The Verve – The Thaw Sessions

After listening to 14 minutes and 9 seconds of what is essentially an excerpt of a jam session by The Verve – the band’s first new music in ten years — I’m excited and a bit leary of hearing what the band will do now that they’re back together.

Rather than kicking off their reformation with a band meeting, the Wigan legends met in a studio in Richmond and jammed out some musical ideas together.

The first fruits from that session can now be heard today in the form of the ‘The Thaw Session’ – the title a reference to ‘Deep Freeze’, an experimental bonus track on the band’s last album ‘Urban Hymns’ – a 14-minute track you can get for free.

I’m excited because The Verve were one of the great rock bands of the 90s, managing to produce four extraordinary works — three albums and an EP — in just five years. I’m leary because part of what makes The Verve’s catalog so great is that it had a beginning and an end.

Depending on your perspective, “Urban Hymns” was either a sign of more greatness to come from The Verve or a sign that the band might give up artistic freedom for increased marketability.

The Verve’s “The Thaw Sessions” are no longer on NME.com, but a big shout out goes to Ramon Drummond for posting the audio to YouTube.