Free All Angels

by

Ash

Free All Angels is the third studio album to be recorded by Northern Irish rock band Ash. It was released on 23 April 2001 through Infectious Records and Home Grown. Due to the mixed reaction to the band's second studio album Nu-Clear Sounds (1998), frontman Tim Wheeler suffered from depression. He went to his parents' house in Northern Ireland to write material for the band's next album. Free All Angels was co-produced by the band and Owen Morris, and recording sessions were held at El Cortijo in Puerto Banús, Spain, then moved to The Wool Hall in Beckington and RAK Studios in London. The album was described as pop punk, power pop and punk rock, and drew comparisons to the works of China Drum, Compulsion, Hüsker Dü, and the Replacements.

Following a three-month United Kingdom tour in late 2000, "Shining Light" was released as the album's lead single in January 2001. The second single "Burn Baby Burn" followed in April, before the album's release. Ash performed concert tours of the UK and Europe, after which "Sometimes" was released as the third single in July. The album's fourth single "Candy" was released in October, and was followed by tours of the United States, Japan, Australia, and the UK. "There's a Star" and "Walking Barefoot" were released as the final two singles, in late 2001 and 2002, respectively. Further tours of Europe and the US were performed later in 2002, alongside appearances at the Reading and Leeds Festivals.

Free All Angels received generally positive reviews from music critics, some of whom commented on Wheeler's guitarwork. The album peaked at number one in the UK and at number two in Ireland, and also reached the top 40 in Austria, Germany, New Zealand, and Norway. Free All Angels was certified platinum in the UK. All of the album's singles charted in the UK and Ireland, and "Shining Light" reached the UK top 10. Q and Under the Radar included the album on its lists of the best releases of 2001. "Shining Light" won an Ivor Novello Award for songwriting and "Burn Baby Burn" was named NME Single of the Year.