Rocktrospectiva: The Soulful And Beautiful "Alone With Everybody" Turns 25

Released on 26 June 2000 "Alone With Everybody" was the first solo album by English singer-songwriter Richard Ashcroft, released via Hut Records. The album spawned three singles "A Song For The Lovers", "Money To Burn" & "C'mon People".

 

The songs "A Song for the Lovers", "C'mon People (We're Making It Now)" and "New York" were initially recorded with the Verve for their 1997 album Urban Hymns, but were never released. The album sound is considered a good collection of soulful songs, it's heavy music, it's beautiful music, back in the day and according to Ashcroft: I’ve got my silly name on the front of the sleeve. Everything’s a first. So as a first solo album, I think it’s an achievement."

 

Alone with Everybody functioned as a creative rebirth for the rejuvenated Ashcroft, and offered proof positive that he had endured the band’s disintegration no worse for wear from a songwriting standpoint. Anyone expecting More Urban Hymns would have been sorely disappointed, as the absence of Nick McCabe’s distinctive, sprawling guitar work could never be replicated, and any attempt to catch that same lightning in a bottle would have bordered on hubris. So what Ashcroft did furnish, however, was an excellent set of thirteen inspired, ruminative songs that reinforced his vitality as a songwriter and introduced a more varied sonic palette that balanced some of the more grandiose, symphonic elements heard on his former band’s records "A Song for the Lovers," "Crazy World" with warmer, more country-tinged fare "I Get My Beat," "You On My Mind In My Sleep," "Money to Burn".

 

The critical response to Alone with Everybody was generally positive, stating that the album was Ashcroft's newly discovered stability has done nothing to blunt his powers of communication or reduce his belief in the apocalyptic potential of music.

 

Alone With Everybody Track List: 

 

1. A Song For The Lovers

2. I Get My Beat

3. Brave New World

4. New York

5. You On My Mind In My Sleep

6. Crazy World

7. On A Beach

8. Money To Burn

9. Slow Was My Heart

10. C'Mon People (We're Making It Now) 

11. Everybody