You're all I have in this teenage twilight

Continuing my trip back through the 2001 album charts.

29/04/01 : Free All Angels - Ash


I liked the singles off Ash's debut album, so quite obviously bought their second album - which was a mistake because I didn't really like any of it. So I never checked this out - here's hoping it's an improvement. 

Hmmm. From what I remember, I think it is - but I can't say I loved it. I remembered "Shining Light" and "Burn Baby Burn" so they did stand out for me, but I couldn't say whether that was due to familiarity or quality. The rest of it was a bit nondescript on first listen, with the exception of noting that Tim Wheeler really can't sing particularly well on any of the tracks. This isn't one I'll be revisiting, but I can see its rough-and-readyness has its fans.

We're at a somewhat surprising #1 with a new entry in the chart this week on the start of a surprisingly long 28 week run. The rest of the top five were Janet Jackson (another new entry - I suspect I'd prefer Ash to this), Stereophonics, Dido and Feeder (yet another new entry - I suspect I'd prefer this to Ash) and the next highest new entry was Fear Factory (#24) who I don't remember in the slightest, but given they're an American industrial metal band, that's probably not so surprising.

Wikipedia has considerably more text on the album than I was expecting (229 milliPeppers) and it tells us it's their third album. Apparently the "mixed" reception of their second album resulted in Tim Wheeler suffering from depression for 18 months and he moved home with his folks to write the songs for this one - but there's remarkably little else of interest there to anyone who's not fascinated by the details of the creative or recording process. Critically, it was pretty well received with a general view that it was a return to form of their debut and commercially it did well in Ireland, getting to #2 - it also made the top forty in various European countries. 

discogs.com tells us this another fifty pence album but the original vinyl pressing appears to be very sought after, with copies going for up to £180. Which feels somewhat excessive to me, but I can imagine this holds fond memories for some who were slightly younger than me in '01 - hard to believe, but such people do exist.

06/05/01 - Cheer up, mate!

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