By Fred Spanner
Richard Ashcroft: Alone With Everybody ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Richard Ashcroft’s first three solo albums have been re-released and slapped onto lush heavyweight vinyl, which means Keys To The World finally makes its vinyl debut. Don’t make us choose…okay, we’ll go with the first one.
Coming off the spiritual and sonic hangover of The Verve’s Urban Hymns, Richard Ashcroft’s debut solo album, Alone with Everybody, was always going to be a bit of a moment. And in typical Ashcroft fashion, it’s big, brooding, and absolutely bleeding with emotion. It’s a record that swings between grandeur and intimacy like a man with too much on his mind and a full orchestra behind him.
The album kicks off with A Song for the Lovers, a moody, cinematic anthem that sounds like Scott Walker took a stroll through Wigan. It’s romantic, sweeping, and sets the tone perfectly: Ashcroft is reaching for the sublime, arms wide open and heart firmly on sleeve.
Elsewhere, I Get My Beat rolls with a loose, soulful groove, while Crazy World channels that late-‘60s Stonesy strut he’s always flirted with. But the album’s most striking moments come when Ashcroft pares it back. On a Beach is a melancholic gem, and You On My Mind in My Sleep is raw and ghostly, like an early-hours confession.
It may not have the raw immediacy of The Verve's best work, but Alone with Everybody stands as a confident, heartfelt debut.