The Verve - Urban Hymns

Urban Hymns is the third studio album by English alternative rock band The Verve, originally released in September 1997 via Hut Records.

Urban Hymns earned nearly unanimous critical praise upon its release, and went on to become the band's best-selling release and one of the biggest selling albums of the year. It is currently ranked the 17th best-selling album in UK chart history and has sold over ten million copies worldwide.

This is the only Verve album to feature guitarist and keyboardist Simon Tong, who initially joined the band to replace their original guitarist Nick McCabe. McCabe re-joined the band soon after, however, and Tong was considered the fifth member of the band; this makes the album the only one that the band recorded as a five-piece.

The album features the hit singles "Bitter Sweet Symphony", "Lucky Man" and UK number one "The Drugs Don't Work".

The critical and commercial success of the album saw the band win two Brit Awards in 1998, including Best British Album, and appear on the cover of Rolling Stone in April 1998. "Bitter Sweet Symphony" was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Rock Song.

This double album 2LP record set is a 2016 reissue on 180 gram black vinyl housed in a single pocket sleeve with printed inner sleeves and remastered audio, pressed in Europe via Virgin EMI Records.