Richard Ashcroft - Human Conditions

The Verve's Urban Hymns was a Britpop milestone because it mixed stone-solid songcraft with the breakbeat pulse of Generation E. Frontman Richard Ashcroft and Co.'s "Bittersweet Symphony" created a melancholy danceability that has yet to be matched... ...even by Ashcroft himself. On his second solo disc, listeners are presented with none of the soul that made Verve tracks so unique - just lots of soul searching. To be fair, Richard and his guitar have a way with malaise; dimly-lit and whiskey-soaked, his dusky, weathered tenor makes lines like "'Lord I've been trying to keep myself from crying" actually WORK...for 5 songs or so. Over the course of an entire album, the despondent vibe gets to be a little much. While "Buy It In Bottles" or "Science of Silence" may be memorable tracks (and "don't drink me, I'm like turpentine" one of the best lines I've heard in some time), they don't make up for the overwhelming same-ness of the majority of this album. Human Conditions isn't bad - and will certainly satisfy any Anglophile - but it doesn't come close to matching the high-water mark of Urban Hymns. While his current efforts are more than passable, Ashcroft needs to remember that grooves are for dancing, not for getting stuck in. [www.richardashcroft.com]