The Verve Pipe - The Verve Pipe
Grade: B
By Matt Levine
 The Verve Pipe's self-titled fourth album, and the first since the release of 1996's
"Villains," marks the band's return to the sound that generated a great deal of fanfare in
the band's hometown, East Lansing, Michigan. Those who hopped onto The Verve Pipe
bandwagon based on the band's non-representative hit, "The Freshmen," will be
disappointed to find a collection of well-crafted post-punk tracks, the type of stuff to
which the overused moniker of "alternative rock" should be applied. Inevitably, "The
Verve Pipe" will probably go down in history as a major sales flop in comparison to a
band's previous hit album. But that does not mean that the album is irrelevant. While it
may not hold its own in the commercial field filled with Limp Bizkit, KoRn, and several
wannabe Limp Bizkits and KoRns, "The Verve Pipe" certainly offers a pleasant
alternative; a pop-rock album without contrivance or really any commercial boundaries.
The album often makes use of musical interludes that actually sound original as well. It's
refreshing to see that The Verve Pipe isn't in it for the money, or that RCA records would
release something that seems out of touch with the current marketplace. "The Verve
Pipe" does have its ups and downs. The first four tracks flow along amazingly well and
make for an engaging listening experience, but the next two tracks on the album seem to
mess with the album's momentum. "Headlines" and "F Word" pick up that momentum
again, but there still seems to be some inexplicable thing missing from this album that
would bring its status up from pretty good to great.
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