It felt just like it was the start of forever

Yesterday, I was alerted to the fact that Ash are going to play a gig in September that will consist of the whole of their 1977 album.

Just the thought made me light headed with giddiness.

I don’t think there is an album that brings me back to my sixth form days as much as this one. Just the first few bars of Angel Interceptor, or the thumping chorus of Girl From Mars is enough to transport me back to a time when I wore denim shirts, had perfectly round, horn rimmed glasses, kit kat’s cost 35p, and whether the crush du jour looked at me during assembly was the biggest worry of the day. Oh, and I had the same hair cut. Some things will never change.

My first introduction to Ash was when I discovered two male friends in the common room wetting themselves with laughter at some cd they’d recently acquired. They dragged me over to have a listen. They weren’t actually listening to any of the songs. As countless other teenage males up and down the country were no doubt doing, they were listening to the “secret bonus” bit at the end where Tim Wheeler et al are audibly throwing up following over-indulgence in alcohol type beverages. Classy. Despite this, I still managed to develop the biggest crush on Tim, which followed me to uni where B and I would try not to visibly drool whilst stalking a Tim Wheeler lookalike, who we creatively nicknamed “Ash”.

I don’t think 1977 is anywhere close to being one of the best albums ever made, but it never fails to take me back to one of the best times of my life. My sixth form days taught me that learning could be fun, that good friendships are one of the most amazing things anyone can have, and that boys who play guitars are hot. For those reasons, this album will always have a special place in my heart, and despite the fact that the old muscles and joints are not what they used to be, come September, I shall be down there at the front, singing and bouncing along with all the other late 20’s/early 30’s city dwellers, and imagining that I am back in the year of 1996 when anything was possible.