It was obvious that Ash couldn't continue the way they had begun. Formed over good times as teenagers in Northern Ireland, Tim Wheeler, Mark Hamilton and Rick McMurray had continued to party like they worked a normal 9 to 5 through the releases of a mini-album, Trailer, and their proper debut, 1977. They were close to breakdown--they had to rethink. The answer came in the shape of a fourth member, Charlotte Hatherley, who took some of the strain and vulnerability that is inevitable with a three-piece. This recruit totally changed their sound, making their guitar noise broader and darker, which caused the record to not achieve the same success as its predecessor. But it is still a great album, from the slouch cool of "Jesus Says", through the Sonic Youth-like burr of "Death Trip 21". But Wheeler's exhaustion at the end of the 1977 touring schedule is most evident, as seen in the songs "Low Ebb", "Numbskull", "Burn Out" and "I'm Gonna Fall". --Charlie Porter
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