Buried Treasure
ASH, Free All Angels (Kinetic, 2001): Ash is like the Donnas in that they’ve been a band longer than they’ve been out of puberty. Starting life as a trio, the band came blasting out of Northern Ireland with 1995’s 1977, did a brief U.S. tour, and promptly joined the Supergrass/ Super Furry Animals wing of Bands Yanks Never Quite Got. They outgrew their Star Wars fixation and nearly imploded after 1998’s Nu-Clear Sounds, but instead added guitarist Charlotte Hatherley and both outlasted and transcended Brit pop with the release of Free All Angels. The album, a brisk blend of Buzzcocks-inspired pop-punk, Weezer-ish ballads, and the odd electronic effect or two, spawned a Thriller-like six singles and was named to Q magazine’s “100 Greatest Albums of All Time” list last year — the same year it was belatedly released in the States. Free All Angels contains two of the best summer anthems you’ll hear this year, or any year, in “Walking Barefoot” and “Pacific Palisades.”
Ash plays Emo’s outside Friday, May 30, with the Rocket Summer and Sound Team. Their idols the Buzzcocks play Emo’s the next night with the Applicators and Eastside Suicides.
This article appears in May 30 • 2003.