Ash - A-Z Vol. 2

Earlier this year, Ash basically gave two fingers to the music industry, deciding to release a new track every fortnight in an A-Z series, asking fans to subscribe to get the new songs as they were released. It was certainly a risk, releasing these through their own Atomic Heart Records. The upshot of this, unconsciously or not, was to force Ash to write singles that could stand alone; an approach exactly in line with the digital age, as more and more people buy up lone mp3s (essentially ‘singles’) instead of whole, packaged albums. Unfortunately, the songs in the second part of this collection are uneven in quality.

‘A-Z Vol. 2’ starts off in fine fashion with ‘Dare To Dream’, a stadium anthem if there ever was one, with thundering drums and guitars. One starts to wonder why Ash isn’t bigger in the rest of the world with a number like this. But the true star of this singles collection is single letter ‘Q’, ‘Binary’, its space age synth action making it feel like Wheeler is singing to the universe. Fabulous.

Starting with clinically-sounding spelled out letters you haven’t heard since your childhood (assuming that your childhood was somewhere in the ‘70s and ‘80s), ‘Instinct’ follows a similar formula, swirling guitars and Wheeler’s expansive lead vocals finally leading to a raucous concluding guitar line. ‘Embers’ and ‘Spheres’ are right corkers, full of piss and vinegar to suit fans whose favourite band is, say, Muse or Biffy Clyro. The guitar work in ‘Embers’ in particular would excite the Motorhead devoted. ‘Summer Snow’ is another winner, with an awfully nice rocking-out guitar solo but ending so neatly, the way you wish every rock song would.

But there are some misses. The next track, ‘Mind Control’ contains the refrain, ‘what the crap is going on?’ Not one of Ash’s better lyrics – you expect better from Tim Wheeler. Neither are the ones contained in ‘Insects’. Now, we’ve all encountered creepy crawlies (and quite possibly most recently while encamped for festivals) but this does not mean we want to listen to songs about them watching us and them crawling over our bodies. Still, the song’s chorus is actually better than the title would lead you to believe.

The title of ‘Carnal Love’ will inevitably lead to snickers, and while it’s not horrible and you can feel Wheeler’s sentiment is genuine, younger upstarts like the Crookes have better songs in this vein. ‘Change Your Name’ and ‘There is Hope Again’ feel pedestrian, and ‘Sky Burial’ as an overblown, over 10-minute instrumental is missing one of the best things about Ash songs – Wheeler’s engaging voice.

‘Physical World’ is an ode to those who are ‘lost in the digital world’; the same people the band are trying to win over with these singles series. So the real questions are, is this ‘special collection’ valid in today’s music market, and is ‘Vol. 2’ worth your money? Overlooking the collection’s minor sins, yes to the first and possibly to the second. Also note that the collection also includes three bonus tracks – a cover of David Bowie’s ‘Teenage Wildlife’ and two more new tracks, ‘Spellbound’ and Nightfall’.