A Storm in Heaven

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Not to be confused with Storming Heaven (disambiguation).
A Storm in Heaven
File:The Verve – A Storm in Heaven.jpg
Studio album by Verve
Released 21 June 1993 (1993-06-21)
Recorded Winter 1992–Spring 1993 at Sawmills Studios, Cornwall
Genre Psychedelic rock, shoegazing, dream pop, space rock
Length 47:07
Label Vernon Yard, Hut, Virgin
Producer John Leckie
Verve chronology
Verve
(1992)Verve1992		 A Storm in Heaven
(1993)		 Voyager 1
(1993)Voyager 11993
Singles from A Storm in Heaven
  1. "Blue"
    Released: 10 May 1993 (1993-05-10)
  2. "Slide Away"
    Released: 20 September 1993 (1993-09-20)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic 4/5 stars[1]
Alternative Press Positive[2]
Head Heritage Positive[3]
MustHear.com Positive[4]
NME 8/10[5]
Stylus Magazine Positive[6]
Sputnikmusic 5/5 stars[7]

A Storm in Heaven is the debut studio album by the English rock band The Verve, at the time known just as Verve, released in June 1993 on the Hut label. It charted at number twenty-seven in the UK.

Overview

A Storm in Heaven originated during the band's four-week stay outside of Llandudno, Wales. After the autumn 1992 Gravity Grave tour, they relocated to Sawmills Studios in Cornwall where sessions were recorded with producer John Leckie for seven weeks.

Like the band's prior EPs and singles, most of the songs on this album are bathed in heavy layers of delay (echo) and reverb, used on both the guitars and the vocals, to give a disorientingly psychedelic overall effect. The lyrics of "Butterfly" pertain directly to the so-called butterfly effect, and the song "Catching the Butterfly," from the band's 1997 album Urban Hymns, is apparently a continuation of this theme. Guitarist Nick McCabe has stated that the track was recorded at 3:00 a.m. while playing along with a Steely Dan sample.[8] The album's closing song, "See You in the Next One (Have a Good Time)", is built on a subdued piano motif played by McCabe and atmospheric acoustic guitars played by vocalist Richard Ashcroft. After this album, the band's music moved in a less psychedelic, more structured direction, and their name was officially changed to "The Verve" for legal reasons, so as not to clash with the record label Verve Records.

Just prior to the release of the album, the track "Star Sail" appeared on the soundtrack of the 1993 film Sliver.

As with all of the band's releases, A Storm in Heaven features enigmatic artwork designed by Brian Cannon. The cover photo was shot inside Thor's Cave in Staffordshire, England. The vinyl LP version came in gatefold packaging.

In a reappraisal of the album, Delusions of Adequacy notes that A Storm in Heaven transcended the other albums of its time:

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A highly burnished synthesis of the warbling hard rock of the Doors, the infinite rhythmic groove of Can, the space-fried improvisations of Yeti-era Amon Düül II, and the effects-pedal anchor of My Bloody Valentine, A Storm in Heaven may well have been the best neo-psychedelic album released in the 1990s. While often clumped together with the other English bands leading the shoegaze movement during the same time period, the Verve was creating a far different version of the thick atmospherics the genre became known for. Despite some minor cosmetic similarities, Loveless this was not. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that guitarist Nick McCabe gazed shoe-ward with far better results than Kevin Shields ever did. While Loveless remained firmly anchored to the early-90s British scene, A Storm in Heaven flew figure eights somewhere over its head.

Track listing

All songs written and composed by The Verve, except where noted. 

No. Title Length
1. "Star Sail"   3:59
2. "Slide Away"   4:03
3. "Already There"   5:38
4. "Beautiful Mind"   5:27
5. "The Sun, The Sea"   5:16
6. "Virtual World"   6:20
7. "Make It 'Til Monday"   3:05
8. "Blue"   3:24
9. "Butterfly"   6:39
10. "See You in the Next One (Have a Good Time)" (Richard Ashcroft) 3:07
Total length:
 47:04
Japanese edition bonus tracks
No. Title Length
11. "Endless Life"   5:32
12. "Where the Geese Go"   3:12
13. "No Come Down"   3:14

Personnel

  • Richard Ashcroft – vocals, bass, guitars on "See You in the Next One (Have a Good Time)", percussion on "Already There", "Beautiful Mind", "The Sun, The Sea", "Virtual World", and "Blue"
  • Nick McCabe – guitars, piano on "Beautiful Mind" and "See You in the Next One (Have a Good Time)", accordion on "See You in the Next One (Have a Good Time)", keyboard on "Make It 'til Monday"
  • Peter Salisbury – drums, percussion on "Star Sail" and "Virtual World"
  • Simon Jones – bass, backing vocals on "Star Sail"

Additional musicians

  • Simon Clarke – solo flute on "Virtual World", horn arrangements
  • Kick Horns – trumpets, saxophones on "Already There", "The Sun, The Sea", and "Butterfly"
  • Yvette Lacey – chorus flute on "Virtual World"
  • Roddy Lorimer – horn arrangements

Technical personnel

  • John Leckie – production, mixing
  • John Cornfield – engineering, programming
  • Sleeve concept, design and art direction by Brian Cannon for microdot
  • Photography by Michael Spencer Jones[9]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.allmusic.com/album/r184470
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ NME (Magazine) (6/19/93, p.33) – 8 – Excellent – "...some of the prettiest noises to ever escape from amplifiers....At best, you'll believe a man can fly..."
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ "The Verve: A Storm In Heaven review". Sputnikmusic. Retrieved on 9 July 2013.
  8. ↑ [1]
  9. ↑ Verve Universe

External links

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