CD Project Thing #10 - Ash, pt. 1
Ash - "Trailer"
Have you ever noticed how easy it seems for teenage bands to make it pretty big in the UK? Here, if it ever happens, it's just a novelty act (see Hanson). In the UK, though, I can think of tons of examples of bands of high schoolers that made an impact on the music scene.
What's my point? Well, Ash were one of those bands. They were just about 17 when this, their first album (although it was only an EP in the UK) came out, and like many first albums by teenagers it's a little inconsistant (which wasn't helped by the 4 b-sides tacked on the end). It has some really great singles, though (Jack Names THe Planets, Petrol, Uncle Pat), and a cover of a song by the excellent Helen Love (who you'll hear plenty more about in a few months). Plus, I think it's their only US album so far that didn't result in them getting dropped or their label going out of buisness, that's always a plus!
Ash - "1977"
This was Ash's big breakthrough in the UK (and I think it did a bit here, too). Some of the non-singles are perhaps a bit too much like filler, but with singles like "Goldfinger", "Oh Yeah", "Kung Fu" and "Girl From Mars" that can be excused.
Ash - "Live At The Wireless" (UK Import)
A 10-track live album from a performance done on Australian radio. It's made up mostly of tracks from "1977" (mostly done a little more aggressively), along with a Ween cover and a strange little song that (I presume) served as a commercial for the show. I don't really think it's the most essential album ever, but it's entertaining and different enough that it's worth having.
Ash - "Nu-Clear Sounds"
For the life of me, I don't get why this album bombed like it did. Sure, it's no "1977 pt. 2" (it's a more varied album, with a lot of songs a little more subtle than "1977", but it also has "Numbskull", possibly their heaviest song ever), but it's still a great, overlooked album. Oh well.
It was also their first album with new second guitarist and background vocalist Charlotte. She just recently left the band. It's sad.
The American version of this album is a little strange. Dreamworks seems to have thought that having Butch Vig remix three songs so they better fit the American market or something (whatever that means) would be a big selling point, so they put those three songs first on the album and put a sticker on the front promoting that fact. I'm guessing that it didn't work. On the plus side, though, they did tack on the soundtrack single "A Life Less Ordinary", one of my very favorite Ash songs. Good job, Dreamworks!
Ash - "Got A Beautiful Face...Got A Fucked Up Inside"
A 5-track US promo (name taken from the chorus to "Numbskull"), it features 2 original b-sides (both later to appear on the b-sides cd) and 3 covers (2 of which did not). If I could sell it, it's possible I'd consider it, but I couldn't make any money off it, and I do kinda like the covers, so it's all good.
Ash - "Free All Angels" (with bonus DVD)
Apparently Ash were down to their last 1000 pounds nat the time this album came out, so they seemingly decided to just do the most poppy, mainstream album they possibly could (with lots of strings, too), and out came "Free All Angels". Their plan worked, since it was a huge UK hit (and even did a bit over here, at least until their record label went out of business). This is probably the best Ash album - even most of the non-singles sound like they could be singles, and some of the actual singles are among the best pop songs I can think of. Hopefully Ash saved their money a bit better this time, eh?
Ash - "Session Acoustique Inedite" (French Import)
"Free All Angels" came out at the height of my collector days. When you take into account the fact that they put out a LOT of related things, and that they were all pretty cheap, things got a bit out of control. At one point, I had 2 copies of the album, 12 CD Singles, 4 EPs, 4 DVD singles and a full-length DVD, all from the "Free All Angels" era. I later came to my senses a bit, so a lot of that is long gone, but this 2 track EP isn't. It's a promo that came with some copies of the album in France with acoustic versions of "Shining Light" and "Burn Baby Burn" and it's quite nice. However, it might soon be gone, too - when I was recently doing a bit of research on this, I learned that the album had been \nreissued in France with a 12 song bonus disc, including both these songs, and that it could now be had fairly cheaply. 12 songs is better than 2, so if I can get that, this will go on the sale pile...
Have you ever noticed how easy it seems for teenage bands to make it pretty big in the UK? Here, if it ever happens, it's just a novelty act (see Hanson). In the UK, though, I can think of tons of examples of bands of high schoolers that made an impact on the music scene.
What's my point? Well, Ash were one of those bands. They were just about 17 when this, their first album (although it was only an EP in the UK) came out, and like many first albums by teenagers it's a little inconsistant (which wasn't helped by the 4 b-sides tacked on the end). It has some really great singles, though (Jack Names THe Planets, Petrol, Uncle Pat), and a cover of a song by the excellent Helen Love (who you'll hear plenty more about in a few months). Plus, I think it's their only US album so far that didn't result in them getting dropped or their label going out of buisness, that's always a plus!
Ash - "1977"
This was Ash's big breakthrough in the UK (and I think it did a bit here, too). Some of the non-singles are perhaps a bit too much like filler, but with singles like "Goldfinger", "Oh Yeah", "Kung Fu" and "Girl From Mars" that can be excused.
Ash - "Live At The Wireless" (UK Import)
A 10-track live album from a performance done on Australian radio. It's made up mostly of tracks from "1977" (mostly done a little more aggressively), along with a Ween cover and a strange little song that (I presume) served as a commercial for the show. I don't really think it's the most essential album ever, but it's entertaining and different enough that it's worth having.
Ash - "Nu-Clear Sounds"
For the life of me, I don't get why this album bombed like it did. Sure, it's no "1977 pt. 2" (it's a more varied album, with a lot of songs a little more subtle than "1977", but it also has "Numbskull", possibly their heaviest song ever), but it's still a great, overlooked album. Oh well.
It was also their first album with new second guitarist and background vocalist Charlotte. She just recently left the band. It's sad.
The American version of this album is a little strange. Dreamworks seems to have thought that having Butch Vig remix three songs so they better fit the American market or something (whatever that means) would be a big selling point, so they put those three songs first on the album and put a sticker on the front promoting that fact. I'm guessing that it didn't work. On the plus side, though, they did tack on the soundtrack single "A Life Less Ordinary", one of my very favorite Ash songs. Good job, Dreamworks!
Ash - "Got A Beautiful Face...Got A Fucked Up Inside"
A 5-track US promo (name taken from the chorus to "Numbskull"), it features 2 original b-sides (both later to appear on the b-sides cd) and 3 covers (2 of which did not). If I could sell it, it's possible I'd consider it, but I couldn't make any money off it, and I do kinda like the covers, so it's all good.
Ash - "Free All Angels" (with bonus DVD)
Apparently Ash were down to their last 1000 pounds nat the time this album came out, so they seemingly decided to just do the most poppy, mainstream album they possibly could (with lots of strings, too), and out came "Free All Angels". Their plan worked, since it was a huge UK hit (and even did a bit over here, at least until their record label went out of business). This is probably the best Ash album - even most of the non-singles sound like they could be singles, and some of the actual singles are among the best pop songs I can think of. Hopefully Ash saved their money a bit better this time, eh?
Ash - "Session Acoustique Inedite" (French Import)
"Free All Angels" came out at the height of my collector days. When you take into account the fact that they put out a LOT of related things, and that they were all pretty cheap, things got a bit out of control. At one point, I had 2 copies of the album, 12 CD Singles, 4 EPs, 4 DVD singles and a full-length DVD, all from the "Free All Angels" era. I later came to my senses a bit, so a lot of that is long gone, but this 2 track EP isn't. It's a promo that came with some copies of the album in France with acoustic versions of "Shining Light" and "Burn Baby Burn" and it's quite nice. However, it might soon be gone, too - when I was recently doing a bit of research on this, I learned that the album had been \nreissued in France with a 12 song bonus disc, including both these songs, and that it could now be had fairly cheaply. 12 songs is better than 2, so if I can get that, this will go on the sale pile...
posted by Adam at 10:33 AM
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