Ash have been on a brilliant run of form as of late in fact, when have they not? From the last few years new albums ‘Race The Night’ and last year’s fantastic ‘Ad Astra’ what better way to carry this on than revisiting an old classic!!!! 

Well ladies and gentlemen, it’s been 30 years (how did that happen?) since Ash released their debut full-length ‘1977’ and what a brilliant revisit this is.

The 90s was a superb decade for music, for me, it still is the greatest decade, from the massive breakthrough of grunge, the Britpop boom and the emergence of the pop-punk bands from the States, “1977” blends all those sounds together to make a perfect album that has stood the test of time and is just as enjoyable now as when it was released all those years ago. Do you want distortion with massive riffs? Do you want huge singalongs? Do you want Melodies stuck in your head for days? Well, you have it all here!!!

The songs, well, they speak for themselves, you have the brilliant opening of ‘Lose Control’ followed up by two classic singles ‘Goldfinger’ and perhaps the band’s biggest anthem of all ‘, Girl From Mars’ which still never fails to make me sing along every time I hear it. 

More great singles are littered throughout the album ‘Kung Fu’, ‘Oh Yeah’ and my personal favourite song off the album ‘, Angel Interceptor’. The band was truly on fire here, none more so than the epic album closer ‘Darkside Lightside’. As an added bonus, Ash have unearthed a long-lost song called ‘Bittersweet Blue ’, which is an absolute banger which has been 30 years in the making having been written but never recorded until now. 

On this 30th anniversary, we have been treated to two different editions: on double vinyl we get the album with a second record of B-sides, which has always been another strong point of Ash. We also get the 2 CD version which the second disc is a fantastic live recording from Stabal Studios of the album in full with some more great B-sides, this captures the bands raw live sound which is always a pleasure.

Speaking of which, the band is celebrating this anniversary by taking the album out on tour, which you’ll be lucky to get a ticket for, as most of the venues have sold out, so if you are lucky enough to catch them, you are in for a treat!!! 

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Author: Christian Davies