(Translated from my original Italian text by ChatGPT and Piero Scaruffi)
The Irish band Ash, led by the very young Tim Wheeler (eighteen in 1995) and bassist Mark Hamilton, deliver an exuberant punk-pop in the style of their idols, the Undertones (who were also Irish).
The mini-album Trailer (Infectious, 1994) collects their first hits: Jack Names The Planets (Lalaland, 1994), Petrol (Infectious, 1994), and Uncle Pat (Infectious, 1994). Their sound is the Brit-pop that was spreading across the main island, and the publicity campaign is typical of the ephemeral "next big thing" phenomenon.
Success came, however, with the next batch of singles: Kung Fu (Infectious, 1995), Girl From Mars (Infectious, 1995), and Angel Interceptor (Infectious, 1995), along with the album containing them, 1977 (Fantastic Plastic, 1996), titled after Wheelers birth year, which also produced Goldfinger and Oh Yeah, each more banal than the last.
With the addition of second guitarist Charlotte Hatherley, they released A Life Less Ordinary (Infectious, 1997) and Jesus Says (Infectious, 1997). The new, highly anticipated (though only by the more foolish English press) Nu-Clear Sounds (Infectious, 1998) at least has the merit of presenting a band that can play and that discovered grunge (unfortunately in a soporific form, as shown by a couple of power ballads, Low Ebb and Aphrodite). It sold much less because it didnt have the excuse of collecting three or four hit songs, even though Wild Surf and Numbskull try, while Death Trip 21 and Projects are actually good rock and roll. In short, with great effort Ash managed to achieve what thousands of humble Texan or Californian bands, about which the English press will never write, never did.
(Original English text by Piero Scaruffi)
Whatever was appealing of Ash's sprightly pop at the beginning sounds merely
tedious on Free All Angels (Infectious, 2001).
Without a cute sample, a tune like Candy would be a mere cliche`.
Shining Light is the song to save.
Meltdown (Infectious, 2004 - Record Collection, 2005) is conventional
grunge-pop for the masses, highlighted by the
exuberant, no-frills, pop-punk of Clones, Detonator and Orpheus.
Twilight Of The Innocents (2007), that did not significantly change
their formula, was announced as their last album.
