What's this? A greatest hits album from Irish indie heroes Ash? How can this be? After all, it only seems like yesterday that the Downpatrick kids were the runts of the Britpop litter, battling with acne and turning down world tours to concentrate on their exams. Actually there's a good reason for this apparent time warp: the 2002 model of Tim Wheeler and co is virtually no different from the group that seemed so engaging when it first appeared in 1995. Three albums into their career, they still sound like eternal adolescents with nothing but teenage romance and trashy science fiction films on their mind. Then again, why would they want to change a formula that's brought them such success? There are 19 songs on this album and virtually each one is a pop gem, boasting breakneck melodies, indie-punk dynamics and choruses of the once heard, never forgotten variety. Sure, it's one-dimensional, but there's just far too many incidental pleasures to complain - and the new, Motownesque single Envy suggests that there's plenty left in Ash's arsenal yet.
