Blue Ash- no less than great power pop

Even in the age of reissues, Midwest power poppers from the Me Decade, Blue Ash still suffer. After Not Lame Records put out Around...Again: A Collection of Rarities from the Vault 1972-79 a mere four years ago, the fine 2-CD set's already gone outta print, fetching at least 40 bucks used at Amazon. And then there was another CD's worth of material that their manager sent me years ago which didn't make it on that the Not Lame collection or anywhere else for that matter- "Elementary Dr. Watson" needs to be heard and released some day (it's that damn good).

But at least now the world gets to hear again Blue Ash's debut No More, No Less thanks to Collector's Choice. Even though they cover the Beatles ("Anytime At All"), they're obviously Who fans and not just because they have a song called "Smash My Guitar"- the high-pitched harmonies, power chords and round-house drumming all add up to a nice fixation. You might say that they have some Cheap Trick in them took but they came before those fellow mid-westerners. You might have also heard "Abracadabra" as the Records later covered it and it sure beats the hell out of the Steve Miller song with the same name.

Sadly, after one more album in 1977, the band was no more though they reformed in the 90's and supposedly are working on a new record. See their blog for details about their latest capers.

Maybe Not Lame will be inspired to reissue their own archive material of Blue Ash and the other unreleased goodies that should see the light of day.