“The album just doesn’t feel the same as it used to. It used to be a real event, and now it’s got to the point where it gets given away with Sunday newspapers and stuff like that, which was unimaginable 10 years ago.” So said Tim Wheeler back in 2007, shortly after the release of Ash’s underselling Twilight of the Innocents.
Having declared the album format officially dead, the noisy Northern Irish trio retreated to their Atomic Heart Studios in New York and undertook to record 26 singles in a year – a new one released in digital and vinyl formats every fortnight – in response to the ever-growing download culture. A – Z Vol 1 features the fruits of the first six months of that bold experiment, thirteen disconnected new songs (lettered A-M), each one supposedly a standalone track. In other words, sensitive to the notion that not all of their fans are techno-savvy down-loaders or vinyl collectors, they’ve helpfully compiled the songs into – yes – an album.
While cynics might sneer at the notion of a new album from a no-more-albums band, this is probably the best collection of songs Ash have released in years. Unhindered by the need to create some kind of narrative or sonic theme, they’ve cut loose creatively and obviously had some fun in the studio. According to bassist Mark Hamilton, a few of these songs are “barely recognisable as Ash.”
That’s certainly not true of enjoyably retro opener ‘True Love 1980’, which is straightforward, punchy and memorably chorused Ash-by-numbers. Indeed, the somewhat samey choruses give away most of these tracks as the work of Wheeler and co. Not that that’s necessarily a complaint (Wheeler always did exceedingly good choruses). Songs like ‘The Dead Disciples’ and ‘Arcadia’ have more going on than first meets the ear. ‘Dionysian Urge’ features a brilliantly zingy guitar riff that could’ve come off 1977.
Second track ‘Joy Kicks Darkness’ (the title is a slightly twisted Jack Kerouac quote) features a martial beat, kickass guitar and some untypically maudlin lyrics: “On the wind the ashes rise/ I’ve been searching for you all of my life/ Tears are welling in my eyes/ Listen to me Daddy, you don’t need to cry.”
Originally titled ‘Survivor’, ‘Ichiban’ opens like a particularly OTT Muse number before morphing into an almost ska-ish rocker complete with “Whoa-oh!” backing vocals. A leftover from the Twilight of the Innocents sessions, ‘Pripyat’ (named after the abandoned city near Chernobyl) builds from a bossanova beat into something far more substantial (“I listen to the deafening silence/ In the beautiful lost citadel”).
With its insanely phatty opening synths, and catchy refrain of “Space shot is outta control,” the manic ‘Space Shot’ is one of the highlights. As with much of Ash’s earlier material there’s a strong sci-fi vibe running through many of the tracks. The moody ‘Song of Your Desire’ is the kind of number that might be played during a slow set in the Star Wars bar.
It’s a bit of a no-brainer buy for Ash fans, but doubters might be surprised at the sheer freshness and energy of this vibrant collection. Rock and roll on Volume 2.