Recorded after the band’s first breakup and reformation (with the subsequent addition of guitarist/keyboardist Simon Tong),
Urban Hymns was
an ambitious piece of Britpop and balladry, recorded with producers
Youth and Chris Potter. Three of its singles were Top 10 hits in the
U.K., including “Bitter Sweet Symphony,” the chart-topping “The Drugs
Don’t Work” and “Lucky Man.”
Ultimately, it was indeed bittersweet for frontman Richard Ashcroft and
company – the “Symphony” sample of an Andrew Loog Oldham-led orchestral
cover of The Rolling Stones’ “The Last Time” led to a lucrative lawsuit
with ABKCO Music that cost the band its entire royalties to Mick Jagger
and Keith Richards, and within two years the band would break up once
more.
