First things first ... i've heard the source material, and i still consider the Verve's "Bitter Sweet Symphony" the greatest single ever. That said, i'm a bit surprised about the exact nature of the sample drawn from the Andrew Oldham Orchestra symphonic version of the Rolling Stones' "The Last Time" that was used to create the Verve masterpiece. I always thought it was the central string piece ... you know, the "da da da da daaa daaa, da daaa daaa, da daaa daaa". Turns out it's the backing orchestrated piece, containing strings and particularly the tubular bells that provided an interesting accent to Ashcroft's song but are central to Oldham's rendition. This simultaneously pleases me (as it attests to the fact that the Verve song is not simply a straightforward ripoff of the original) and troubles me (as the backing bells in the Verve track were always one of my favorite nuances of the song). At any rate, Oldham's album of orchestrated Rolling Stones songs is an interesting time capsule.
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