Richard Ashcroft — Alone With Everybody

As hard as it is to believe, a long time ago I knew a score of rockers who preferred to drink and party with Guns 'N Roses' Lies, Lies, Lies as their soundtrack as opposed to the much more ballistic Appetite For Destruction. Now nobody's comparing Richard Ashcroft to Axl Rose, but there's a fairly compelling argument to be made that the ex-Verve lead singer's first record after that band's masterwork, Urban Hymns, may indeed be the warmer record to hoist one up with your mates. Though far softer than the urgent swirls of the Verve's material, the songs "I Get My Beat," "On A Beach" and, particularly, "New York" mine a vein just as deep as "Blue" or "Bittersweet Symphony" ever did, if not deeper.