Track Listing

1. Check the Meaning
2. Buy It in Bottles
3. Bright Lights
4. Paradise
5. God in the Numbers
6. Science of Silence
7. Man On A Mission
8. Running Away
9. Lord I've Been Trying
10. Nature is the Law

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #19943 in Music
• Released on: 2002-10-21
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .21 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
Richard Ashcroft has always been driven to tackle big topics in music, and Human Conditions finds him earnestly rolling the world into a question one more time. Even the titles tell their own story: "Check the Meaning", "Paradise", "God in the Numbers", "Man on a Mission"--more songs about God, life and passion, then. For better or worse, no contemporary rock star has engaged in such an intense, irony-free existential quest since Jim Morrison.

Human Conditions continues the wide-eyed spiritual odyssey instigated by 2000's Alone With Everybody which is very good. Ashcroft is in persuasive, expressive voice on the fluent opener "Check the Meaning", while the spiritualised "Buy It in Bottles" will increase sales of disposable cigarette lighters in arenas around the globe. "Science of Silence and Man on a Mission" find the ex-Verve vocalist seeking, as ever, truth in an insecure world and the wracked, shoulder-heaving "Lord I've Been Trying" scales new heights of confessional grandeur. There are weighty splendours aplenty here: for Richard Ashcroft, it's clear the quest for catharsis through rock continues. --Ian Gittins

CD Description
'Human Conditions' is the second solo album by the former frontman of The Verve, Richard Ashcroft. It follows his 2000 debut 'Alone With Everybody' and includes an appearance by former Beach Boy, Brian Wilson. The single, 'Check The Meaning', is included.

Customer Reviews

Ashcroft is back - with some classics too
Well i have to say as a huge Verve fan I was dissapointed with Alone With Everybody. It had a few good songs but nothing like Urban Hymns or A Northern Soul. Excited by the prostect of this new Album "Human Conditions" I bought it straight away. I was blown away. This album is absoloutely fantastic. Check The Meaning screams Verve at you, but before you know it we really delve deep into Ashcroft as a solo aritst. Buy It In Bottles is sure to be classic. The melody, the lyrics it's all so addicive. And as the album progresses, Ashcrofts darker side that was lost on Alone With Eveybody returns most triumphantly with God In Numbers. It is a song so remincent of early Verve and the like found on Storm In Heaven. Ashcroft blends this darkness with poppier upbeat tunes on tracks such as Science In Silence and Nature Is The Law. But it's not the tracks on this album, it's how they fit together and how they move you through every emotion.

This has to be the best album for a long while along with Coldplay's A Rush Of Blood To The Head. Although I doubt that good music will ever return to the top, at least the real music is still alive and kicking in the form of this tremendous album. If you loved the Verve, liked Alone with Everybody,then you must buy this because it will blow your socks off!

Ashcroft returns with convincing verve
Nobody can produce the soundtrack of human emotion like Richard Ashcroft. Ashcroft, the former lead singer and songwriter of the now-defunct Verve, returns to the symphonic-based introspective style of his first solo album, Alone with Everybody, with Human Conditions, a ten-track voyage through the psyche of one British rock's most purely interesting stars. Human Conditions represents the next step of Ascroft's phsychological recovery and self-discovery, but is emblematic for the inner struggles of all individuals. His sound is soothing and his message is universal and real, not feigned like so many of today's pop-folk guitar strummers. Human Conditions can only truly be appreciated for its full value in the context of all the Verve's work and Ashcroft's first solo album, but can still be embraced by those not willing or able to dedicate themselves to those other several albums. Taken alone, the album is a beautiful and triumphant escape from the doldrumms of rejection, loss, and sorrow that plagued Richard throughout a period of his life. Taken alongside the other works, Human Conditions is a medicine for the soul and a continuation of Ashcroft's examination of the full spectrum of emotion through music. Track by track, Human Conditions takes us into Richard Ashcroft's world, and in doing so, strikes a chord in each of us. His knack for doing just this is no new talent though, clear in all his works since the Verve EP and A Storm in Heaven. Take the chance and let Richard in....once you do, in your soul he'll remain.

Ignore the critics, this is very very good!
I can't believe some of the harsh reviews I've read here, because this is quite simply a great album. It starts superbly with "Check The Meaning", and just carries on from there. "Buy it in Bottles" brings back memories of The Drugs Don't Work, and Paradise has a killer chorus. There's loads going on here and you just have to be impressed with the consistency of Ashcroft's song writing. My personal favourites though are probably the last two tracks. On "Lord I've been Trying" he sounds very much like Neil Diamond and on "Nature is the Law" we hear shades of Elvis. Fantastic stuff, and how anyone can give it 1 star is beyond me!