiful flute solo, before leading into "Make it til Monday", with its spaced out guitar refrain soothing you."Butterfly" is another Blues influenced track with lyrics relating to the Butterfly effect, before the final song on the record "See You in the Next One (Have a Good Time)", a lovely song based around a piano and accoustic guitar, with a wonderful bridge consisting of a moment of silence, before the piano comes in again, adding to a great record closer.Verve would add the definative article before their name, and start to move away from the sound on A Storm In Heaven and towards the mainstream, and while Urban Hymms is considered their Masterpiece, this is a very fine record that deserves to be judged on its own merits, not as an early curio.
J**N
The Verve A Storm in Heaven
Bought this album on its release in 93, since then I've grown from loving it to thinking it's probably one of the best albums ever, its that good. Not s dud track on it, Slide Away, The sun sea air, Blue, Star Sail are just amazing, Butterfly with its acid Jazz climax is just sublime! Just buy it, it's amazing and 24 years later it still makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
E**E
Recommended
This is great music & excellent sound quality.This is perfect for anyone who's the thinking of getting into this band.Recommended five stars.
B**F
Amazing
Exceptional release! Big fan of this album. A really nice set (especially for the other discs) Id recommend picking up the other two special edition releases of 'A Northern Soul' & 'Urban Hymns' while you can.
G**N
I love it when the Tab notation book makes you sound ...
I love it when the Tab notation book makes you sound like you're playing the recorded versionThis one does it in spades; very satisfying to play
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