Verve

Damn good band The Verve, one of the best in fact. Every time I listen to Urban Hymns (and yes that’s what I’m doing now sat here on a train to Bristol) I’m reminded of just what a special record they put together, and how many instantly recognisable, longingly memorable songs are contained within it. To call two or three of those songs anything but ‘classic’ would be wrong.

Lucky Man isn’t one of those classics, even though it is a very good song. It is however the first song I ever learnt to play on a guitar. It’s brilliantly simple in fact – just three chords for the majority of the song with a bridge at the end of each verse.

I always fancied being in a band when I was younger (I suspect most teenagers and young 20-somethings do – X-Factor anyone?) as it just seemed to be quite possibly the best form of employment anyone could ever wish for. Go into a studio, thrash out a tune, play it to the world and then do it all over again.

As time advanced and my career of mega-stardom didn’t appear blissfully over the horizon (which I suspect is the sad delusion that so many of the contestants on X-Factor actually hold) I adapted to a less ambitious target. My future house was to contain a soundproofed room with four speakers, a drum kit and a very large amp. Suffice to say I’m yet to find that house, or the drum kit for that matter. Or even the speakers.

But I still think I retain enough of that youthful belief, desire and romanticism to cling to that thought. At least for a couple more years.

After that dream dies I don’t really know what the next step down will be for my musical dreams. Maybe I’ll revert back to the earlier goal of joining a band, only this time it’ll be aiming to make the grade with the local village band. But then again, the whole village life dream is another matter entirely – why is it the older you get the more the idea of a small place with one shop, one pub and one hundred houses appeals more and more?

Whatever happens though I can at least be sure of one thing – Urban Hymns will always be in my CD rack (and yes I will always have a CD rack despite what anyone says).

And now it’s Word Gets Around by the Stereophonics. The 90’s were bloody brilliant weren’t they.