RPA & The United Nations Of Sound

RPA & The United Nations of Sound
RPA & The United Nations of Sound
Rating: Tragicistani

Back in the early 90s, when shoegazers were ruling the college radio airwaves, The Verve stood out from their counterparts by interjecting more personality into the mix via lead singer Richard Ashcroft, who rode the waves of sound like a messiah-like figure, part tent revivalist and part Ian McCullough/Jim Morrison like figure. Their career had one definite classic (Urban Hymns), one almost classic (Storm in Heaven), one misstep (A Northern Soul) and one decent yet not great comeback (Forth). Finally, after most of the world stopped caring whether they would come back from the grave again, Richard Ashcroft finally called it quits with the band, though based on his weak solo output, another reunion is probably not far from the works.

Now we have this: RPA & The United Nations of Sound. And I have to ask, why? Does he want to completely start fresh from The Verve and also distance himself from his unheralded solo work? What is he trying to hide from or behind? Ashcroft is notoriously tight-lipped when it comes to answers, so we have the music to do his talking for him. And I for one, wish he would have shut up.

He teamed up with Kanye West associate No ID, who seems qualified in this instance in hitting all the correct presets on a bank of generic synth racks and drum machines, along with the requisite Ashcroftian synth strings. Lead off track "Are You Ready" sounds like a mash up of "Bittersweet Symphony" and Primal Scream's "Loaded." And that is not a good thing.



At 6:30 it rolls along at a flat lined pace interminably until one of the most eye-roll inducing, generic Slash-esque guitar solos winds out the song for a painful 2 minutes. And unfortunately, it is the highlight of the cd.

We get saddled with his pathetic attempts to draw from gospel, R&B, and rap (yes, you heard me), and make it into something unique. There is nothing wrong with trying something new and trying to expand boundaries, but you have to be able to back it up, and Ashcroft, while he has the voice for it, simply does not have the songwriting abilities. Most of the song lyrics rarely rise above typical Hallmark card sentiments, and Ashcroft's attempts to make them sound profound merely come across as silly.

The album almost seems like Ashcroft has lost faith in his talent and has to draw too heavily from others in order to complete anything. From the faux-blues of "How Deep Is Your Man"



To blatantly stealing the melody from "Sweet Jane" on "Royal Highness"



The offenses on this record go on and on and on until you begin to wonder if this all some sort of joke. And his foray into "rap" is snicker-inducing.



It all culminates in the world's worst falsetto on "Life Can Be So Beautiful," that is so painful it has to be used in the future as an instrument of torture.



In Pitchfork's review of this album, the reviewer commented that the best Verve album to come out in years was done by another band, The Big Pink. Which goes to show that there is still life in the sound that The Verve had and that Ashcroft certainly has talent enough to come out with something at least on par with some of their best work, but he has definitely lost his way with this album. This is the first and hopefully only time I have to use the lowest ranking in my Rating Guide.

Rating Guide

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top albums of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and peaks one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not good; could have either been trimmed or polished.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race.