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Biography
Darkside Lightside, the story of Ash from Downpatrick to ... |
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News
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the UK press has been saying about Ash recently |
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Gallery
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Ash Discography
A highly detailed catalogue of the band's releases to date |
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Latest Single
Details of the latest single release from the band, Shining Light |
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Latest Album
Information and tracklisting for Ash's last long-player, Nu Clear Sounds |
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Official Fanzine
Info on how to get a hold of the official ash fanzine, Hash |
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The Official Ash Website
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Ash Latest
NME April 14 2001
'Free All Angels' Review
PEARLY GREATS
Ash
Free All Angels
CRASH! SMASH! ASH! Thanks goodness you're here! There's
four men calling themselves Starsailor and they've
kidnapped rock and are holed up in that press fortress threatening to slice off its testicles
and teach it more Waterboys songs unless they get a
helicopter into the Top Five and 53 front covers proclaiming them to "better than
Buckley" by sundown! This sounds like a job for SUPERWHEELER!
Phew, what a cliffhanger. We were convinced that our favourite buzzpop heroes Ash had perished
under that landslide of sunglasses and Jesus and Mary Chain
records on 98's 'Nu-Clear Sounds' but at the very last
minute, they've come to their senses, donned their famous silly haircuts and raced to rescue
rock from the evil clutches of the demon Dadrock! Faster than a speeding
Feeder! Janglier than a hundred King Adora
s! More tuneful than a barbieful of Beach Boys! Back to
restore euphoric guitar pop to its rightful place in the lower reaches of the Top Ten for one
week, then out! Huzzah!
"My heart beats fast like Benzedrine/ Every time that she walks by" sings Tim Wheeler on 'Cherry Bomb'
and instantly it's business-even-better-than-usual. As resurrections go,
'Free All Angels' makes Lazarus
look like Crossroads: a shifting
vista of Disney-esque crescendos, growling rock rotweilers
and more hits than www.davidgraycastrationvid.com. You already know
'Shining Light' and 'Burn Baby Burn' -
both textbook lessons in finding the G spot on a guitar. But you should brace yourself for a
rigorous seeing-to from the highway-cruisin' 'Walking Barefoot'
, the Bond theme on a donkey that is
'There's A Star' or the massive orchestral 'Someday' which, if it hasn't been half-inched from a big budget
West End musical then one is currently being written around it. Frankly, there hasn't been a
more consistently electrifying rock album since they wired 'Definetely
Maybe' onto the National Grid.
Smart kid, 'Tiny' Tim Wheeler. Pictured bathing in vodka on the back sleeve, he knows that rock
music ain't rocket science, and neither is it a dour lecture on embalming. He knows you can write
a freewheeling summertime beach party hit that namechecks Sharon Tate
('Pacific Paradises'), drop in a fonkeh
Black Grape-style ode to S&M complete with bongos
('Submission') or have a ruddy great Lemonheads moment without any need to apoligise ('Sometimes'
). The charm of 'Free All Angels' is its complete lack of limitations, its
rampant elcecticism, its raising of the indie sightline above the sleeves of 'OK Computer' and 'Grace'.
But of course, it's hip-hoppin' 2001 you're all into Eve
to bother with boring old scuzzrock any more. Well hey, liddle Timmy's written a song for you
lot too! It's a bloody-toothed punka racket called 'World Domination'
, it's where he's headed and here's a portion of his dust for your consumption.
KAPOW! (8)
Mark Beaumont
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© 2001 The Alternator. All rights reserved
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