Ashcroft and company’s lead single “Are You Ready?” has been receiving massive exposure since its release in January. With placement in everything from Volkswagen commercials to iTunes, the media is already in love with the newest outing by the British native. Even Ashcroft’s colleagues at Razor & Tie have been vocal about their newest client. Quoting VP of A&R Beka Tischker in a statement to the press, “It’s an honor to be working with someone as esteemed as Richard.”

The new album might not be the only thing heading to the U.S. in 2011 – there’s a good chance fans will be able to see the man live. Nothing has been set in stone, but keep checking back with CoS for potential tour information and the official release date for The United Nations of Sound. For now, peep the tracklist below.

The United Nations of Sound Tracklist:
01. Are You Ready?
02. Born Again
03. America
04. This Thing Called Life
05. Beatitudes
06. Good Loving
07. How Deep Is Your Man
08. She Brings Me the Music
09. Royal Highness
10. Glory
11. Life Can Be So Beautiful
12. Let My Soul Rest

Questionable quality aside, I’ll always have a soft spot for Cruel Intentions. For starters, it was one of the first R-rated movies for which I was able to proudly flash my driver’s license at the movie theater and not have to have an upperclassman purchase my ticket for me. (And this, after my mother had told me, “You’re not seeing that! It has lots of bad S-E-X.”) Then there was my freshman year of college, when a number of equally lame floor-mates and I watched the movie on VHS at least once a week. One friend once said that every time she ascended an escalator, she hoped she’d see a blue-shirted Ryan Phillippe waiting at the top.

But let’s forget about all of the movie’s campy-ness and its by-default level of quality for a moment. The soundtrack is pretty stellar, and it’s even managed to avoid sounding entirely dated. Sure, there are a couple tracks that place the movie firmly within the late ’90s – Fatboy Slim’s “Praise You” and The Verve’s “Bittersweet Symphony”, for example – but the nostalgia is more sweet than bitter in both cases.

The soundtrack leads off with Placebo’s excellent “Every You Every Me”, as do the film’s opening credits. With its fast-building tempo and heavily paired drum beats and guitar strokes, the song signifies the film’s wonderful tension that is present from the beginning.

Blur’s cheerful “Coffee & TV” features a high-pitched, breezy refrain that pairs well with its scene (the kissing scene, which I myself am getting tired of mentioning here already). But still, you can’t picture that line of saliva stretching between Gellar’s and Blair’s lips without recalling that distinctive up-tempo beat in the background.

Blair’s appearances on screen are usually accompanied by some track that suggests her naiveté. Day One’s “Bedroom Dancing”, with its playful sexiness, can be heard when Phillippe has just seduced the virginal Blair, and she’s basically acting as manic as ever. Abra Moore’s “Trip On Love” appears during a scene in which she’s pulling a red hoodie over her head, and, fittingly, the lead singer has the voice of a little girl.

Counting Crow’s piano-heavy but otherwise spare “Colorblind” contains lyrics that match the on-screen situation in some very literal ways. Phillippe’s Sebastian has chased after Reese Witherspoon’s Annette and is attempting to cross her path at the train station. It’s the first shot in which he’s wearing an actual color (the blue shirt), which signifies his emotional transition. The lyrics “I am colorblind/coffee black and egg white/pull me out from inside/I am ready/I am ready” allow for transition into the next scene, in which he of course takes her virginity.

Marcy Playground’s “Comin’ Up From Behind” begins with a strange game-show-esque ping and is probably the heaviest-rocking selection on the album; it plays in the movie when Phillippe is traipsing through the night en route to blackmail a gay classmate.

Then there’s Aimee Mann’s “You Could Make a Killing”, and I will posit that this song is borderline impossible to dislike. If you’ve ever enjoyed the folksy stylings of Aimee Mann, you’ll like this one. It appears later in the film in accompaniment to Sebastian’s realization of his remorse.

Bare Jr.’s “You Blew Me Off” is more dated; it sounds like the type of song that would play during a film sequence in which a group of high school football players runs onto the field. Who knows, maybe it was used during Varsity Blues. As for some of the other album throw-aways, Skunk Anansie’s “Secretly” isn’t a bad track, but it seems out of place with the other mostly pop-heavy selections. Craig Armstrong’s and Elizabeth Fraser’s “This Love” will make you fall asleep, and Faithless’ “Addictive” is a creepy track – the mostly spoken verses contrast with a wailing refrain in which the singer’s gender isn’t identifiable. Also, like “Bittersweet Symphony”, its inclusion is a bit too literal. The track, which contains lyrics such as “change around the words that you say to suit me fine,” plays during a scene in which Gellar attempts to manipulate Blair’s mother.

The soundtrack closes out with “Bittersweet Symphony”, as does Cruel Intentions. The final third of the movie ventures into a sort of a moralistic territory, which seems an odd shift in tone from the rest of the film; either way, “Symphony”’s pairing with the final scene seems a bit too on the nose. Still, the film’s denouement is memorable in its own right, and the sweeping shots of Phillippe’s car being driven into and out of the city serve as bookends to the story. The closing sequence wouldn’t be the same without the haunting “Symphony”. Also, Blair is as haughtily hilarious as always.

Would this movie be nearly so appreciated if it were released today? Not likely. Gellar is well past her Buffy the Vampire Slayer era, and she, along with the rest of the cast save Witherspoon, has ridden out the wave of the late-’90s teen flick. (I haven’t even mentioned that the movie also features Joshua Jackson of Dawson’s Creek and future rehab-queen Tara Reid.) Much of the soundtrack, though, still sounds pretty fresh, and that’s an accomplishment for something that’s been around for 11 years.

Following the conclusion of The Verve’s 2007 reunion, Ashcroft’s bandmates Nick McCabe and Simon Jones stated that The Verve had run its course as a band and that “Richard was just using the reunion as a vehicle to get his solo career on track. Since the band’s third break up in 2009, Ashcroft has formed a new band, United Nations of Sound, and the outfit is eying a March release date for its debut entitled Redemption.

Currently, only one track has been released from the upcoming album, and it is already accompanied by a music video on Ashcroft’s website. Appropriately titled “Are You Ready”, the song takes a slight departure from his prior work, possibly due to the production by No ID, who most recently worked with Jay-Z on his 2009 singles “Run This Town” and “DOA (Death of Auto-Tune)”. Hopefully, Ashcroft will stay clear of any Cornell-esque production misques.

While no tour announcements have been made, neither The Verve nor Ashcroft have shied away from festival appearances. And with a release date of late March, the album is due out remarkably close to the beginning of festival season.

As for 2009? Well, the Dirty Projectors became a household name, as did Twitter, Girl Talk turned into a gimmick, Kanye continued to be an asshole, online music streaming got big (and bought), and the sales of digital and vinyl releases continued to increase, while the Virgin Megastores and Sam Goody’s of the world went bye bye.

And that’s not even scratching the surface. Before we turn the page on the 2000s, we wanted to take one more look at the year that was the last 365 days. Music, here was your 2009…

Top Albums of 2009

As selected by the CoS Staff…

01. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavillion

02. Passion Pit – Manners

03. The Avett Brothers – I and Love and You

04. The Decemberists – The Hazards of Love

05. Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

06. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz!

07. Kittens Ablaze – The Monstrous Vanguard

08. Wale – Attention Deficit

09. The Antlers – Hospice

10. The Dead Weather – Horehound

Click here for #11 – #100

Top Songs of 2009

As selected by the CoS Staff…

01. Phoenix – “1901″

02. Animal Collective – “Summertime Clothes”

03. Passion Pit – “Sleepyhead”

04. Grizzly Bear – “Two Weeks”

05. Phoenix – “Lisztomania”

06. Wale – “Triumph”

07. Jay-Z – “Run This Town” (feat. Kanye West and Rihanna)

08. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – “Heads Will Roll”

09. Girls – “Lust for Life”

10. Animal Collective – “My Girls”

Click here for #11 – #50

Headline Grabbers

There is always a few particular artists who seem to appear in the headlines more than others. Take these three for example:

Lil Wayne appeared on ESPN, began work on a rock ‘n’ roll album, talked gangsta with Katie Couric, won some Grammys, released the worst song ever, pushed back the release of his rock ‘n’ roll album, pushed back the release of his rock ‘n’ roll album again, told kids to stay in school, teamed up with Madonna, collaborated with Kanye, Eminem, and Drake, promised two albums before the year was out, plead guilty to weapon possession, released a stellar mixtape, watched his mom get a TV show, had his rock ‘n’ roll album mistakenly leaked, and got arrested again, all while actually failing to release any studio albums at all before the year was out. And to cap it all off, he’s going to prison in February!

For a band that didn’t release an album in 2009, Radiohead sure managed to grab quite a few headlines. Capitol Records reissued their discography, Thom Yorke debuted a new song, as well as contributed to the New Moon soundtrack, Ed O’Brien and Phil Selway collaborated with Neil Finn and Wilco, the entire band got together to release a tribute song for Harry Patch, the last surviving World War I combat soldier, Thom Yorke covered Mark Mulcahy’s “All for the Best”, the entire band got together again to release a track titled “These Are My Twisted Words”, Thom Yorke offered a secret 12″, Thom Yorke formed a new band and played some shows, the entire band got together for a third time to begin work on a new studio album, and Thom Yorke became really pissed about climate change.

You either loved or hated the amount of U2 present in 2009. Bono and crew got on their boots, played the Grammys, resided on Letterman, released a new album, teamed up with Brandon Flowers and Chris Martin, started talking another new album, took to Fordham University for a secret show, embarked on the first leg of their claw-featuring global 360 tour, tapped Muse as an opener, wrote a Broadway musical about Spider-Man, pissed off David Byrne, got reviewed in Chicago, reissued The Unforgettable Fire, apparently made no money, played the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall-of-Fame anniversary, titled their next album, wanted to be like The Beatles, plotted more tour dates for 2010, played a free Berlin Wall concert behind the backdrop of a different wall constructed by MTV to prevent those without tickets from watching U2 play a free Berlin Wall concert, teamed up with Jay-Z, got tapped for Glastonbury 2010, and announced a remix album.

Music Festivals

Despite a recession which saw a number of mid-tier summer music festivals call it quits, the big boys were as grand as ever. Coachella rounded up McCartney, Bonnaroo brought The Boss and Phish, and Lollapalooza finally saw Perry using his festival to his advantage. What’s more, Outside Lands proved once again that its a festival to be reckon with, while Sasquatch! demonstrated that Washington state can also rock hard. Hova was able to save All Points West from a mud filled weekend, Pitchfork continued to serve as a hipster’s wet dream, and the Virgin Mobile Festival reminded us that some good things can be free. Finally, Consequence of Sound hit South by Southwest for the first time, celebrating with events featuring the likes of Astronautalis, Gringo Star, Shad, 13ghosts, Kittens Ablaze, Catfish Haven, and Blueblood. Oh, and did we mention we have already begun planning for next year?

Supergroups

By the time December rolled around, there were as many supergroups in existence as there were non-supergroups…

Dave Grohl + John Paul Jones + Josh Homme = Them Crooked Vultures, Conor Oberst + M. Ward + Jim James = Monsters of Folk, Jack White + Alison Mosshart + Jack Lawrence + Dean Fertita = The Dead Weather, Thom Yorke + Flea + Nigel Godrich + Joey Waronker + Mauro Refosco = ???, Phil Lesh + Bob Weir = Furthur, Coldplay + Mew + a-ha = Apparatjik, Supergrass + Radiohead = The Hot Rats, Joe Budden + Joell Ortiz + Royce da 5’9″ + Crooked I = Slaughterhouse, King Khan + Black Lips = The Almighty Defenders, New Order + Blur = Bad Lieutenant, Sammy Hagar + Michael Anthony + Joe Satriani + Chad Smith = Chickenfoot

Reunions, Hiatuses, and Nothing at All!

Two 2009′s biggest themes were bands reuniting and bands calling it quits (or announcing extended hiatuses). And then there were those that couldn’t make up their mind at all.

Blur began its reunion, The Stooges revived Raw Power, Pixies gave it another go, Creed came back!, No Doubt did too, Faith No More hit Europe, Phish returned, The Murder City Devils reunited for Coachella, Sunny Day Real Estate returned for some grunge, Deadheads got the best Christmas present ever, Blink-182 got back together for the kids, Spinal Tap released a new album for the first time in 17 years, Sublime played a show and then got sued, Eminem reunited with D12, Simon and Garfunkel became friends, Limp Bizkit dusted off the red cap, Three members of the Velvet Underground got together for a discussion, Orbital celebrated its 20th anniversary with a reunion, Jawbox made its first live performance since 1997 on J-Fal, Faces reunited without Rod Stewart, while Take That did reunite with Robbie Williams, John Lydon moved on to Public Image Ltd., Cee-Lo got back together with Goodie Mob, The Jayhawks reunited, as did The Gories, and Ben Lee resurrected Noise Addict. Oh yeah, and some band named Pavement announced plans for a busy 2010.

On the other hand, Blur also ended its reunion, The Verve broke up again, Oasis had a fight, Flight of the Conchords called it quits, Music journalism died, Nine Inch Nails said goodbye, as did Harlem Shakes, The Broken West, and Pela, and Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, Fall Out Boy, Foo Fighters, Blitzen Trapper, Bon Iver, Lily Allen, Deerhunter, and TV on the Radio all announced lengthy hiatuses.

Plus, we learned an At The Drive-In reunion apparently wasn’t a possibility, nor was the rumored Stone Roses comeback, Spacemen 3 got an offer, but declined, The Kinks kept thinking about it but still didn’t do anything, contrary to Courtney Love’s comments, Hole didn’t reunite, Pulp teased and then unteased, and Swans thought about it and didn’t. And not surprisingly, The Libertines, The Smiths, and Neutral Milk Hotel all continued to tease to no fruition, while Led Zeppelin continued the suspense.

Soundtracks with benefits

There’s nothing like a nice movie soundtrack or benefit album featuring some of our favorite musicians. 2009 exemplified this fact to the max…

Grizzly Bear, LCD Soundsystem, Badly Drawn Boy, Arcade Fire, Karen O and friends, Daft Punk, Nick Cave & Warren Ellis, Beck, Jay Farrar & Ben Gibbard, British Sea Power, Dengue Fever all provided sounds for the silver screen, as did the inane number of musicians appearing on the New Moon soundtrack.

Ben Gibbard, Fleet Foxes, and The Cave singers contributed to the Give Seattle charity album, while Tom Waits, Pete Seeger, and Jim James lent their talents to Preservation, an Album Benefiting Preservation Hall and Its Music Outreach Program. Our friends at Ear Farm rounded up Tom Tom Club, Sean Bones, tUnE-yArDs for their pro-Xmas Do you EAR what I EAR?. Peter Bjorn & John, Juliette Lewis, and White Rabbits helped fight malaria. The Climate change benefiting Rhythms Del Mundo Classics saw contributions from The Killers, The Rolling Stones, and Amy Winehouse. Stars (like Yorke and The National) collided for Mark Mulcahy. Hot Chip, The Hold Steady, and Lily Allen shared reinterpretations on War Child Heroes. And let’s not forget about Dark Was The Night, the tantalizing 31-track effort featuring the Dirty Projectors with David Byrne, Feist with Ben Gibbard, Sufjan Stevens, My Morning Jacket, and more, all in benefit of The Red Hot Organization and AIDS awareness.

Our Most Memorable Features

In addition to everything else that went down, 2009 also saw Consequence of Sound further expanded our feature stories. The following are some of our favorites/most memorable:

We brought you interviews with Pavement, Ms. Consequence of Sound herself, Regina Spektor, Tom Jones, Passion Pit, Slayer, Ben Kweller, The Gaslight Anthem, Flogging Molly, Anti-Flag, Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s, Hot Water Music, The Von Bondies, The Screaming Blue Messiahs, The Antlers, Boots Riley, Cymbals Eat Guitars, and Fleet Foxes’ J. Tillman. Oh and we talked with Los Campesinos! not once, but twice.

Our Editor-in-Chief Michael Roffman gave us the entire story of The Thermals, contributing writer Alyssa Spiel spoke with 311 about its 20th anniversary, and the one and only Cap Blackard spent the day with Astronautalis.

We listed everything from the Top 11 Influential Minds of Industrial Metal and Top 10 Grunge Albums to the  Top 10 Fake Bands and Top 10 Sleepiest Albums. We did some Audio Archaeology, dusted off some ol’ classics, shared our guilty pleasures, introduced you to some great new bands, and continued teaching Rock History 101.

As for the most commented posts of the year? That honor goes to Laina Dawes’ review of 311′s Uplifter.

The Year’s Most “Unique” Moments

We thought we’d close on a light note, as in this year’s stories and moments that, well, left us scratching our heads the most…

Bill Corgan wrote a song for the Super Bowl, Bruce Springsteen apologized for selling music through Walmart, Live Nation and Ticketmaster merged, Mandy Moore married Ryan Adams, Lil Wayne released “Prom Queen”, we wrote a post about the Jonas Brothers, Crystal Castles had a meltdown, Santogold had to change her name to Santigold, Manu Chao pissed off Mexico, Chickenfoot was actually real, Prince released a $2,100 iPod, Billy Corgan made a wrestling promo, Tupac revealed he might still be alive, Creed released a new album, Billy Corgan hired a 19-year-old drummer, Kanye West helped kids stay in school, Ron Artest paid homage to Michael Jackson, Reading Music Festival banned flags, Kidz Bop covered Kanye West, Ryan Adams became a video game reviewer, R. Kelly forgot to title his new album, Oasis broke up, Liam Gallagher formed Oasis 2.0, 30 Seconds to Mars and Kanye West released a song together, 7-Eleven reissued The Beatles, Snoop Dogg got himself a new name, Rivers Cuomo was interviewed by a dog, Diddy appeared on the Home Shopping Network, Morrissey and Johnny Marr emailed, Marilyn Manson got swine flu, Radiohead didn’t break up, Elvis Presley’s grandson scored a record deal, Starfucker changed its name, Fall Out Boy formed a metal band, and Pete Doherty sang a Nazi song.

Thank you!

Before we end our 2009 recap, we would just like to take one last moment to thank the individuals who have helped Consequence of Sound become what it is today. Thank you to the publicists who work hand-in-hand with us each and everyday, thank you to the festival promoters who continue to work with us despite the fact we ruin your lineup announcements, thank you to the message boards which provide such a bevy of information, thank you to those who email us news tips and music submissions, thank you to our fellow bloggers, thank you to our amazing and tireless staff, and thank you to our readers who have put trust in us and our the reason we keep at this 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

2009 was an amazing year for Consequence of Sound, but 2010 will be even better. Stay tuned for a number of brand new features, including that much needed change we’ve all been eagerly awaiting.

The news comes from a report in the the Sunday Mirror which quoted an unnamed “source” who claimed  band members Simon Jones and Nick McCabe have not spoken to frontman Richard Ashcroft since performing at the V Festival in August last year.

“As far as Nick and Simon are concerned The Verve no longer exists,” the source said. “They think Richard was just using the reunion as a vehicle to get his solo career on track.”

The Verve reunited after a eight year hiatus in 2007. In the months that followed, the band would headline several music festivals, including Coachella 2008, and release its fourth full length, Forth.

However, according to the Mirror, problems stemming from McCabe’s social actives eventually caused tension amongst him and Ashcroft, ultimately resulting in the frontman’s refusal to work with his bandmates.

In response, McCabe and Jones have started a new venture, The Black Ships. As for Ashcroft, well, perhaps The Verve’s 1995 single puts it best…

In America, during the early-to-mid 90′s, Grunge ruled our musical charts. With a rough and heavy sound, the “Generation Xer’s” rebelled against the 1980′s radio friendly “Hair Metal.”  The backlash to the arena rock gave way to bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam and more. However, across the pond, there was a completely different sound that the youth clung on to; whereas Grunge tended to be angry, Britpop was often happy and well, poppy. Grunge drew heavy influence from Led Zeppelin, Velvet Underground, and Black Sabbath while Britpop drew inspirations from The Smiths, The Jam, and The Beatles. Bands like Oasis and Blur battled for the top of the UK charts and often times each other and up until 1997, Britpop wa essentially a two horse race. But then, a huge international, “Bittersweet” hit took over the radios near the end of that year, causing the the music community to take note of a third,  a four-piece outfit from Greater Manchester, who called itself The Verve. Extensive touring and the success of its third album, Urban Hymns, saw The Verve enter the echleon of rock stardom over the next. But then, as quick as the success came, it was over – the band broke up in early 1999.

In June 2007, BBC reported that The Verve would reunite with the original line-up and do a small world tour, with a new release set for 2008. As welcoming as many fans were to the idea of a Verve reunion, others feared that a new album would not only dampen the legacy of Urban Hymns, but the somewhat iconic status of “what ifs” that the band held? The Verve was willing to take this risk, choosing to return to the forefront of the music world, rather than stay in the safe world of rock ‘n roll memories. Was the gamble worth it? As the first sounds of the band’s latest project, Forth, rings aloud, these questions are answered, fears put to rest.

After the first three tracks of Forth you know that The Verve hasn’t lost a step during its long absence. In fact, it feels as if the band molded all of their previous efforts into one triumphant return. With the psychedelic sound of A Storm in Heaven and the more structured lyrics of Urban Hymns, “Sit and Wonder” provides us with the classic Verve sound as Jones and Salisbury create an almost dream like rhythm, while guitarist Nick McCabe makes such distorted guitar sounds that seem to ascend as high as the album cover looks.

“Love Is Noise” absolutely screams to be a live staple of the band. Richard Ashcroft’s vocals seem to encompass the entire track as he croons, “Cause love is noise and love is pain/ Love is these blues that I’m singing again.” While at first the track seems to offer nothing more than an incredibly catchy chorus, you will realize that Ashcroft is crying out to our generation to wake up and “recognize the heavy burden” of our global crises. The third track, “Rather Be”, sounds like an improved version of “Sonnet” as Ashcroft’s vocals seem to sync up perfectly with Simon Jones’s bass as it builds into the rest of Forth.

While the first couple of tracks are phenomenal in its own right, it’s near the middle and towards the end of Forth that The Verve really shines. “Judas” is a wonderfully crafted pop song, where Ashcroft bemoans the story of a person who betrays a friend and tries to no avail to get back in their good graces. The album takes a turn with the track “Noise Epic”, which is just that, epic. McCabe and company build you up to such a point that it unexpectedly erupts into what could only be well, as surprising as it is punk. Jones hammers on the bass, while McCabe creates a whirlwind of sound that seems to blow up the label that the band was stuck with throughout the 90′s. “Valium Skies” could be a Tom Petty outtake. Not that that’s a bad thing by any means, as it is one of the stronger tracks on the album. With light instrumentation, “Appalachian Springs” closes the album providing a perfect crescendo to Forth.

After long break-ups, it’s rare that a new album will make us do anything more than dust off the band’s prior catalog. Forth is an exception. It will please casual and hardcore fans alike, proving once and for all, to the people at VH1 that The Verve is no “one hit wonder.”

Check Out:
“Love Is Noise”

Forth is now available via EMI Records. If you fancy listening to The Verve and Forth on the go, we recommend doing so on the new Motorolla ROKR E8.