'' Melody Maker '' named '' Urban Hymns '' as the number one album of 1997 in its year-end list , and the album ranked at number three on '' NME '' s year-end critics ' poll . '' Q '' also included it in their own list of the best albums of 1997 , and it ranked at number 18 on '' The Village Voice '' s year-end Pazz & Jop critics ' poll . At the 1998 Brit Awards , '' Urban Hymns '' won the award for Best British Album and The Verve themselves were awarded Best British Group . The same year , Richard Aschroft won an Ivor Novello Award for Songwriter of the Year . The album was also shortlisted for the Mercury Prize , which was ultimately awarded to Gomez ' '' Bring It On '' . By April 1999 , however , renewed tensions within the band , particularly between Ashcroft and McCabe , would lead The Verve to split up for a second time , at the height of their critical and commercial success
1998 Brit Awards
1998 Brit Awards
Urban Hymns