My CDs: 6: Ash
455 words, 4 images(Apologies for the break - I didn’t know whether I’d find time for CD blogging while on holiday. I didn’t.)
I fondly remember hearing Ash’s ‘Kung Fu’ playing on the radio in our university accommodation, and thinking it was the most exciting thing ever. I also fondly remember running around at Glastonbury singing “Ash! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Saviours of the universe….”. Youth eh.
In fact, youth is what Ash had on their side back then. They were the rock’n'roll gods who took a break from their tour schedule to take their A-levels. I still think the early stuff sounds wonderful. And of course, the Evil Dead inspired name helps too.
For a while they were a singles-only band, and not being much of a singles buyer, I was waiting eagerly for the debut album so that I could hear the noisy pop-punk ‘Kung Fu’ and ‘Girl From Mars’ on demand. In fact, the debut was the mini-album ‘Trailer’.
Trailer does not contain either of those singles, and seems to throw together some earlier, somewhat more amateurishly produced songs. Not that it isn’t a great set of songs - tuneful and intense.
The first album proper was ‘1977′, named, it’s said, after the year Star Wars came out. I guess nobody bothered to tell them Star Wars is rubbish.
It opens with the sound of a Star Wars Tie Fighter, which morphs into the thunderous buildup to ‘Lose Control’. It’s a great track, with some lovely widdly-widdly wah-wah guitar. There’s not a bad song on this album, and of course those singles I wanted so much are there too.
As the closing track ‘Darkside Lightside’ fades out, if you crank up the volume, you can faintly hear someone singing one of the themes from Star Wars. Or is it Lawrence of Arabia?
‘Meltdown’ saw a conscious step away from the melodic direction Ash had previously taken.
This wasn’t a choice that went down particularly well with me, and I haven’t played the album a great deal. It’s all a bit dour, at least compared to their joyous best.
I’m not sure whether there were other albums in between, but the only remaining CD in my collection is ‘Free All Angels’.
It’s a bit of a return to form, with some fantastic tunes, along with all the fuzzy guitar we all love.
In particular, I love the track ‘Cherry Bomb’. While of course this is done in Ash’s usual Buzzcocks-like style, it’s easy to imagine the same song performed as Stock-Aitken-Waterman synthpop, or Beach Boys 60s pop. Are the lyrics breezy or sinister?
She’s a cherry bomb
She’s a bullet in my head
Pull the trigger and I’m dead
OK, it doesn’t look very breezy in print, but hey, it’s only a song about how hot a girl is. And that’s what pop’s all about.