The VERVE: Bitter Sweet Symphony CD Digipak 2 of 2. 3 Songs – 17 minutes. Check video

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Description

Label: Hut Recordings ? HUTDX 82, Hut Recordings ? 7243 8 94360 2 0
Format: CD, Single, CD2
Country: UK
Released: 1997
Genre: Rock
Style: Alternative Rock, Brit Pop
Tracklist:
1 Bitter Sweet Symphony (Extended Version)
Co-producer Verve, The
Mixed By Chris Potter*
Producer Youth
Written-By Richard Ashcroft
7:52
2 So Sister
Producer Chris Potter*, Verve, The
Written-By Richard Ashcroft
4:11
3 Echo Bass
Producer Chris Potter*, Verve, The
Written-By Verve, The
6:38
Credits
Design Brian Cannon
Design [Sleeve] Microdot (4)
Photography By John Horsley
Notes
Comes in a digipak sleeve.
Part 2 of 2. Part 1 is here.
Barcode and Other Identifiers
Barcode (Text): 7 24389 43602 0
Barcode (Scanned): 724389436020
Matrix / Runout: 894360 1:2:5: EMI SWINDON
Rights Society: bel BIEM
Label Code: LC 3098
Other (Mastering SID Code): IFPI L042

“Bitter Sweet Symphony” is a song by English alternative rock band The Verve, and is the lead track on their third album, Urban Hymns. It is based on a sample from an Andrew Loog Oldham orchestral version of the Rolling Stones’ song, “The Last Time” and involved some legal controversy surrounding plagiarism charges. “Bitter Sweet Symphony” was released on 16 June 1997 by Hut Recordings as the first single from the album, reaching number two on the UK Singles Chart. The songs momentum built slowly in the U.S. throughout the latter months of 1997, ultimately leading to a CD single release on 3 March 1998 by Virgin Records America, helping the song to reach number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The songs music video, which received heavy rotation on MTV, focuses on Ashcroft lip-synching the song while walking down a busy London pavement, oblivious to what is going on around and refusing to change his stride or direction throughout. At the 1998 Brit Awards, “Bitter Sweet Symphony” was nominated for Best British Single, and at the 1998 MTV Video Music Awards, the song was nominated for Video of the Year, Best Group Video, and Best Alternative Video. In 1999, the song was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Rock Song.
Regarded as the bands signature song and one of the defining tracks of the Britpop era, “Bitter Sweet Symphony” has featured in best ever song polls; in 1998, BBC Radio 1 listeners voted it the third Best Track Ever.In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked it number 392 on their list of “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time”. In 2007, NME magazine placed the song at number 18 in its list of the “50 Greatest Indie Anthems Ever”. In September 2007, a poll of 50 songwriters in Q magazine placed it in a list of the “Top 10 Greatest Tracks”. In the Australian Triple J Hottest 100 of All Time, 2009, the track was voted the 14th best song of all time. Pitchfork Media included the song at number 29 on their “Top 200 Tracks of the 90s” list. In 2011, NME placed it at number 9 on its list “150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years”. The song featured at number one in Paste magazines poll of the 25 awesome one-hit wonders of the 1990s.

Song credits:
Although the songs lyrics were written by Verve vocalist Richard Ashcroft, it has been credited to Keith Richards and Mick Jagger after charges by the original copyright owners that the song was plagiarized from the Andrew Oldham Orchestra recording of The Rolling Stones’ 1965 song “The Last Time”.
Originally, The Verve had negotiated a licence to use a sample from the Oldham recording, but it was successfully argued that the Verve had used “too much” of the sample. Despite having original lyrics, the music of “Bitter Sweet Symphony” contains bongo drums sampled from the Oldham track, which led to a lawsuit with ABKCO Records, Allen Kleins company that owns the rights to the Rolling Stones material of the 1960s. The matter was eventually settled, with copyright of the song reverting to Abkco. Songwriting credits were changed to Jagger/Richards/Ashcroft, with 100% of royalties going to the Rolling Stones.
“We were told it was going to be a 50/50 split, and then they saw how well the record was doing,” says band member Simon Jones. “They rung up and said, ‘We want 100 percent or take it out of the shops, you don’t have much choice.'” [sic]
After losing the composer credits to the song, Richard Ashcroft commented, “This is the best song Jagger and Richards have written in 20 years”, noting it was their biggest UK hit since “Brown Sugar”.
On Ashcrofts return to touring, the song traditionally ended the set list. Ashcroft also reworked the single for VH2 Live for the music channel VH1, stripping the song of its strings. Ashcroft is quoted as saying during the show: “Despite all the legal angles and the bullshit, strip down to the chords and the lyrics and the melody and you realise there is such a good song there.”
In a Cash for Questions interview with Q magazine published in January 1999, Keith Richards was asked (by John Johnson of Enfield) if he thought it was harsh taking all The Verves royalties from “Bitter Sweet Symphony,” to which he replied, “I’m out of whack here, this is serious lawyer shit. If The Verve can write a better song, they can keep the money.”

Production:
“This was certainly the most successful track I’ve done,” noted producer Youth. “I think Richard had actually cut a version with John Leckie but, by the time I came on board, he didn’t want to do the song. I persuaded him to have a go at cutting a version but at first he wasn’t really into it. It was only once we’d put strings on it that he started getting excited. Then, towards the end, Richard wanted to chuck all the album away and start again. What was my reaction? Horror. Sheer horror. All I could say was, I really think you should reconsider.”

Music video:
A screenshot at the beginning of the music video showing Ashcroft, standing on a pavement. The video was noted as one of the most recognisable videos in the 90s.
The music video (directed by Walter A. Stern) focuses on Ashcroft lip-synching the song while walking down a busy London pavement, refusing to change his stride or direction throughout (oblivious to what is going on around him), except for one instance where he is forced to stop for a moving car and you see a reflection of him standing stationary in the cars window. He repeatedly bumps into passers-by (causing one young woman to lose balance and fall), narrowly avoids being hit by a car, and jumps on top of the bonnet of another vehicle stopped in his path (the driver gets out of her car and proceeds to confront him, while he continues unflinchingly). At the end of the video, the rest of The Verve join Ashcroft, and the final shot sees them walking down the street into the distance. This then leads into the beginning of the video for “The Drugs Don’t Work”. The music video was nominated for a number of awards, including three MTV Awards at the 1998 MTV Video Music Awards.
Ashcroft starts walking from the southeast corner of the intersection of Hoxton and Falkirk Streets in Hoxton, North London, subsequently proceeding north along the east side of Hoxton Street. The “pavement journey” format was inspired by the music video for the Massive Attack song “Unfinished Sympathy”, in which Shara Nelson sings while walking through a Los Angeles neighbourhood. The British comedy band Fat Les would later release a direct parody for their 1998 song “Vindaloo”; Paul Kaye takes the role of an Ashcroft look-alike who is mocked by a growing group of passersby as the video progresses.

Chart (1997-1998) Peak Position
Australia (ARIA)
11
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)
15
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)
21
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia)
18
Canada (RPM)
5
Canada Alternative 30 (RPM)
1
Finland (Suomen virallinen lista)
6
France (SNEP)
16
Ireland (IRMA)
3
Italy (FIMI)[24]
2
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)
14
New Zealand (RIANZ)
15
Norway (VG-lista)
9
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)
10
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)
15
United Kingdom (The Official Charts Company)
2
US Billboard Hot 100
12
US Billboard Pop Songs
23
US Billboard Alternative Songs
4
US Billboard Adult Pop Songs
8

Additional information

Weight 0.1 kg

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