Ash - A-Z Volume 2 - NEW ALBUM!!! 2010

Artist: Ash
Title: A-Z: Volume Two
Label: Atomic Heart Records
Genre: Rock
Bitrate: 205kbit av.
Time: 01:09:57
Size: 108.73 mb
Rip Date: 2010-10-09
Str Date: 2010-10-11

01. Dare To Dream 5:06
02. Mind Control 2:52
03. Insects 3:49
04. Binary 4:05
05. Physical World 2:49
06. Spheres 6:07
07. Instincts 3:51
08. Summer Snow 3:30
09. Carnal Love 4:00
10. Embers 4:19
11. Change Your Name 3:20
12. Sky Burial 10:17
13. There Is Hope Again 3:47
14. Teenage Wildlife 6:02
15. Spellbound 3:19
16. Nightfall 2:44

Release Notes:

With a name perfect for writing on pencil cases, Ash embraced their own
adolescence in 1996 with the exuberant breakthrough album 1977, named
after lead singer Tim WheelerÆs year of birth. It succeeded in two
ways: it sold well and reclaimed rock for the kids. Free All Angels,
their third album, rescued a second album dip by beating Janet Jackson
to number one in 2001. But have they now, like the now-defunct
Supergrass, outgrown their selling point?

This is the second collection of singles (following Volume 1Æs A-M)
originally released fortnightly throughout 2010, to the shrugging
indifference of the top 40, if it still exists. It is their embrace of
the digital age onà well, CD, and plays to their strengths as a singles
band.

To write a hit single once a fortnight is challenging, and occasionally
such prolific song-writing is their undoing. InsectÆs string of rhymes
lacks emotional punch and plods in a way singles really shouldnÆt. You
could argue the band misses the female touch (Charlotte Hatherley left
for solo pastures in 2006), that they are trying too hard, and that
this album sometimes feels like a project for the band rather than the
listeners. But the energy that sometimes outstrips their skill
illustrates that they remain young at heart.

The US college punk of Mind Control and the anthemic Binary prove they
have not lost their grip on a good song, as does Change Your Name
("Rise up / youÆll get stronger"), which will appeal to Oasis fans, as
will the æself-help to thrash guitarsÆ of Summer Snow, which has a solo
screaming to be played while swinging on ropes above an audience. It is
a shame that Carnal LoveÆs melodies are let down by a poor, whiney
vocal and banal lines such as "IÆm addicted to your sweet stuff". But
the electronics-laced There Is Hope Again points the way to their
future in more ways than one.

Their days of beating Janet Jackson to number one may have passed, but
there is apparently plenty of what led them there left in the tank.