** A-Z Singles Collection **

With 18 Top 40 hits, Ash are one of the most successful ‘singles bands’ of recent times, consistently bothering our charts and airwaves with their distinctive, lovable and inventive pop.

In 2007 Ash released the album Twilight Of The Innocents, bequeathed another brace of hit singles You Can’t Have It All and Polaris, before promptly announcing they would no longer release albums in a traditional way. Heralding a new approach to record releases, the ultimate singles band will now deliver the ultimate singles collection – a year long series of fortnightly single releases, with limited edition collectors vinyl.

For the past year they have been holed up in their New York HQ, Atomic Heart Studios, writing and recording a series of songs that will form the “A-Z series”. From September, each fortnight for the next twelve months, Ash will release a single on limited 7” vinyl and digital download... Commencing with ‘A’ and running through the alphabet, all 26 songs will be released on Ash’s own Atomic Heart Records and will be available through shops and by subscription through the band’s website www.ash-official.com.

To kick off this series, Ash will be releasing a Mark Hamilton penned song RETURN OF WHITE RABBIT. Fans will be able to download this song free of charge from the Ash website www.ash-official.com from May 18, and 1000 limited 7” will be made available to buy through mail order and selected independent record shops from June 8.

New single RETURN OF WHITE RABBIT sees the band throwing angular guitars over electro hooks and growling bass, in a febrile departure from their recent output. Created with resident engineer Claudius Mittendorfer, this is an urgent and liberating take on classic heart-tugging Ash, indicative of the darker electronic influence across the forthcoming A-Z songs.

The exclusive promo CD’s RETURN OF WHITE RABBIT have been artworked personally by members of the band: Rick’s pack of playing cards, Tim’s apocalyptic bunny rabbits and Mark’s day-glo stencils.

Ash will be playing two nights at the Bloomsbury Ballroom on June 6 and 7 and a number of festivals over the summer in the lead up to the launch of the A-Z series in September 2009.
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Interesting concept. As a big fan of Ash, I'm really excited to get a new song every two weeks for a year! I knew they weren't going to release anymore albums after Twilight Of The Innocents, but the new distribution model wasn't clear until today. Very psyched for this. This kind of new thinking is refreshing, and could actually be the start of something. No more waiting for a batch of songs to be dropped on you like a ton of bricks, and then wait three years for it to happen again. This has a chance to be really special. Something new is practically always going to be just around the corner! This might help combat the "download-digest-move on" mindset of today, and really stick with people. A new dawn, or another gimmick that can never work? With the amount of commitment involved, I'm willing to find out.

they announced they were doing this around the time of the last album. it is an interesting idea, and it'll be curious to see how it works.

I used to make mixtapes on this theme every month in high school.

return of the white rabbit is not good and does not bode well for the project if it's indicative of their direction.

Well it's written by the bassist. I'm not in love with it either, but I don't mind it. Do you actually like any Ash, Sickpup? Since the thing officially starts up in September, I assume this is just a taster of new music and not really a part of that set. Regardless, I'm sure there will be ups and downs and different styles attempted. It will be interesting to see if a band can write 26 sustainable single-type songs to release one after another. I just hope the experiment doesn't become more interesting than the actual music.

love Ash. probably one of the most underrated UK bands out there (at least by critics).

Nu-Clear Sounds is criminally overlooked.

So yeah, this kicked off last week with the very 80's True Love 1980. Got my subscription, $20 for 26 songs spread out over the next year. A worthy investment for sure. Joy Kicks Darkness is next up in a week. People need to get in on this, this is the type of forward thinking this industry needs.

but the problem with ash doing it without any real backing is that next to no one knows it's happening.

That's why I'm talking about it!!

They have a trailer up with song clips from the series, as well as a nifty way to subscribe here:
www.ash-official.com

weird concept for their uk tour though - playing 26 dates, one for each letter,
cheated on x though using exmouth - not exactly playing based on where the fans/ people are that way

b - bristol, birmingham, bolton, blackpool etc?
l - liverpool, london, leicester?

it doesn't help matters that both songs released so far are weak. true love made me queasy.

slightly related: Charlotte Hatherley's new album is out now on iTunes and is fantastic. Upon first listen, a lot more rock than the last one; more like "Grey Will Fade". But who knows how long that comparison will last after more listens. Ever since she left Ash, her material has been stronger than theirs...

I like both the songs that were released so far. Return of White Rabbit is catchy and shameless, like Envy. I always loved that song, and a lot of people seemed to hate it. I'd rather get the vinyl 7" of all the singles, but being in the U.S. that will get rather pricey. I still can't justify mp3 purchases for the most part unless I'm getting something extra with it, so I'll probably try to grab the songs for free while I can. I can see the band releasing all 26 songs in a compilation after the last one is released though, so if they do I'll end up buying that probably.

Charlotte's solo albums have been outstanding. The Deep Blue is underappreciated. I love the sound of that record. Very water-y sounding. It's awesome. I've been trying to import her new one, but CD-Wow.com doesn't carry it. Anyone know of any other good cheap import sites? They're the best because they have free shipping.

I don't really consider Return of White Rabbit to be a part of this, but I see your point Sickpup. Neither song really bowls me over either, but I admire them trying different things. The point of this format is that they are not locked into any particular sound or theme. Don't care for this? OK, perhaps next week will give you something to dig. Then they have 24 chances after that to give you something awesome to listen to. I doubt they forgot how to write great hooky songs. True Love 1980, if you peel away the deliberately dated 80's synths, has a true Ash chorus. Let's give this some time to unfold before declaring it a success or failure, there will definitely be songs in there you will like. Joy Kicks Darkness is out next Monday.

OK, so we are onto Letter O already in this series, Mind Control, which is hard to believe how fast this has flown by. So a bit past the halfway point, and things are looking pretty damn good for this concept. So far, we've had:

* 15 singles, released every two weeks.
* 4 bonus tracks that only subscribers have access to, with another one coming next week.
* A compilation CD of the first 13 singles A-M with four further extra tracks (plus two more on the Japanese edition).
* A digital acoustic EP.
* And a variety of remixes, though I'm not particularly interested in those as a rule.

I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed this, this sustained campaign has kept them in my mind constantly. With all the bonus stuff, there is already an alphabet's worth of songs, with plenty more coming. For the $20 subscription, plus a $5 bonus track/acoustic ep bundle, it's been more than worth it, it's practically a steal. My goal originally was to highlight each single on here, but the copy/embed code that I get from the site doesn't seem to work with the Quick Access choices on the sidebar (seems like it should be divshare). I will post the code below, if someone can make this work (and let me know how they did it), then I can keep this thread running for the duration of the series, which will end in September. People need to be aware of this!

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I broke down and subscribed because I just couldn't find the mp3s after the third one released. This series is the first set of mp3s I've ever paid for, and it's totally worth it (although I was disappointed that the CD versions were announced shortly after I subscribed). Not every song is a winner, but there have certainly been enough to make this a worthwhile project. I don't know why I'm not getting any bonus tracks in my email though. I emailed Topspin once about it and they sent me a link for the track, but I don't know if I'm doing something wrong or if I'm just never getting them. Luckily I've found them anyway, but if it happens after the next one I guess I'll just keep emailing them.

What are your favorite tracks so far?

can anyone point me to ONE great song in this collection?

i haven't heard anything worth a damn. what a waste.

Joy Kicks Darkness, Arcadia, The Dead Disciples, Ichiban, Command, Mind Control, Lay Down Your Arms just off the top of my head are great to me. I've actually liked them all to a degree, but obviously some more than others. I like the harder edged rock songs obviously based on that list, but I don't mind the different directions taken, it's kind of what this singles concept is about, not being confined to a theme or certain sound. To me, it's been turning out a lot better than I've expected, and I'll be shocked if other bands don't at least do a variation of it in the future.

nobody is going to do it in the future. it's been a complete and utter commercial flop -- hence the CD compendium they'll be releasing shortly.

Yeah, but it might work if it were a band anybody still gave a shit about.

Actually the volume 1 set has been getting pretty good reviews, from major publications to a music nerd with a blog. Seems like some people still care.

True, but it's kind of a shame that the recognition is coming from the compilation rather than the actual subscription. By the way, Ash had every intention of putting out the compendiums from the get go, so it's not like they are caving in or anything. While they are not mainstream or popular by any means anymore, I would have to think that this is still making sense for them. They are doing it themselves on their own label, and doing it how they want, playing to their fanbase and hopefully gathering more along the way. To think that no one else is going to attempt something like this is kind of naive, one look at the industry would tell you that the present model doesn't work anymore. They are probably ahead of the curve a bit, but some other band, perhaps with a bit more recognition, will take up the idea at some point. Maybe a song a month, or spread out EPs, but the concept would be similar: give a constant flow of music to your fans, keep them satisfied. Two and three year album cycles are dumb nowadays, especially in this day and age where no band is really ubiquitous or can gain such popularity from the radio by slowly working an album with singles. Ash could've put out 12 more songs on a record, had an ok first week of sales (in Europe, no US distribution would've occurred), and then what? No label support on singles, a tour, and that's it, essentially a weeks worth of hype and then nothing for three more years. The current paradigm doesn't work for a band like this, and for many others as well. Whether you like the songs or not, you can't fault them for trying something new.

Hatherley rejoining Ash for tour