Flashback Friday: Early Verve - A Bittersweet Epiphany

Long before the shoegaze sensation The Verve hit the air waves with the 1997's anthemic Nike commercial featuring "Bittersweet Symphony," the band had a sound all their own. The psychedelic alternative quartet from the greater Manchester, UK area was a polished reverb product back when they formed in 1989. The kind of band that screamed strobe lights and heavy eyelids from magical thinking. The early Verve heard on their self-titled debut EP was genius, filled with over thirty minutes of surreal sonic boom that was ear candy for stoners limp at the knees and begging for more. It was perfect music when the "drugs did work" and creativity was full of life and luster. The E.P. featured the atmospheric jam, heavy with climbing riffs on "She's A Superstar; the trippy Doors-like, "A Man Called Sun" and the dreamy classic, "Gravity Grave."

-Ron Saemann

She's A Superstar (Edit)

A Man Called Sun

Gravity Grave (Edit)