Richard Ashcroft — Radio X Session, London, 2018

A live session filmed for Radio X in 2018, during an exclusive concert before a small audience at the Hammersmith Working Men’s Club in London. The former Verve frontman Richard Ashcroft delivers a stripped-back, acoustic performance of his signature songs. The set gathers “Surprised by the Joy,” “A Song for the Lovers,” “Birds Fly,” the inescapable “Bitter Sweet Symphony” and “They Don’t Own Me.” In this intimate setting, Ashcroft’s voice and the melancholy songwriting that shaped British rock in the 1990s and 2000s take on a particularly bare, direct quality. Far from the large orchestras of his albums, the stripped-back format spotlights the strength of the songs and the singing. This recording is a fine document of a major Britpop songwriter in acoustic configuration. A filmed live concert to discover for fans of British rock, Britpop and guitar ballads. An ideal live set for (re)discovering Richard Ashcroft’s catalogue.