Richard Ashcroft has today (September 8) shared details of ‘Acoustic Hymns Vol. 1’, an album of newly recorded acoustic versions of his solo work and The Verve classics.

‘Acoustic Hymns Vol. 1’ will be released on October 29 via RPA/BMG. Fans can pre-order the record here, which gives them an instant download of The Verve’s re-recorded 1997 hit ‘Bittersweet Symphony’.

Among the 12 tracks is a completely reworked version of ‘This Thing Called Life’, which featured on the 2010 debut album by Ashcroft’s side project band RPA & The United Nations Of Sound.

Additionally, Liam Gallagher features on ‘C’mon People (We’re Making It Now)’, a single from Ashcroft’s 2000 debut solo album ‘Alone With Everybody‘. Per press material, the song has been a favourite of the pair since Ashcroft “originally played it to Liam on a piano somewhere in Majorca in 1998”.

‘Acoustic Hymns Vol. 1’ tracklist:

01. ‘Bittersweet Symphony’
02. ‘A Song For The Lovers’
03. ‘Sonnet’
04. ‘C’mon People (We’re Making It Now)’
05. ‘Weeping Willow’
06. ‘Lucky Man’
07. ‘This Thing Called Life’
08. ‘Space & Time’
09. ‘Velvet Morning’
10. ‘Break The Night With Colour’
11. ‘One Day’
12. ‘The Drugs Don’t Work’

The singer-songwriter recently announced details of four special shows, each billed as “an acoustic evening of his classic songs”. See those dates below.

OCTOBER
16 – London, Palladium (SOLD OUT)
17 – London, Palladium (SOLD OUT)
29 – Liverpool, M&S Bank Arena

NOVEMBER
1 – London, Royal Albert Hall (SOLD OUT)

In other news, the former Verve frontman pulled out of Cornwall’s Tunes In The Dunes festival earlier this month after contracting COVID-19.

Ashcroft has pulled out of multiple festivals recently, including Tramlines Festival and Victorious Festival, but in both instances it was in protest of COVID safety restrictions. The musician is a known anti-vaxxer.