*** single reviews***
nice reviews: ....culturedeluxe.com: "Despite being clearly influenced by some of the USA..s finest artists - ..Inside Out.. brings to mind simultaneously Simon & Garfunkel, Neil Young and the Mamas and Papas - The Ash and The Oak are a 4 piece from Newport in Wales and, some three years into their career, are the focus of the fabulous Kruger Singles Club for September. These two tracks successfully show two sides of the band with ..Blossom.. being a hippy hymn reminiscent of, well, The Eagles and Marc Bolan covering The Kinks.. ..Shangri-La.....now doesn..t that sound great?
You can get your free copy now over at www.Krugermagazine.com"
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highvoltage.org.uk: " the Kruger Singles Club continue their maturing trend with Newport folk-rockers The Ash and The Oak. With 'Inside Out' Mixing up their drum shuffles and tambourine shakes, there's something light about those Beach Boy harmonies, but then something altogether more grave about the thought that these guys wouldn't be averse to breaking out the LSD in between songwriting sessions.
B-Side 'Blossom' goes from this start into a full-blown pagan call to the earth, this time breaking out the lap-steel between the verses. It seems to share more with ancient English folk than it does with some of The Ash and The Oak's preferred American references, but this blending of transatlantic traditions makes for a powerful hippy-jam.
Fuck, how does anyone make a record like this? By going on nature rambles and listening to Fleet Foxes probably. Not that there's anything wrong with that..."
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www.subba-cultcha.com: "Impressive mixing of Crosby, Stills & Nash and the light Indie touch of prime Bluetones, soulful in a tight jeans sense!"
Influences
If sophisticated vocal harmonies and quality songwriting is your bag, then you may want to investigate the outstanding self-titled debut album by The Ash And The Oak. So many similarities come to mind - The Byrds, CSNY, Neil Young - but these are only handy hints for the purposes of this review. The band is unique. I say band; it appears to be the nom de plume of main man Simon Leighfield, though the playing is credited to The Ash And The Oak. Most tracks use drum machine, guitars and voice, but this simple arrangement is augmented by glockenspiels and some keyboards. The real star of the show however is the songs - the best I've heard for ages - and the superb multi-tracked vocals. It's hard to believe this album was recorded on 4- and 8-track machines, but there you go. Quality will out as they say. Country Mile Records themselves were the people who stumbled across, then released the album, so kudos to Ray for presenting something very special. There aren't any particular highlights because every track is a highlight in some way, though if I had to choose I'd go for "Blossom," "Goodnight" and "The Finishing Line." Highly recommended, and the band are touring, recording a session for BBC Wales, and have new tracks on the way. Don't miss this one!
www. terrascope. co. uk
The first album is now available from www.countrymile.org.
It comes with a badge and a sticker.
Some copies are also available in Spillers and Diverse, for those of you lucky enough to be resident in/unable to escape from South East Wales.
There is a blogger blog - theashandtheoak.blogspot.com - which is also regularly updated by members of the band, but not by Simon, he thinks the internet can read his thoughts. This replaces the indiestore blog - www.indiestore.com/theashandtheoak - which was a bit crap (the indiestore site is still up for you to buy product though).
Apparently some links dont work anymore in myspace, which is a pisser.
