Brit rockers the Verve reunite for album, tour

By Jonathan Cohen

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Silent since 1999, U.K. rock act the Verve is reuniting for a new album and fall live dates.

According to a post on the group's newly launched Web site (www.theverve.tv/), Richard Ashcroft, Nick McCabe, Simon Jones and Pete Salisbury were in a London studio last week laying down tracks for the album, which will be completed in the fall.

The Verve will then return to the stage for six U.K. shows in November: November 2-3 at Glasgow's Academy, November 5-6 at Blackpool's Empress Ballroom and November 8-9 at London's Roundhouse. It appears guitarist/keyboardist Simon Tong, who was last heard from in the Good, the Bad and the Queen, is sitting out the reunion.

The Verve rose to fame internationally in the early '90s with a sound psychedelic enough for adventurous listeners but palatable to commercial radio as well. Internal tensions finally splintered the band in the wake of 1997's U.S. breakthrough "Urban Hymns," which has sold 1.34 million copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan, and spawned the megahit "Bitter Sweet Symphony."

Ashcroft has since released three solo albums but has frequently played Verve songs in his live sets.

Reuters/Billboard