2012 is shaping up to be a very special year indeed for the Finglas/Ballymun legends, what with the 30th anniversary celebrations, the upcoming film/documentary, Please Don’t Stop, not to mention that much anticipated live extravaganza taking place at Tallaght Stadium on the last day of June. Now, there’s another reason to be cheerful for the hordes of the faithful who have stuck with them through thick and thin: the first new batch of songs from Aslan since 2007’s For Some Strange Reason.
Happily the songs are among the best they’ve done in years and up there with classics such as ‘Crazy World’ and ‘This Is’ in the quality stakes. Nudie Books And Frenchies (the title of which will need little explanation to blokes who were teenagers in Dublin during the ‘70s and ‘80s) finds Christy Dignam & Co. in a nostalgic, contemplative mood, looking back on past glories with pride and a few regrets along the way.
Setting the scene for what follows, ‘Frank’s Van’ the anthemic opener (with an acoustic intro inspired by their long-popular cover of Pink Floyd’s ‘Wish You Were Here’) combines late period Beatles and Bowie in equal measure, with a glorious chorus and a guitar solo straight out of the Mick Ronson school of rock theatrics. “Now I’m starting to remember all the days when I was younger,” proclaims Christy Dignam over a soaring melody, adding the cautionary lines… “and trying to make sense of what I did in anger.”
Much of the rest of this ten-song collection is in a similarly rousing vein, with ‘We Will Rise’ and ‘We Did‘, in particular, destined to be lighter-waving, live show-stoppers. Likewise with the terrific, ‘Once Upon A Time The End’, where over a lo-fi piano Dignam calls up the spirit of John Lennon before the band ignites, transforming this passionate, bittersweet ballad into the absolute highlight. Elsewhere, the jerky guitar and Hall & Oates rhythms at the start of ‘That’s Just The Way It Is’ mark a slight departure from the template, while minor key gems such as ‘Wake Up Call’ and ‘Fall Down’ finds the band in a late ‘60s British psychedelia frame of mind, evoking the sounds and textures of the likes of The Zombies and The Move. The lion is still roaring. Aslan are back.