Shining Light
The lead single from Free All Angels, which the label thought would not be a hit and which won an Ivor Novello Award.
Ash, from Free All Angels (2001)
- Written by
- Tim Wheeler
- Released
- 29 January 2001
- Album
- Free All Angels
The song was available to download from the band's website for a month from 25 December 2000, and was released as a single on 29 January 2001. It reached number eight in the UK and 23 in Ireland. Infectious did not think it would be a hit. Wheeler came up with the opening guitar line by playing Fortune Teller from Nu-Clear Sounds and adding an extra part. The Guardian's Betty Clarke called it Ash's greatest single since Girl from Mars. Shining Light won an Ivor Novello Award for songwriting.
The video was directed by Mike Valentine and shot in north London. It has Wheeler swimming underwater towards a bright light and waking in a hospital bed with the others around him. Pitchfork's Joe Tangari wrote that the medium tempos of Shining Light and There's a Star would have seemed like big shoes for the band a few years earlier but fit perfectly now.
Live
The band played it on Later... with Jools Holland on 31 December 2001.
On stage
- 2001-12-31, Later... with Jools Holland (BBC) Played with Burn Baby Burn and Sometimes.
More songs by Ash
Girl from Mars, Kung Fu, Goldfinger, Oh Yeah, Burn Baby Burn
Sources
- Free All Angels, Wikipedia
- Young, gifted - and back (Free All Angels review), The Guardian (2001-04-20)
- Ash: Free All Angels, Pitchfork (2002-06-12)