Ash have been a pretty important band to me over the years. They were one of the first bands I got into heavily, around the time 1977 was released, and seeing them in Belfast on the Nuclear Sounds tour was one of the first gigs I ever went to. They're written some fantastic pop songs, and it's easy to see why they're often a great draw as festivals, as their "Greatest Hits" set is right up there with some of their best.
Shining Light was getting it's first airplay around about the time I split up with my first serious girlfriend. We'd been going out for about 15 months, and it had just got a bit tits up. Sometimes in a relationship one person likes the other more than the other person likes them, and I think I was the one giving out more than I was receiving. Around this time, I was hurt, angry and confused, but I really liked this song, and I wanted to hear it more. Previously I'd listened to the Evening Session on Radio 1 regularly, but with Ash being a proud exponent of local music, I started to listen to Radio Ulsters "Across the Line" show, which had more of an emphasis on local music, as well as wider ranging alternative music. Previously, it had been presented by Mike Edgar, and although incredibly enthusiastic about local music, I had found the show quite dry.
Across the Line became a fixture for me for the next year or so, as I really enjoyed the music, discovered some great bands, but loved the show more than anything. It had some great presenters - Rory and Paul in particular on Tuesday and Wednesday nights often descended into fits of giggles as they were presenting. Professional, no, entertaining, very much so. There was an element of listener participation with competitions and comments, and I would regularly email the show and get responses from the presenters or be featured on air. I doubt it was because mine were better than any of the others, more likely down to a lack of other contributions.
Eventually the format of the show changed, and Rory and Paul didn't present the show any more, and Rigsy and Donna took over three nights a week. It was still good, but it lost it's sparkle. Things were changing for me too. I'd joined the Ash messageboard round about the time Shining Light came out and had made quite a few friends on that board. I flew to the mainland a few times to meet them at various Ash concerts, and all of a sudden I didn't feel quite so lonely any more. Then I started to talk to one of these fellow fans more regularly via MSN and well, things moved on from there.
Anyway, Shining Light, remains one of my favourite Ash songs, but one I don't listen to an awful lot, probably because I listened to it too much when it first came out. I prefer the extended single version to the album version, it's just strung out a little longer before the massive key change, which gives it more impact. The lyrics are pretty striking, they're a lot more poetic than a lot of standard "I love you" songs, and remind me a little of some of Billy Corgan's Smashing Pumpkins lyrics. The video for the song is pretty awful though.
MP3 - Shining Light (Live at the Wireless, 2004)
MP3 - Shining Light (Duke Special Cover)
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