Length 42:24 Artist Ash Label Infectious Music | Producer Nick Raskulinecz, Ash Release date 2004 | |
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Released 17 May 2004 (International)
8 March 2005 (USA) Recorded December 2003–January 2004 Meltdown
(2004) Twilight of the Innocents
(2007) Genres Rock music, Alternative rock Similar Ash albums, Rock music albums | ||
Meltdown is the fourth studio album by Ash, which was initially released on 17 May 2004 through Infectious Records. On 8 March 2005 the album was released in the United States. It is a darker and heavier sounding record than Free All Angels.
Contents
Release
Meltdown was released through Infectious Records on 17 May 2004. "Meltdown" was released to American radio on 24 May 2005.
In the UK, a limited edition of the album was also made, comprising two Compact Discs, one with the 11 studio recordings and one featuring live versions of the 11 new songs and live versions of three other songs ("A Life Less Ordinary", "Darkside Lightside", and "Burn Baby Burn"). The Japanese limited edition release added live versions of "Girl From Mars", "Walking Barefoot" and "Projects" to the live disc.
The US release includes bonus tracks "Shockwave", "Solace", and "Cool It Down". While many fans of the band enjoyed Meltdown, the album failed to make a splash in the US and was not able to build on the mild success of Free All Angels. The Japanese release includes "Tinseltown" and "Everybody's Happy Nowadays" as bonus tracks. Other b-sides from this era include "We Don't Care" and a cover of Wizzard's "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday", which was recorded for War Child.
Trivia
Tim Wheeler wrote an (almost) day by day diary during the recording of Meltdown. Tim's Studio Diary. The forum topic where Wheeler originally posted the diary (under the alias Kerouac) can be found here.
The introduction in the album's sleeve is written by American writer JT LeRoy.
The track "Evil Eye" begins with the backward message: "She's giving me the Evil Eye. Suck Satan's cock."
In January 2007 the track "Meltdown" was remixed and covered by UK electro rock band KIK. Ash loved the punky-electro revamp of their track and gave full support for KIK to distribute and make the mix available for free download. The song was downloadable via KIK's myspace and received radio play from several UK radio stations, including BBC Sheffield and Kerrang FM!
Critical Reception
The album was certified Gold by the BPI on 18 March 2005.
Track listing
All tracks written by Tim Wheeler except where noted.
Songs
1Meltdown3:25
2Orpheus4:16
3Evil Eye3:26