''Human Conditions'' is the second album by English singer-songwriter
Richard Ashcroft
Richard Paul Ashcroft (born 11 September 1971) is an English musician, singer, and songwriter. He formed the alternative rock band the Verve in 1990 and served as the lead singer and rhythm guitarist throughout the band's lifetime. Ashcroft was ...
. It was released on
Hut Records
VC Recordings trading as Hut Records was a British record label brand which was started in 1990 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Virgin Records. Despite being wholly owned by a major label, it was classed as an independent label for the purposes ...
in 2002.
Release and reception
Review aggregating website
Metacritic
Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
reports a normalised score of 61 based on 15 reviews, which indicated a "generally favourable" reception. However, many of the critics had negative views of Ashcroft's ideas. Some of the negative reviews, included Nick Southall of ''
Stylus
A stylus is a writing utensil or tool for scribing or marking into softer materials. Different styluses were used to write in cuneiform by pressing into wet clay, and to scribe or carve into a wax tablet. Very hard styluses are also used to En ...
'', who remarked that "Ashcroft obviously sees himself as some kind of incisive commentator with a greater depth of understanding of the human condition than those around him. This record reveals with alarming clarity that he is actually a poor songwriter, dire lyricist, and arrogant buffoon all at the same time." Andrew Lynch of ''
entertainment.ie'' gave the album two stars out of five, calling it "in the final analysis, quite unbelievably boring." Rowan Shaeffer of ''Counterculture'' gave it three stars out of five and praised aspects of the album, though still feeling that "for the most part Richard Ashcroft seems be going through the motions; and while he's produced a good album, it's an ultimately unfulfilling listen."
Details
In 2003, when asked about the naysayers to the album, Ashcroft responded: "If I had put on fifteen stone and
Kate Kate may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Kate (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or nickname
* Gyula Káté (born 1982), Hungarian amateur boxer
* Lauren Kate (born 1981), American author o ...
had left me and I’d almost
verdosedon smack, then this record would have been received very well".
Track listing
All tracks composed by Richard Ashcroft
#"
Check the Meaning" – 8:04
#"
Buy It in Bottles" – 4:39
#"Bright Lights" – 5:15
#"Paradise" – 5:37
#"God in the Numbers" – 6:58
#"
Science of Silence" – 4:15
#"Man on a Mission" – 5:29
#"Running Away" – 4:16
#"Lord I've Been Trying" – 5:23
#"Nature Is the Law" – 4:55
Bonus track
The Japanese and American editions of the album featured one
bonus track originally released as a
B-side
The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...
for the UK single "Check the Meaning".
*"The Miracle" – 3:51
Personnel
*Richard Ashcroft – vocals, guitar, percussion, bass, piano, Wurlitzer, keyboards
*
Peter Salisbury – drums
*
Kate Radley – keyboards
*
Martyn Campbell – bass
*
Talvin Singh – tablas, beats, drones, shruti box, duggi tarang,
madal
The madal () or maadal is a Nepalese folk musical instrument. The madal is used mainly for rhythm-keeping in Nepalese folk music. It is very popular and widely used as a hand drum in Nepal. The madal has a cylindrical body with a slight bulge at i ...
*
Chuck Leavell – piano, Hammond organ
*Richard Robson – programming
*Steve Sidelnyk – drum programming, programming
*
Craig Wagstaff – percussion
*Jim Hunt – flute, saxophone
*Matt Clifford – Wurlitzer
*
Brian Wilson
Brian Douglas Wilson (June 20, 1942 – June 11, 2025) was an American musician, songwriter, singer and record producer who co-founded the Beach Boys. Often Brian Wilson is a genius, called a genius for his novel approaches to pop compositio ...
– backing vocals, backing vocal arrangement on "Nature Is the Law"
*
Wil Malone – orchestral arrangements, conducting
*
The London Session Orchestra – strings
*
London Community Gospel Choir
The London Community Gospel Choir is Britain's first renowned contemporary "performance touring, inspirational gospel choir band", fusing gospel with multi-genres of music, including pop, soul, jazz, R&B, and classical. It was founded in 198 ...
– choir
Release details
References
External links
*
Billboard.com – Discography – Richard Ashcroft – Human Conditionsat ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
''.com
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Richard Ashcroft albums
2002 albums
Albums produced by Chris Potter (record producer)
Hut Records albums
Virgin Records albums