Blue Ash
No More, No Less (Collectors’ Choice Music)Formed in 1969 amid a landscape of concept albums and elongated solos, Youngstown, Ohio, power-pop progenitors Blue Ash moved forward by reaching backward. The bar-bred quartet distilled the meatiest, beatiest aspects of the British Invasion; imported some Byrds-inspired jangle from the left coast; and delivered Blue Ash’s wares with rafter-shaking intensity. Though never attaining the commercial success of fellow Ohioans Raspberries or the cult status of Big Star, Blue Ash’s 1973 debut became a power-pop touchstone despite being out-of-print for decades. “Abracadabra (Have You Seen Her?),” the band’s would-be hit; Dylan’s “Dusty Old Fairgrounds,” worked over in the spirit of the Who’s take on “Summertime Blues”; and quieter moments “I Remember a Time” and “Just Another Game,” wherein Blue Ash evokes multidimensional forebears Moby Grape, allow No More, No Less to emerge as a glorious LP from a fully formed concern.
This article appears in December 19 • 2008.
