The Shining — True Skies

While Richard Ashcroft’s debut solo effort, Alone With Everybody, showed that Richard will have a life beyond his former band, the jury was out on what would become of his former mates.

The Shining is the first post-Verve excursion for Simon Jones (guitar) and Simon Tong (bass), but the band’s debut record, True Skies, might further glorify Ashcroft’s songwriting talent. Opening track "Quicksilver" could be a discarded song from Oasis’ Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants stinker, while "Show You The Way" is a poor man’s version of A Northern Soul-era song.

The Shining suffers from a case of scattered identity. Not sure whether they want to play bluesy, guitar-driven rock or ape Definitely Maybe, they’d be best served sticking to the more soulful, Starsailor-esque pop they display on "Young Again," "I Am The One," and "What You See."