3 of Richard Ashcroft’s Most Iconic Collaborations

Richard Ashcroft has been supporting Oasis on the band’s Live ’25 stadium tour in the U.K. Two things come to mind as he opens the shows. One, Oasis used to open for Ashcroft’s band, The Verve. Secondly, Ashcroft wrote “Bitter Sweet Symphony”, perhaps the biggest British anthem of the 1990s. It’s the song he closes with each night on tour, and judging by the fans’ reaction, it’s truly an urban hymn. It’s like someone singing the national anthem before the big game.

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After multiple breakups and reunions, The Verve has been over since 2009, though judging by history, we’ll see if things stay that way. (If the Gallaghers agreed to a détente, you never know.)

Meanwhile, Ashcroft continues as a solo artist, but his long career has also included iconic collaborations. Let’s look at a few moments when Ashcroft had a little help from his friends.

“C’mon People (We’re Making It Now)” with Liam Gallagher

Ashcroft’s debut solo album, Alone With Everybody, shares its lonely theme and name with Charles Bukowski’s 1977 poem. Here, the singer is moving on without his excellent band. Many songs were left over from the Urban Hymns sessions. (The Verve’s masterpiece was supposed to be Ashcroft’s first solo album before he reformed the band to finish it.)

“C’mon People (We’re Making It Now)” appears on the debut and includes in its title an Ashcroft-ism, picking up where he left off on Urban Hymns’ closing track “Come On”—a track that also features an uncredited Liam Gallagher. But on the acoustic rework, Gallagher makes a credited appearance in a reunion of Britpop royalty.

“Nature Is The Law” with Brian Wilson

Human Conditions is Ashcroft pondering the existential questions. On an album questioning faith vs. science, the things we can or can’t know, Ashcroft closes with an answer: “Nature Is The Law”. And when you need to scream at the heavens, you need a voice with reach. Someone with the throat to push all these thoughts out into the deep abyss of the cosmos. Better find the guy who made Pet Sounds.

Brian Wilson didn’t know Ashcroft and wasn’t familiar with his music. But he liked the song and recorded his parts in Los Angeles while Ashcroft was in London. On The Verve’s early songs, Ashcroft’s writing blended nihilism with William Blake’s poetry. But “Nature Is The Law” aims for humility and humans’ futile attempts to domesticate the planet.

“Lonely Soul” with UNKLE

UNKLE’s trip-hop debut features collaborations with Thom Yorke, Beastie Boys’ Mike D, and Badly Drawn Boy. But the album highlight is Ashcroft’s tune “Lonely Soul”. Wil Malone, who arranged the strings on “Bitter Sweet Symphony”, orchestrates the nearly nine-minute track.

Since “History” and especially since “Bitter Sweet Symphony”, Malone’s orchestrations have been a signature part of Ashcroft’s sound. Subtlety is not. And this track remains one of Ashcroft’s best and arrived at a time when he was still at the height of his powers. Following a lengthy instrumental break, “Lonely Soul” turns into a funeral song: “So long, little chapel.” No wonder he sourced Bukowski for the title of his first solo album.

Photo by Peter Pakvis/Redferns