Free All Angels [ECD] - Ash

...the potential consumer. Free All Angels is the third album from Ash and it does not fail in pleasing me. Released on the back of the success of their first album Trailer and their second 1977 with the mediocre reception of the third a few years back it has to be almost as good as 1977 (in my view their best album) and this is why. At the £11.99 that I paid for it, it is great value for money. ~ History ~ I have no information on when the band was ...
...mini-album that consisted of 7 tracks (with two interludes) at a length of about 24 minutes, called Trailer it was released in 1994. The band released their second album in 1996 called 1977, in 1998 they released their third album called Nu-Clear Sounds and this album is their forth. The four-piece band usually produces memorable material and is known for there clean but rocker type look. ~ The Tracks and features ~ The version of the album that ...

eljimbob 18.06.2001 (31.01.2002) · Read full review
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Review of Free All Angels [ECD] - Ash

There’s one word to describe this album – wow! From the opening bars to the CD stops spinning, it is just pure class. It marks a return to the poppier days of sounds like 1977 after the heavier Nu Clear Sounds album, but it still manages to retain some of the heavier nature of that album. It’s almost like it’s taken the best parts of both albums and combined them to make a super album. Ash have always been renowned for the ...
...themselves. Every song on this album would stand as a single, this album sounds like a greatest hits album from a group who aren’t even 25 yet. It’s been three years coming but once you hear it you’ll appreciate the wait. A lot of the songs where previewed at the club tour at the end of 2000, and the songs not only sound great on record, they are also amazing live, the passion and essence of the sound really coming to the fore. ...

hugon 26.04.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Free All Angels [ECD] - Ash

Ash are a four-piece band from Northern Ireland, led by singer, song-writer Tim Wheeler. I have been a huge fan of Ash, ever since I heard their earlier song ‘Girl From Mars.’ I have all their albums and ‘Free All Angels’ is my favourite. It is actually my favourite album by ANYONE!!! I was given it as a present last year and have played it to death ever since. Although Ash are reknowned for their ‘Thrashy’ material, there are a couple of songs on ...
...well as the ‘sing-a-long’ tracks that make Ash what they are. >>>>TRACKS<<<< 1. Walking Barefoot The first track on the album starts off quite slowly. The familiar guitars began to get heavier, before we are launched into classic ‘Ash.’ Walking Barefoot is a song you can happily bang your head about to, while singing the lyrics at the top of your voice. An excellent choice to kick off the album, as it leaves us with a taste of what’s to come. ...

gearysgirl 03.11.2002 · Read full review
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Review of Free All Angels [ECD] - Ash

Ash's image as precocious teenagers has been a hard one to dispel. While they now inhabit that confusing early twenties phase their tunes consistently contain adolescent overtures. There is nothing wrong with this of course, it's just that an album of sugar sweet pop can sometimes grate. Perhaps the biggest hurdle Ash have to overcome is the suspicion that many of their best tunes are quite throwaway. They tend to be pleasing on the ear for an initial ...
...is their straightforward approach to songwriting. The effect is legions of admirers but a distinct lack of huge numbers of devoted followers. Take 'Shining Light' for example. A superb, buoyant pop song with a crystal clear chorus and several notable guitar moments. What more could you ask for, you might ask? Well, for one, in order for music to endure it must reach the parts other tunes don't. While not completely formulaic, Ash's music largely ...

indiecater 17.02.2003 · Read full review
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Review of Free All Angels [ECD] - Ash

Ash have long been know as a great band producing sings with a song writing ability in the form of front man Tim Wheeler for producing get up and go pop-rock anthems. This is the third full album from Northern Ireland band Ash, after a promising mini album ‘Trailer’, the stunning ‘1977’ and the less well received ‘Nu-Clear Sounds’ they have come back from a small break to clear heads and minds, and return with a fine album full of pop tunes. Ash ...
...school as old mates. Founding members Tim Wheeler (guitars/vocals/songwriter), Mark Hamilton (bass) and Rick McMurry (drums) were joined by Charlotte Hatherley (guitars) for this album, and the previous one. They emerged in 1994, and managed to ride the waves of Britpop and still keep going. Most people would agree that ‘1977’ was their best effort to date before this album, but the critical and popular success that ‘Free all Angels’ has brought ...

Padds 22.07.2003 · Read full review
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Review of Free All Angels [ECD] - Ash

...heard the first track of Free All Angels I knew this was an album that was going to see as much of the insides of my cd player as 1977. One listen had me hooked, and just to see this fantastics album hit the top spot on its first week of release renewed my faith in music, which had previously been dashed by the likes of ummm...you probably know who I mean. Ash are an Indie band with an energetic cheeriness about them, and the lead singer Tim Wheeler ...
...not quite to the extent of a certain Mr. Yorke(who, let's face it, rips out his soul and shoves it into the microphone). Their versatility and variety is refreshing, some tracks are reminiscient of the shouting and screaming of the manics, but never put singing a beautfiul ballad past them either. Every song they produce makes you want to sing along, and even sometimes dance, there just seesm to be a little bit of everything in their music, and again ...

arcadionseyes 14.05.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Free All Angels [ECD] - Ash

...you through the latest release, FREE ALL ANGELS. WALKING BAREFOOT has all the hallmarks of a traditional Ash track, heavy guitars and tortured vocals. It is about a love affair, and if I close my eyes I can picture the story in my head, and that is the sign of good strong lyrics. It is a great start to the CD as it has enough pace to make you sit up and listen, and it makes you wonder can the CD get any better than this. SHINING LIGHT was the debut ...
...in my opinion rightly so. Whoever this song was written about certainly had a profound effect on the writer, as the way they express their emotions are poetic. This is a modern day love song, and proves that love can be expressed in songs which are not the same old ballad types that we seem to hear so often. BURN BABY BURN is by far the stand out track on the CD. It is an uplifting song with a catchy chorus, and it is song which shows the group have ...

nicanddarrell 28.01.2003 · Read full review
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Review of Free All Angels [ECD] - Ash

Way back in 1989 two 12 year old boys from Dublin get given there first Guitars and go on to form a band called Vietnam specialising in dodgy Heavy Metal Covers. Then when they were 15 years old they asked a guy in the year above them if he wanted to join their band. And thus Ash were formed and moved away from Heavy Metal covers to concentrate on their own material. Fast forward to 2001 and Ash are now a four piece with three previous studio albums ...
...friendly album, which did well in both the album charts and the single charts. The band consist of: Tim Wheeler - Guitar, Vocals Mark Hamilton - Bass Rick McMurray - Drums Charlotte Hatherley - Guitar, Vocals. Now I have to admit I’m not a big Ash fan apart from Girl from Mars and A Life Less Ordinary I hadn’t really bothered with Ash. So it was very reluctantly that I bought this album after a mate of mine told me it was alright. Anyway I’ll ...

Andy.mack 15.02.2003 · Read full review
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Review of Free All Angels [ECD] - Ash

The latest album from Ash is more 'pop friendly' than their last albums. Although it isn't as heavy as 1977, it still had its moments. Being the first Ash album I've bought purely because I enjoyed the singles because they were poppy and usually prefering more rocky songs, this album isn't really that full of them. 1.Walking Barefoot - a good pop rock track which is a summer love song. 2.Shining Light - nice guitar intro, nice chorus, again a poppy ...
...Burn - this is one of the better tracks, proper Ash. Again it is chart friendly but the lyrics are good and is a great mosh song, oh and there is a great air guitar and drum bit in the middle. Yeah! 4.Candy - Bleurgh! OK, so the songs alright but its really quite sickly - like the tracks title! A slower number with strings that don't quite go with the rest of the song. 5.Cherry Bomb - Yeah! This is good A good rock record, can imagine Shirley Manson ...

mandymoo 21.02.2002 · Read full review
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Review of Free All Angels [ECD] - Ash

What can i say... this album is packed full of Ash goodness. They've released 4 albums, and this is a round up of the best tracks of those 4. Tim Wheeler is a fabulous song writer and guitarist, the songs he writes are catchy, and good quality. Some bands nowadays release such rubbish, unfortunately some people still like it. But if you want well written rock/pop songs, both lyrically and musically, head straight for this album! Ash have been around ...
...getting better and better. Here is a round up of the tracks on the album: BURN BABY BURN What a track! Very catchy, quality tune. "burn baby burn!" Ash really slam it out, and get into it. Nothing bad about this song, great bass line. One of their best ever.***** ENVY This track is only on this album. It's pretty good, good rock song, but the lyrics lack quality a little. The chorus is basically "Envy, envy, e-e-e-e-envy!" and then repeats. ...

jennykellett 06.02.2003 · Read full review
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Review of Free All Angels [ECD] - Ash

Oh how the music scene in Britain today depresses me. The charts seem totally dominated by the artificial, talentless pop groups such as Steps and Westlife or the likes or Dance, trance, Garage or whatever fancy name you want to give to the same beat repeated over and over. However from all of this trash you find the odd nugget of gold. And one such nugget is Ash's latest album - ‘Free All Angels'. Ash are a four piece band who have been around ...
...Tim Wheeler - Guitar and vocals, Mark Hamilton - Bass, Rick McMurray - drums and the rather good looking Charlotte Hatherley - Guitar and vocals. Before the recent release of the single ‘Shining Light' I had not really paid them much attention but after listening to and liking both of their recent single releases I decided to buy the album. What a good buy it was too. ‘Free All Angels' contains 13 tracks which I shall run through quickly. ...

piffles 06.05.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Free All Angels [ECD] - Ash

‘Free All Angels’ is my second Ash album I have brought, and although it is not as loud as ‘Nu-clear Sounds’ it is still full of quality from start to finish I loved ‘Nu-clear Sounds’ and you can still hear some of the feel of that album in this, so don’t be put off if you enjoyed that, as some tracks are not dissimilar. ‘Free All Angels’ mixes it well and is just as good for Ash fans. The lyrics ...
...them properly, and there is a good selection of loud tracks such as ‘Shark, ‘Cherry Bomb’ and quieter, but just as good ‘Someday and ‘Candy. A very good album, and I have heard they are awesome in concerts, so go along if you have the chance. 1 – Walking Barefoot – 4.13 A great opening track with great guitars, good general tune and meaningful lyrics that are well sung. Looking back over the summer’s ...

Chris_Padden 18.08.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Free All Angels [ECD] - Ash

...But does the formula on Free All Angels work? Isn’t summer great? Oh Yeah! was released on mid-summers day 1996 and what a classic that was. The opening track on FAA is another summer track, but Walking Barefoot isn’t exactly Oh Yeah! Mk II. Oh, no! it’s much better than that. It is quite simply gorgeous pop music and Charlotte Hatherly’s lead guitar is to die for. The opening of this album couldn’t be any more promising. ...
...of Girl From Mars and Uncle Pat, not the screaming, self-mutilating Ash of Nu-Clear Sounds. A good demonstration of this is the top-ten single Shining Light. So far it’s the single of the year, emotional and inspirational. The line "We made a connection / A photochemical reaction" is excellent and it must be the only love song to mention a photochemical reaction. I was disappointed with Burn Baby Burn when I first heard it. The problem with ...

kfingleton 27.04.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Free All Angels [ECD] - Ash

...the near perfection that is Free All Angels. The album opens with Walking Barefoot, an optimistic sunshine song about reminiscing and moving on, with a classic Ash sound. Shining Light follows and we are given the first glimpse of the new Ash sound as we're treated to a light electro sound with the odd crashing guitar moment. Burn Baby Burn storms in for another classic Ash punk rock tune. Then onto the symphonic pop sound of Candy - a theme tune ...
...of singletons everywhere with the words "don't you know it's alright to be alone, you can make on your own." The opening chords of Cherry Bomb scream punk. "She's a bullet in my head, pull the trigger and I'm dead" sings Tim. The theme continues in Submission, a dark punk rock track. We then move the tempo down a little for Someday, another reminiscing/looking to the future song although a little sadder sounding than the opening track. But not staying ...

vmb1 05.02.2003 · Read full review
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Review of Free All Angels [ECD] - Ash

Free All Angels is the latest album by ash, band with members still in their early twenties and a knack for great guitar pop. After a very diverse last album this is more of a return to 1977 territory with more distorted guitar driven anthems. Heres a track by track breakdown. 1-Walking Barefoot Starting with a simple guityar melody backed over by Wheelers vocals it isn't too long before the song erupts into a rock. The breezy guitar hook is there ...
...It's a good start to the album. 2-Shining Light This is the first single and perosnally I think it's one of the bands best songs so far. Lyrically it'svery solid and it's one of the songs that doesn't resort to distortion with a very catchy chorus. Musically it's a real progression. 3-Burn Baby Burn Origianlly titled 'Slow Suicide', This is the second single and it's one of the best tracks. It moves along quickly with a very anthemic chorus singing ...

utero 24.04.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Free All Angels [ECD] - Ash