Natural Rebel
A sack full of ‘Sonnets’, this fifth solo album finds the Wigan wonder sounding almost like a pastiche of himself
For a 10-track album, it feels hideously overindulgent – only two songs fall under the four-minute mark, and those still feel drawn out by plodding, bog-standard riffs
Perhaps the title Natural Rebel echoes the title A Northern Soul, the 1995 album that established the Verve not just as a weird, ambitious rock band but one with commercial ambition, but that's where the comparisons end.
It's not verboten for a rock star once trading on his working-class roots to make good—living in a bucolic country manor with a family and garage full of fancy automobiles—and still want to put out music.
Earlier this year Clash caught Richard Ashcroft onstage in Finsbury Park, holding thousands upon thousands of people in the palm of his hand. A sneaky
Richard Ashcroft's latest solo album claims he's a 'Natural Rebel' – his fifth solo LP is a country-rock collection that's in love with its own reflection.
Strong music offsets some lyrical hokum on Ashcroft’s fifth solo offering, made for drivetime
I'm born to fly, I'm here to sing," Richard Ashcroft croons on We All Bleed, in a voice that resounds with conviction.