Free All Angels

After doing some soundtrack work with "A Life Less Ordinary" for the 1997 movie of the same name, guitarist Charlotte Hatherley joined Ash.[1] The band then released their second studio album Nu-Clear Sounds (1998); its heavier guitarwork received mixed reviews from music critics.[1][2] Its United States release came nearly a full year after its initial UK release, causing the band to pause plans for their next album, and tour Nu-Clear Sounds in the US instead.[3] The A&R person at their American label DreamWorks Records left his position; their United States tour was shortened to three shows.[4] Frontman Tim Wheeler fell into a state of depression, which lasted for 18 months.[1] He yearned for a return to a pop writing style, as seen on their debut studio album 1977 (1996), for their next album as he felt they hadn't leaned towards it enough with Nu-Clear Sounds.[5]

To avoid writer's block, which had plagued the making of Nu-Clear Sounds, he moved back to his parents' house in Northern Ireland, and set up in the garage.[6] He eventually got into the practice of writing a song every day; he explained that the constant writing elevated the pressure of needing every song he wrote to be "a 'great' song or a hit".[6] Wheeler was listening to the Beach Boys, Weezer, Van Morrison, Leonard Cohen, and Bob Dylan, writing for a period of 6 months.[6] In January 2000, drummer Rick McMurray said the band had 14 new songs.[7] At the end of the month, the band played three new songs during a special show for the NME; two months later, the band debuted almost 20 new tracks, included two that Hatherley sung lead vocals on.[8][9] The band appeared at The Lost Weekend festival in July, and were reportedly entering a studio in the coming months.[10]

Ash met up and rehearsed material at Fortress Studios in London.[6] The band was stuck in a financial situation as they had spent most of the money they earned from 1977 on a documentary, and were reportedly £1,000 away from bankruptcy.[11][12] Their label Infectious Records wasn't supportive of the song choices that the band had made, and that "Shining Light" wouldn't be a hit.[11] Recording sessions were held at El Cortijo in Puerto Banús, Spain, before moving to The Wool Hall in Beckington, and RAK Studios in London; the band self-funded the sessions.[11][13] The sessions were done completely using the Pro Tools software, in contrast to Nu-Clear Sounds, which was a mix of Pro Tools and tape.[6]

Wheeler explained some of the recording performances came across as "a little bit rigid" as they were "testing the editing powers of Pro Tools a bit too much."[6] According to the band, Owen Morris spent more time editing the drums on a computer, than they had spent recording the album.[14] Morris and the band co-produced the proceedings; they were assisted by Raj Das, James Brown Geronimo, and Naughty Laughty.[13] "World Domination" was the last track done for the album, recorded live in-the-studio, to which Morris remarked: "We should have done the whole record live!"[15][16] Recording was complete by October 2000; Alan Moulder mixed the recordings, which were then mastered by Mike Marsh.[17][13]

Musically, the sound of Free All Angels has been described as pop punk, punk rock,[18] and power pop,[19] drawing comparisons to China Drum, Compulsion, Hüsker Dü, and the Replacements.[20] Discussing the album title, Wheeler said it was a "Hell's Angels saying".[21] Wheeler wrote the music for all of the songs, except for "Submission" (which he co-wrote with McMurray), and "Nicole" (which he co-wrote with bassist Mark Hamilton). Similarly, Wheeler wrote the lyrics for all of the songs, except for "Submission" (which was solely written by McMurray), "Shark" (which was co-written between Hamilton and Hatherley), and "Nicole" (which Wheeler co-wrote with Hamilton). Wheeler and Oli Kraus arranged strings on some of the tracks.[13]

"Walking Barefoot" apes the Undertones; it talks about enjoying a happy moment before it ends.[1][20] Two power pop tracks follow it: "Burn Baby Burn", which tackles the slow demise of a relationship, and "Shining Light", with an opening guitar part that recalled "The Milkman of Human Kindness" (1983) by Billy Bragg.[1][22][23] "Burn Baby Burn" was initially called "Slow Suicide", which their label disliked, before being changed to its final title at the suggestion of their agent.[11] The song had its origins in the Nu-Clear Sounds sessions; the chorus was reworked when the band were at Fortress.[24] Wheeler came up with the guitar line for "Shining Light" by playing "Fortune Teller", a track from Nu-Clear Sounds, and adding an extra part.[25] "Candy" sees Wheeler's vocals being backed by orchestral strings and a drum machine; the strings are sampled from "Make It Easy on Yourself" (1965) by the Walker Brothers.[13][26] The band re-wrote the song four times before they were finally satisfied with it.[27]

"Cherry Bomb" was done in the style of "Girl from Mars", a track from 1977.[28] It was another song leftover from the Nu-Clear Sounds sessions, beginning as an acoustic ballad about Wheeler's brother.[29] Hamilton said the bass part and drum intro were an attempt to emulate Weezer, specifically their track "Tired of Sex" (1996).[11] McMurray went to a bar with Morris and Hamilton, the former had encouraged McMurray to contribute during the sessions, which he hadn't up to that point. Feeling hungover the following morning, McMurray picked up Morris' bass and came up with the music for "Submission".[30] The song is a Black Grape-esque tribute to S&M, and features the use of bongos.[1]

The orchestral-driven "Someday" talks about escapism.[1][31] "Pacific Palisades", which was reminiscent of the work of the Barracudas, includes references to Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys and Sharon Tate.[32] The song was initially planned to feature the Beach Boys' vocal samples that had been edited to fit within the track. Wheeler dubbed his vocals over them, however, when they realized they would have trouble clearing the Beach Boys' parts, they left the samples out.[11] Steve Ludwin of Little Hell contributed additional backing vocals to it.[13] "Shark" recalled the sound of Nirvana.[33]

Wheeler initially wrote "Sometimes" in a hotel in Bangkok while on tour to promote Nu-Clear Sounds. It began as a slow, sad song; after taking some time away from the song, he decided to speed it up. The track details when outside influences interfere with a relationship.[6] The song was originally close to the 1977 track "Goldfinger" in terms of sound, until Morris and Moulder made it sound closer to the work of the Smiths.[11] "Nicole" sees Wheeler sing from the perspective of a serial-killer.[1] Hamilton went to the studio, mentioning that he liked the sound of the tube train. Morris sent Hamilton to the station with a field recorder, and as a result, "Nicole" opens with the sound of the London Underground.[11][34] The mid-tempo "There's a Star" features a Rhodes piano, played by Hatherley, and is followed by the closing track "World Domination", which channels the band's earlier works.[28][35]

On 18 January 2001, Free All Angels was announced for release in three months' time.[21] "Shining Light" made available for download through the band's website for a month from Christmas Day 2000 to late January 2001.[36] The song was released as the lead single on 29 January.[37] Two CD versions were released: one with "Warmer Than Fire" and "Gabriel", and the other with "Feel No Pain", a remix of "Jesus Says", and the music video for "Shining Light".[38] The video was filmed in north London, and features Wheeler underwater, swimming towards a bright light. Towards the end of the video, the rest of the band are standing around Wheeler, who is in a hospital bed. It was directed by Mike Valentine, and is based around films such as The Big Blue (1988), and The Abyss (1989).[39]

On 17 March, the music video for "Burn Baby Burn" was released; it was filmed in a school gym in Croydon.[40][41] "Burn Baby Burn" was released as a single on 2 April.[27] Two versions were released on CD: one with live versions of "13th Floor" and "Only in Dreams", and the other with "Thinking About You", a remix of "Submission", and the "Burn Baby Burn" music video.[42][43] Free All Angels was released on 23 April 2001; The Japanese edition of the album included "Warmer Than Fire" and "Gabriel" as bonus tracks.[27][44] The music video for "Sometimes" was released on 29 June.[45] The video was filmed in Havana, Cuba; during the shoot, the vibrations from the song being played back caused a roof to collapse, resulting in several people being taken to hospital.[46]

"Sometimes" was later released as a single on 9 July.[45] Two versions were released on CD: one with "Skullfull of Sulphur", "So the Story Goes", and the music video for "Sometimes", and the other with a cover of "Teenage Kicks" (1978) by the Undertones, and a live version of "Melon Farmer".[47][48] The music video for "Candy" was released on 11 September.[49] "Candy" was released as a single on 1 October 2001.[50] Two versions were released on CD: one with "Waterfall", "Nocturne", and the music video for "Candy", and the other with "Stay in Love Forever" and "The Sweetness of Death by the Obsidian Knife".[51][52] The video album Tokyo Blitz was released in early December; it featured footage from the band's Japan tour, as well interviews and other video content.[53]

"There's a Star" was released as a single on 31 December 2001. Two versions were released on CD: one with "No Place to Hide" and "Coasting", and the other with "Here Comes the Music" and "Grey Will Fade".[38] The song's music video was filmed in Iceland during a heatwave, much to the disappointment of the band, as they hoped to make it look like Hoth from Star Wars (1977).[54] Free All Angels was released in the US on 25 June 2002, through Kinetic Records.[4] Kinetic president Steve Lau knew the band from when they were on Reprise Records a few years prior; he liked Free All Angels and signed the band to Kinetic.[55] This version included the bonus track "So the Story Goes", and a DVD with live footage and music videos.[56] "Walking Barefoot" was released as an Australian-exclusive single in 2002.[57]

"Walking Barefoot", "Shining Light", "Burn Baby Burn", "Candy", "Sometimes", and "There's a Star" were included on the band's first compilation album Intergalactic Sonic 7″s (2003).[58] "Walking Barefoot", "Shining Light", "Burn Baby Burn", and "Sometimes" were included on their second compilation album The Best of Ash (2011).[59] "Shining Light", "Burn Baby Burn", "Candy", "Sometimes", and "There's a Star" were released on 7" vinyl as part of '94–'04 The 7" Singles Box Set (2019).[60] "Walking Barefoot", "Shining Light", "Burn Baby Burn", and "Sometimes" were included on the band's third compilation album Teenage Wildlife: 25 Years of Ash (2020).[61] Free All Angels was reissued on CD through BMG in 2018.[62]

In November and December 2000, Ash embarked on a United Kingdom tour where they debuted several new tracks.[21][38] In January 2001, the band played two acoustic in-store performances.[63] Two months later, the band participated in a celebration of Belfast, Northern Ireland culture, dubbed Belfast: Are We Nearly There?.[64] In April, the band played a free show as part of the TV show Box Set.[65] Coinciding with the release of Free All Angels, Ash toured the UK, which lasted into May.[37] Later in May, the band embarked on a Europe tour, before returning to the UK to do festivals, such as Reading and Leeds, and T in the Park, and support Stereophonics for two shows.[27][66] Ash then went on tours of the US, Japan, and Australia, before returning for another UK stint in December 2001.[27][67] During one of the US shows, the band had undersold one of their shows; as an incentive, they played Free All Angels in its entirety.[68] On 31 December, the band appeared on Later... with Jools Holland, performing "Shining Light", "Burn Baby Burn" and "Sometimes".[38]

On 5 January 2002, the band performed "There's a Star" on CD:UK.[38] In February 2002, Ash went on a tour of Europe. Coinciding with this trek, a tour edition of album was released, featuring new artwork, and a second disc of B-sides, alternative versions and music videos. In March, the band appeared at the sporting event Chamjam in France, and played a few shows in the US, including an appearance at the South by Southwest music conference.[38][69] In May and June, the band performed at four US radio station festivals, and appeared at the Isle of Wight and Glastonbury festivals.[70][71][72] In July, the band toured the US with Our Lady Peace, before supporting Moby until August.[73] While in the US, the band got in a road accident in August, which resulted in McMurray cracking his rubs.[74] Despite going against his doctor's orders, McMurray played with the band at the Reading and Leeds Festivals at the end of the month.[75] To coincide with the release of The Best of Ash in 2011, the band went on a tour where they played Free All Angels in full.[2]

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	76/100[76]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[20]
Alternative Press	8/10[77]
Blender	[78]
Drowned in Sound	6/10[26]
Entertainment Weekly	B+[79]
The Guardian	[1]
NME	8/10[33]
Pitchfork	7.3/10[28]
Rolling Stone	[80]
Stylus Magazine	7.7/10[18]

Free All Angels was met with generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, the album received an average score of 76, based on 11 reviews.[76]

AllMusic reviewer Jack Rabid called Free All Angels "a happy kick, with big guitars and big attack and onrushing energy," adding that Wheeler's "sunny melodies ... come to him so unequivocally that he should have to donate the excess he wrote for this LP to some public trust."[20] The Guardian writer Betty Clarke said that Ash had "rediscovered their enthusiasm," with Wheeling having "a smile on his face." She found it to be "simply great. Sometimes introspective, a bit strange, but most of all fun, it's what being young is all about."[1] In a review for NME, Mark Beaumont wrote that the album's "charm.... [was] its complete lack of limitations, its rampant ecleticism, its raising of the indie sightline above the sleeves of ‘OK Computer’ and ‘Grace’."[33] John Aizlewood of Blender viewed it as "a further step forward", remarking that some of the songs were "as close to ’70s power-pop experts the Raspberries as they are to Nirvana".[78]

Stylus Magazine writer Nick Southall saw Free All Angels as a return-to-form, "to the wistfully melodic and adrenalised love-struck punk-rock that made them so great" in their early days. He added that, for the first time since 1977, "Ash have achieved synergy between their sweet-as-milkshake pop" and their metal and punk influences.[18] Pitchfork contributor Joe Tangari wrote that it was a "dichotomy of ideals" that made the album "a compelling listen, if a seemingly contradictory one at times." He went on further to say, it "certainly works on another level. It's a damn good pop album, with a little muscle behind its melodies to boot."[28] Drowned in Sound founder Sean Adams said that while the album had "magical moments, although they seem to bookend [it], ... [it was] not a brilliant record." He explained that it was "a record with guitar pop brilliance and songs that should have been left as b-sides."[26] In a review for Rolling Stone, David Fricke found half of the album to be "sink[ing] under sluggish ballad tempos, sour strings", while the second half "is solid chain-saw fun, some of the best '77 you'll hear in 2002."[80]

Free All Angels entered the charts at number 1 in the UK,[81] and number 2 in Ireland and Scotland.[82][83] Outside of these territories, it reached number 11 on the US Billboard Heatseekers Albums,[84] number 20 in Norway,[85] number 28 in Austria,[86] number 32 in New Zealand,[87] number 34 in Germany,[88] number 43 in Australia,[89] number 58 in Sweden,[90] and number 121 in France.[91] The album was later certified platinum in the UK.[92]

"Shining Light" charted at number 8 in the UK, and number 23 in Ireland. "Burn Baby Burn" charted at number 13 in the UK, and number 20 in Ireland. "Sometimes" charted at number 21 in the UK, and number 41 in Ireland. "Candy" charted at number 20 in the UK, and number 25 in Ireland. "There's a Star" charted at number 13 in the UK, and number 38 in Ireland.[81][82]

Q and Under the Radar listed Free All Angels as one of the best albums of 2001; Hot Press awarded the album Best Irish Album.[93][94][95] "Shining Light" won an Ivor Novello Award for songwriting, and "Burn Baby Burn" won NME Single of the Year, and was picked by Q as Single of the Year.[6][94]

Writing credits per booklet.[13]

Personnel per booklet.[13]

Citations

Sources