Meltdown (Ash album)

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 Ash's previous studio album Free All Angels.

Meltdown
Studio album by Ash
Released	17 May 2004
Recorded	December 2003–January 2004
Genre	Rock[1][2] hard rock[3]
Length	42:24
Label	Infectious Records
Producer	Nick Raskulinecz, Ash
Ash chronology
Intergalactic Sonic 7″s (2002) Meltdown (2004) Twilight of the Innocents (2007)
Singles from Meltdown
"Clones" Released: 25 February 2004 "Orpheus" Released: 3 May 2004 "Starcrossed" Released: 19 July 2004 "Renegade Cavalcade" Released: 6 December 2004

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[4]
Drowned in Sound	(8/10)[5]
Entertainment.ie	[1]
The Guardian	[2]
IGN	8.2/10 [6]
Melodic	[7]
Pitchfork Media	(6.8/10)[8]
Playlouder	link
Stylus Magazine	(C+)[9]

Release

Meltdown was released through Infectious Records on 17 May 2004. "Meltdown" was released to American radio on 24 May 2005.[10]

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.[11]

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.[12]

The introduction in the album's sleeve is written by American hoax author JT LeRoy.

The track "Evil Eye" begins with the backward message: "She's giving me the Evil Eye. Suck Satan's cock." [13][14]

The tracks "Orpheus" and "Meltdown" were featured on the soundtrack to the 2004 horror-comedy film Shaun of the Dead[15].

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.
• The album was certified Platinum by Ben Foster on 3 December 2019.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Tim Wheeler except where noted.

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Meltdown"	Charlotte Hatherley, Tim Wheeler	3:24
2.	"Orpheus"		4:16
3.	"Evil Eye"		3:26
4.	"Clones"		4:00
5.	"Starcrossed"		4:50
6.	"Out of the Blue"	Mark Hamilton, Wheeler	3:24
7.	"Renegade Cavalcade"		3:26
8.	"Detonator"		3:38
9.	"On a Wave"		4:27
10.	"Won't Be Saved"		3:41
11.	"Vampire Love"		3:45

Japanese release bonus tracks

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
12.	"Tinsel Town"		9:11
13.	"Everybody's Happy Nowadays" (feat. Chris Martin)	Pete Shelley	3:19

American release bonus tracks

No.	Title	Length
12.	"Shockwave"	3:20
13.	"Solace"	4:51
14.	"Cool It Down"	2:56

American release bonus DVD

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Girl From Mars (video)"
2.	"Clones (video)"
3.	"Orpheus (video)"
4.	"Starcrossed (video)"
5.	"Renegade Cavalcade (video)"
6.	"Mini documentary"
7.	"Making of Orpheus video"

Special edition bonus disc (Meltdown live)

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Meltdown"	Hatherley, Wheeler	3:34
2.	"Orpheus"		4:40
3.	"A Life Less Ordinary"		4:13
4.	"Evil Eye"		3:36
5.	"Clones"		4:18
6.	"Starcrossed"		4:43
7.	"Out of the Blue"	Hamilton, Wheeler	3:47
8.	"Renegade Cavalcade"		3:51
9.	"Detonator"		3:55
10.	"On a Wave"		5:02
11.	"Won't be Saved"		3:51
12.	"Vampire Love"		4:24
13.	"Darkside Lightside"		3:57
14.	"Burn Baby Burn"		3:58

Japanese special edition bonus disc bonus track (Meltdown live)

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
15.	"Projects"	Hamilton, Hatherley, Wheeler	4:01

Personnel

Ash Tim Wheeler – guitar, vocals, Rick McMurray – drums Charlotte Hatherley – guitar, backing vocals, piano Mark Hamilton – bass, design Additional musicians Oli Kraus - cello on "Vampire Love"

Technical Nick Raskulinecz - production Ash - co-production Rich Costey - mixing Mike Terry - engineering Claudius Mittendorfer - mixing assistant Miles Wilson - engineering assistant Kevin Szymanski - engineering assistant Howie Weinberg - mastering Jon @ Drum Fettish - drum technician Bobby Schneck - session guitar technician Matt Sharp - photography Adrian Boot - photography Rori Keating - illustrations Jim Fitzpatrick - 'Orpheus' illustration Jt LeRoy - liner notes Craig Gentle - design

References

1. "Ash - Meltdown - Review by Andrew Lynch - entertainment ireland, Music, CD Reviews". Web.archive.org. 27 September 2007. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
2. Steve Pill. "CD: Ash, Meltdown | Music". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
3. Lynskey, Dorian (29 June 2007). "Ash, Twilight of the Innocents". Guardian. Retrieved 16 October 2018.
4. Damas, Jason. "Meltdown - Ash". Allmusic. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
5. Adams, Sean (26 July 2008). "Drowned in Sound - Reviews - Albums - Ash - Meltdown". Web.archive.org. Archived from the original on 26 July 2008. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
6. JR (23 March 2005). "Meltdown". IGN. Archived from the original on 16 January 2006. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
7. Roth, Kaj (1 June 2004). "Ash - Meltdown". Melodic. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
8. Crock, Jason (28 March 2005). "Ash: Meltdown | Album Reviews | Pitchfork". Web.archive.org. Archived from the original on 20 November 2011. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
9. "Ash - Meltdown - Review". Stylus Magazine. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
10. "FMQB Airplay Archive: Modern Rock". Friday Morning Quarterback Album Report, Incorporated. Archived from the original on 22 March 2013. Retrieved 30 October 2016.
11. Archived 27 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine
12. Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
13. "Random ASH Facts". Ashtabs.tripod.com. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
14. "Liverpool". BBC News. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
15. "Shaun of the Dead - Soundtrack". IMDb. Retrieved 29 November 2018.