The Verve have announced they are reuniting to create a new record. Seeing as how their biggest hit went to the Rolling Stones, I eagerly await the new record. If you bought the first copy of their cd "Urban Hymns" and you read the liner notes, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were not credited for their work on the track. But you ask, the legendary writing duo worked with the Verve? No, they didn't. Let me explain.

Richard Ashcroft illegally stole, without credit, from Andrew Oldham Orchestral recording of The Rolling Stones 1965 "The Last Time." Despite having original lyrics written by Ashrcroft himself, the track's hook is a sample of Oldham's track. The sample is used as the foundation of the song and then builds upon it through continuous riffs. The crescendo is Ashcrofts, but the basic sample is not.

So the Stones sued and won. Now the song belongs to them and Ashcroft owes them if he going to play it. The Stones lawyers called up Simon Jones, the bassist of the Verve. He remembers the call:

"We were told it was going to be a 50/50 split, and then they saw how well the record was doing. They rung up and said 'we want 100 per cent or take it out of the shops', you don't have much choice."

The Verve lost composing credits to the song that was their biggest hit. But the Stones just don't let things die slowly. They want to punish you for stealing their music (even though they stole so many artists themselves). They sold the song to Nike and Vauxhall Motors raking in the cash with a golden rake. This effectively crushed Ashcroft. He said:

"This is the best song Jagger and Richards have written in 20 years."

The band split up and Ashcroft went into a deep depression. That is until Coldplay resurrected him for a Live 8 performance of the song. Then they brought Ashcroft out on their Twisted Logic American tour to help him revive his career. He was still a bitter man, but his music still sounds the same...like an orchestral Rolling Stones effort.

I know the Stones are glad the Verve has reunited as it means more money in their pockets when the band performs Bittersweet Symphony. But I am glad to see someone who has been mercifully punished by the Stones beginning to work again. The Verve were a great band, but are marred in the Stones lawsuit. A new album will help vindicate Ashcroft and prove he is capable of writing brilliant songs without the help of the Stones.