Alone With Everybody

The drugs may not have worked for Richard Ashcroft while he fronted the Verve, but on his solo debut he seems to have discovered Prozac. Alone with Everybody is OK, with some pretty ballads (“Brave New World”) and upbeat pop tunes (“New York”), but after the Verve’s superb Urban Hymns, OK doesn’t cut it. There’s no standout on a par with “Bittersweet Symphony,” or any of the bite that marked his best songs. Ashcroft needs to remember that a brilliant asshole is always better than a boring wanker.