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You just never know. Ash, virtually unknown on this side of the pond, was about ready to get written off in 1999, with the release of NU-CLEAR SOUNDS, leaving the band members washed-up at age 22. Last year, however, they came roaring, and I do mean roaring, back with FREE ALL ANGELS, which made it onto several of the hipper Year's Best lists. FREE ALL ANGELS, is only now seeing release in the United States, with three bonus tracks added on to the original release. It's worth the wait. This bad boy is a gem.

There are echoes on FREE ALL ANGELS of three bands from the late 1970s and early 1980s that were influential without really making it. They all had major label deals, were incredibly commercial, and had mastered the ability of crafting deceptively simple pop tunes that hung from sharp little hooks. They were The Shoes, The Records, and Artful Dodger (no relation to the recently formed British upstarts of the same names). All three bands are sorely missed; Ash doesn't just fill the void left by these bands, however; it fills it and builds a fortress on top of it.

There's nothing wrong with FREE ALL ANGELS. There's no reason to buy another CD.  The vocals are damn near perfect, young with a faint, barely there, tinge of snottiness, lots of clever, instantly memorable hooks, and plenty of energy.  "Shining Light" sounds like it could have been lifted from the soundtrack of a Brat Pack movie, but the way it should sound, honest breathy pop, not watered or dumbed down. "Burn Baby Burn" is straight out of the Shoes' how-to book of song composition, breathy songs, classy guitar work, and underlying all of it a great, great song that will have you humming along by the time the second chorus rolls around; not surprisingly, it won the NME award for best single of 2001.

Any ballads? Well, one stands out on a CD full of standout tracks. "Candy" opens with a synth string rendition of Jerry Butler's "Make It Easy On Yourself," which is simply too, too cool (I had to pull over to the side of the road for a minute when I first hear it, no kidding) and builds on the riff from there. But that's not the only cool thing going on around here. "Submission" (yeah, it's about that) begins with what sounds like whale music arranged by David Essex but quickly slips into a funk/hiphop groove which Ash may have thrown in simply because they could.  "Someday," on the other hand, sounds like it may have been influenced by The Beatles' "Yesterday." A ballad that builds over a synthed orchestral backing, it is light and breathy without being wimpy, no mean feat. Similarly, "Sometimes" is the power pop equivalent of a metal ballad, building off an acoustic guitar and light vocals to a bombastic, but not overstated, chorus.  Then...we've got "Shark," which sounds like nothing more or less than Ritchie Blackmore and Rob Zombie backing up a white kid from the suburbs. For sheer shock effect, though, there's the (only) slightly tongue in cheek "Nicole" amply supported by churning power chords and again, hooks that will have you singing along, undoubtedly at inopportune times. "World Domination", kicks out the jams, so to speak, with an Amboy Dukes, "Journey to the Center of the Mind" intro before making a left turn into Iggy Pop territory, thus providing the link between Ted Nugent and The Stooges in two minutes and change.
FREE ALL ANGELS closes with two surprises "No Place To Hide," one of the bonus tracks, sounds like Billy Idol backed up by The Pretenders, and, unlikely as it sounds, it works, as does every damn track on the CD. "Coasting", one of the other of the three bonus tracks, builds off an "But It's Alright" riff into a Bob Mould chord progression that's irresistible.

FREE ALL ANGELS is one of those CDs that you'll listen to forever, with your favorite song on the CD changing every few days, depending on your mood. It's all there. These guys are so quietly dangerous that you might wake up tomorrow and find they've taken over. And you'd love it if they did.