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AllMusic
Encyclopedia of Popular Music
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The Guardian
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NME	6/10
Q
The Rolling Stone Album Guide
Select	5/5

A Northern Soul is the second studio album by English alternative rock band The Verve. The album was released in the United States on 20 June 1995 on the Hut label and in the United Kingdom on 3 July 1995 on Vernon Yard Records. The title is a reference to Northern Soul, a popular soul movement in Britain during the 1970s.

A Northern Soul was a moderate success upon release, charting at number 13 in the UK, and has since after its release received critical acclaim, as well as being ranked high in readers polls in popular music publications.

Following their performance at Lollapalooza in 1994, The Verve returned to their Wigan-based practice room to begin writing and recording songs for their second studio album. Commenting on the effect that working in the "dark rehearsal room" had on the band's songwriting process, frontman Richard Ashcroft stated:

Initially, the band tried to record the LP inside the rehearsal room itself, so that "they could record as they had been rehearsing", but, when this approach proved to be impossible, they relocated the recording sessions to rural Wales with producer Owen Morris. Tom Hiney, writing for The Guardian in September 1997, claimed that the band's experience of recording during this period was "intense and morose, but it produced an album that will still be listened to in 30 years' time."

After encountering difficulties during the recording of their debut album, the band decided to take a more focused approach to the recording of A Northern Soul, with bassist Simon Jones stating, "I was like, 'I'm not going through that again. We are writing these songs before we even step through the doors.'" Guitarist Nick McCabe took a positive view of the early stages of the recording sessions for the album, stating: "when we went in we had no preconceived notion of what it was going to sound like. We just went in and played...and that's when you know you're playing really well, when you don't have to think about it. There were three weeks during the making of that record which I'd have to say were the best I've ever had in my life." However, the sessions soon became infamous for several incidents, with vocalist Richard Ashcroft describing the experience as "insane in ways that only good music, bad drugs and mixed emotions can make." These incidents varied in nature, from Ashcroft disappearing for days to producer Owen Morris smashing a window after the recording of "History". Morris later recalled: "They did my head in, completely and utterly. There you go. That's life. It's a fantastic album at the end of the day, but it's not a process that I'd ever want to go through again".

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