Eleven years after their second untimely demise, Richard Ashcroft, Nick McCabe, Simon Jones and Pete Salisbury have reformed The Verve for their third go round and unfortunately the results are not nearly as great as one might have hoped.

Forth is the long awaited follow-up to the 1997 critical and commercial smash Urban Hymns that housed one of the greatest songs of the 90's in "Bittersweet Symphony." The reason for the second break up was the same as the first when they had broke up a few years before and it's simply because Ashcroft and McCabe don't like each other. But time heals all wounds (and so do reunion concert paychecks) so Forth finds the foursome together again at last.

While I do find Forth to be quite the disappointment, the first three tracks however are exquisite. "Sit and Wonder," the breathtaking "Love Is Noise" and the sweeping "Rather Be" are some of the best songs that The Verve have ever crafted. The problem is that the seven tracks that come after them are certainly their worst. Long, drawn out and overwrought, the back half of Forth is a shambling mess of mediocre songwriting by Ashcroft and unmemorable guitar work by McCabe. I won't lie though, I'm thrilled to have The Verve back and hopefully this is just a slight misstep towards what will hopefully be a full-fledged reunion of better, future albums.