Human Conditions

Human Conditions continues the wide-eyed spiritual odyssey instigated by 2000's Alone With Everybody which is very good. Ashcroft is in persuasive, expressive voice on the fluent opener "Check the Meaning", while the spiritualised "Buy It in Bottles" will increase sales of disposable cigarette lighters in arenas around the globe. "Science of Silence and Man on a Mission" find the ex-Verve vocalist seeking, as ever, truth in an insecure world and the wracked, shoulder-heaving "Lord I've Been Trying" scales new heights of confessional grandeur. There are weighty splendours aplenty here: for Richard Ashcroft, it's clear the quest for catharsis through rock continues. --Ian Gittins

"Human Conditions" is a marked improvement however. It starts off with probably Ashcrofts best single he's released The Verves split. At 8 minutes long "Check The Meaning really should drag but it never does unlike a lot of his solo material. The haunting string section and hypnotising guitar riff set the tone for quite a dark mysterious song and along with a killer Ashcroft vocal it's certainly one of Human Conditions highlights.

"Buy It In Bottles" is another highlight. One of those songs when you hear it the first time you think you'd heard it a thousand times before. It could have quite easily been taken off "Urban Hymns".

The album continues with "Bright Lights", "Paradise" and "God In The Numbers". Songs that are pretty fine in their own right with "God In The Numbers" especially setting an incredible atmosphere.

Science of Silence is an uplifting, string dominated song which fits the album well, this seems to be a song which portrays Ashcroft setting himself as a fine solo artist and not just the frontman of The Verve who's trying to recapture former glories. The lyrics and song show that Ashcroft is a happy man and setteling down in life.

The album then goes through "Running Away" and "Man On A Mission" which unfortuntly just seem to pass you by much like the majority of his first solo album "Alone With Everybody" and maybe should have been replaced by better efforts to put the man back on the map

"Lord I've Been Trying" however is Ashcroft at his finest. A beautiful song which is very reminisent of "One Day" on Urban hymns. Nevertheless if the song fails to move you check for a pulse.

"Nature Is The Law" ends the album on a sour note however despite using the talents of 60s genius Brian Wilson. It unfortuntly falls flat with over and unessercary production and no sense of direction in the song dragging out for far too long.

Despite the flat note it ends on "Human Conditions" is a good solid album with Ashcroft really establishing himself as a solo artist though in a similar way to Alone With Everybody lacks something to make it a truly classic album, Nick McCabe is needed!


definatly one of the best song writers of our time.....   December 10, 2003
wez hickman (sussex england)
1 out of 3 found this review helpful

well hes back and i like so many others was well impressed by another one of ashcrofts masterpieces that probably wont do aswell in the charts as we would like but will without adoubt stand the test of time and deserves any true music fans respect.........i only wait in anticipation for the next one............keep itup ritchy


No denying class...   May 19, 2003
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

The critics will always be there and they will undoubtedly always be the ones who profess that Urban Hymns was the best Verve album and that since then Richard Ashcroft has been heading downhill fast with no brakes. There may indeed have been some weak moments on Alone with Everybody but this, the second solo offering since the split of Verve sees the former front man and main protagonist in rock's higher quest continue his attempt to tackle the mysteries on love and life and everything inbetween - mighty stuff indeed. And all done with an oh so passionate approach.
And the thing that amazes is that he pulls it off with such swaggering self belief that respect can only be given with a pinch of grudging admiration - and that is afterall what Ashcroft expects. This is a musician who sees life's path leading him into a crusade to educate the masses - so he isn't the young prancing self-proclaimed rock messiah of ten years ago, and his musical vision is a reflection of this.

This album offers us countless surprises and they are all in the details. The whole album flows seamlessly, each song giving up new facets upon repeated listening.And that is the Key that Ashcroft wants us to use to enter his world. Patience is definitely rewarded in abundance. From the vintage keys that open God in the Numbers to the 'heavenly' cascading harp on Paradise to the double tracked vocal style and orchestrated strings that run through the whole album... This is truly an unnerving confident soundscape without the immature arrogance of too many of rock's wannabes – An absolute classic....