* * * * ½
Who can forget the Verve and their incendiary headline performance at Glastonbury? Well, Richard Ashcroft seems to be able to. The Verve are no more once again and what we have here is ostensibly a new band fronted by Richard. This is a very good album indeed, inevitably it sounds a bit like the Verve, but this time with some world music thrown in. OK, I know that sounds like a recipe for disaster, but on the whole it works well. At its worst this can be pretty dire as in the bluesy "How Deep Is Your Man?" which loses the album half a star. But at it's best there is terrific stuff here like the extended "Are You Ready?" with its wah-wah guitar (a bit Mick Taylor "Gimme Shelter"-ish) and strings sounding very much like the old band. I particularly like the (sampled?) female vocal on "Beatitudes" and the whole feel of the tracks "This Thing Called Life" and "Born Again". I suspect that this album is a grower. It hasn't sold well I think, but don't pass it by.
Check out this video on Richard's site at: http://www.richardashcroft.co.uk/video-page/are_you_ready_us_version/ , where you can see the sensational guitar playing. These ones are good too:
The CD comes nicely packaged as a card gatefold with booklet.
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