I will never understand how Ash made it onto that list. I imagine Tim Wheeler wouldn't even rate Free All Angels as one of the best albums of the last ten years.

Posted By jan on 01 Dec 2009 11:12 AM
I will never understand how Ash made it onto that list. I imagine Tim Wheeler wouldn't even rate Free All Angels as one of the best albums of the last ten years.

It's not a bad album: those singles off it are good. But still, I can't say I've ever gone home and put on my copy of 'Free All Angels' from beginning to end, like I normally do with 'stayer' albums. That said, it was in the CLUAS top five Irish albums of the last decade, beaten by Jape, Ricer, Bell X1 and 'For The Birds' by The Frames - again, perhaps more to do with the singles on it rather than the album as a whole?

Pfft! To be fair I was equally agog at it featuring that highly in the CLUAS Irish albums of the decade. When you look at some of the albums and artists that have been left off the IT Top 20 it seems all the more bizarre to have Ash in there. Oh well it wouldn't be the first time Tony Clayton Lea left me stumped.

Posted By jan on 01 Dec 2009 02:57 PM
Pfft! To be fair I was equally agog at it featuring that highly in the CLUAS Irish albums of the decade. When you look at some of the albums and artists that have been left off the IT Top 20 it seems all the more bizarre to have Ash in there. Oh well it wouldn't be the first time Tony Clayton Lea left me stumped.

I think it merits its place in a top Irish albums list - but not one of the twenty best albums on the planet from the last decade, nor Cathy Davey's album either. They're good records with plenty to recommend on each, but such exaggerated claims for their greatness do them a disservice. 

It's a bit sad to think that there's no real big-hitting Irish album from the last decade, the way that 'Loveless' and 'Achtung Baby' were genuinely globally influential in the '90s. We've four weeks to find a world-dominating Irish record of the '00s - and if not, we'll have to make one ourselves!!!!

Posted By aidan on 02 Dec 2009 03:22 AM

We've four weeks to find a world-dominating Irish record of the '00s - and if not, we'll have to make one ourselves!!!!
 

I have access to a cowbell :D


I agree Free All Angels merits a spot in the CLUAS list, but for my money a top five positioning is flattering.

You could be forgiven for assuming that both Ash and Cathy Davey were shoehorned into the IT list just to ensure some Irish representation, but then it would seem that the process outlined by JC wouldn't allow for that. Must be the TCL factor so :)

You're spot on though, there's been a discernable lack of worldwide smashes eminating from this island over the last ten years. Aside from 'O' and the first Swell Season offering (which was really more of a soundtrack than a conventional album) I can't think of any that made an impact beyond these shores. Certainly nothing of the calibre of 'Loveless' or 'Achtung Baby'

I agree Free All Angels merits a spot in the CLUAS list, but for my money a top five positioning is flattering.

I just went back and checked the raw voting data for the CLUAS top 50 Irish albums of the decade. Free all Angels was voted for by 8 writers (out of a total of 35 who voted). And remember those votes were cast a full 8 years after the album was released, so for one in 4 writers it resonated almost a decade after it was released.

And, yes, compared to the 90s this decade has been quite limp in terms of global impact of Irish releases (BTW I'd argue one could throw in Sinead O'Connor's "I do not want..." album along with Achtung Baby & Loveless. It was nowhere near as influential but it's a robust album that IMHO implanted itself around the planet in a way no Irish album of the noughties did).

Posted By jan on 02 Dec 2009 05:22 AM

Posted By aidan on 02 Dec 2009 03:22 AM

We've four weeks to find a world-dominating Irish record of the '00s - and if not, we'll have to make one ourselves!!!!
 

I have access to a cowbell :D

A cowbell? Like at the start of 'Honky Tonk Women'? Oh yes!

I guess 'O' is indeed the only Irish album to have any impact internationally when it came out - but I don't have the impression that it's been influential. (BTW Is it true that Damien Rice is a cousin of David Arnold?)

Posted By aidan on 02 Dec 2009 03:15 PM

A cowbell? Like at the start of 'Honky Tonk Women'? Oh yes!

I guess 'O' is indeed the only Irish album to have any impact internationally when it came out - but I don't have the impression that it's been influential. (BTW Is it true that Damien Rice is a cousin of David Arnold?)

Less Stones more Wild Cherry (sound is bad but you can hear a slightly dulled cowbell around .50seconds)

'O' was infinitely more popular than it was influential, which is fairly understandable. As for the Rice/Arnold connection. By all accounts they are in fact second cousins....according to my local genealogist.