Editing The Verve (section)

===''A Northern Soul'' and first breakup (1995–1996)===
The Verve's physical and mental turmoil continued into the chaotic recording sessions of their second album, 1995's ''[[A Northern Soul]]'', produced by [[Owen Morris]]. The band departed from the experimental psychedelic sounds of ''A Storm in Heaven'' and focused more on conventional alternative rock, with Ashcroft's vocals taking a more prominent role in the songs, although reminiscent of some of the early work. Around this period, Oasis guitarist and friend of Ashcroft [[Noel Gallagher]] dedicated the song "[[Cast No Shadow (song)|Cast No Shadow]]" on the album ''[[(What's the Story) Morning Glory?]]'' to Ashcroft, who returned the gesture by dedicating the song "A Northern Soul" to Gallagher.

The band released the album's first single "[[This Is Music]]" in May, and it reached No.&nbsp;35, their first single to reach the Top 40. It was followed by "[[On Your Own (The Verve song)|On Your Own]]" in June which performed even better, reaching No.&nbsp;28. This single was particularly new for the Verve as it was a soulful ballad. The album reached the UK Top 20 upon its release in July, but Ashcroft broke up the band three months later, just before the release of the third single "[[History (The Verve song)|History]]", which reached No.&nbsp;24 in September. Ashcroft later stated: "I knew that I had to do it earlier on, but I just wouldn't face it. Once you're not happy in anything, there's no point living in it, is there? But my addiction to playing and writing and being in this band was so great that I wouldn't do anything about it. It felt awful because it could have been the greatest time of our lives, with "History" doing well, but I still think I can look myself in the mirror in 30 years time and say, 'Yeah man, you did the right thing.' The others had been through the same thing. It was a mixture of sadness and regret, and relief that we would have some time away."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.musicsaves.org/verve/interviews/33.shtml |title=Dark Star |website=Musicsaves.org |access-date=13 September 2010}}</ref>

Ashcroft reunited with Jones and Salisbury just a few weeks after the break-up, but McCabe did not rejoin them. The new band hired former [[Suede (band)|Suede]] guitarist [[Bernard Butler]], but he spent only a couple of days with the band.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nme.com/news/music/the-verve-67-1388165|title=The Verve – Is This The End?|website=www.nme.com|date=15 June 1998}}</ref> The band then chose [[Simon Tong]], a school friend credited with originally teaching Ashcroft and Jones to play guitar. The band made no live appearances in 1996, apart from a solo performance from Ashcroft supporting Oasis in New York;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.the-verve.info/gigs/Mar.13.1996.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080828224854/http://www.the-verve.info/gigs/Mar.13.1996.htm|url-status=usurped|title=The Verve Resources and Information|archive-date=28 August 2008|website=The-verve.info}}</ref> the year was spent playing and recording songs for a new album.