Going Nowhere Again?
“Ride do not offer anything new” was the statement from a Melody Maker review in 1990!
My Bloody Valentine were the ones stood on the media pedestal when it came to pioneers in the genre known as “Shoegaze”...and woe betide anyone who went against their views...it is a thought that is defended quite passionately to this day in some areas of social media. My brother had the Glider EP on 12” so I was well aware of My Bloody Valentine and he also liked The Cocteau Twins...but apart from “Soon”, “Only Shallow” and “Ice Blink Luck” I was more into the baggy scene at the time. That was until my brother came back from Uni at Christmas with a box of CDs for me to root through. I was always looking for something different so I picked one out that had a HMV Import sticker on it and wandered off to my room to give it a listen. It turned out to be a compilation of the groups’ first two EPs (Ride and Play) released on Creation Records that were merged together to form a mini-album. For some reason Smile was released in the US on Sire Records in 1990 and wasn’t available in the UK until 1992 unless you got it on import.
The band were called Ride, made up of four young lads from Oxford. They had a floppy fringed front man/guitarist in Mark Gardener, co-harmoniser and guitarist Andy Bell...bassist Steve Queralt and drummer Loz Colbert. They were signed to Creation Records following The Jesus and Mary Chain’s Jim Reid passing on a demo to boss Alan McGee that he had got from DJ Gary Crowley. Their impact upon the music scene had them catapulting into people’s consciousness almost overnight.
Smile
Released: July 1990
Produced by Ride
Record Label: Sire Records (for Creation)
What I got from my first listen was an almost instant addiction...there were beautiful harmonies...a baggy bass...and a wall of sonic explosion that I had just not heard before. A fantastic and brilliant eruption...not just the type that would get your parents shouting up the stairs to “turn that bloody noise down!”...beyond that...proper heart thumping...blood flowing kind of pandemonium. One minute into “Chelsea Girl” and you are happily head nodding and singing along to the lovely safe indie pop that is carrying you along...fast forward onto the second minute and you are being ripped to pieces by swirls of white noise. “Drive Blind” is still one of my favourite Ride songs and turned out to be Creation records first ever chart entry...it reached the dizzy heights of No.71. It used a chiming riff over the top of rolling distortion that was driven along by the bass and solid drum work. Mark Gardener’s off-key vocal works for me, I know many people were put off Ride by this fact, a lot of people thought he droned or sounded depressed but I think it merges with the raw guitar sounds perfectly.
From the very moment the bass and drums kick in on “All I Can See” it is clear that behind their wall of noise they are four talented indie pop kids...maybe not for the indie dancefloors...but perfect for closing your eyes and drifting away somewhere beautiful for a bit. “Close My Eyes” is a fitting slice of shoegaze that would have ended the first Ride EP but finds itself at midway point on Smile. What came next was the very Byrds-esque “Like A Daydream” which is a lovely dreamy pop song that does sound amazingly like a sonic version of “Lady Friend” by aforementioned Californian band The Byrds...although I think this is better. It turned out to be quite a regular early Creation records thing with Teenage Fanclub also using a similar sound to excellent effect on their Bandwagonesque album in ’91. This song could have been Creation’s first into the top 40 but unfortunately for Ride it was beaten by Primal Scream with their classic “Loaded” a couple of weeks earlier. The slow and shimmering “Silver” followed by “Furthest Sense” feel like half decent b-sides that were good just nothing as magical as what had gone before...that is until the final song “Perfect Time”. It picks you up and throws you at it’s fast paced sonic wall until your face is so flat against it you can physically feel the mortar between your teeth. That’s what it sounds like to me anyway...the fast pace slam of the guitars followed by a dreamy lull...then back off on the sonic wave again...excellent.
The only down side to the Smile mini-album is that if you didn’t buy the two EPs on vinyl then you missed out on some beautiful covers. The Ride EP featured a picture full of roses with a vibrant pink filter over them and the Play EP was full of daffodils that had a bright yellow filter...both enclosed in a black border with Ride written centrally in bold...they really did stand out.
Although the songs are really good so far and it does showcase the strengths of the band and the direction that they were aiming to go in...for media types...it felt a bit disjointed and some of the early production work wasn’t great to the trained ear...but my ears are certainly not trained and I thought they were brilliant.
By the autumn of that very busy first year of touring the EPs they were ready to unleash their first studio album...a taster from this was the Fall EP that featured “Dreams Burn Down” that appeared on the first pressing of the album.
Also found on here were the songs “Taste”, “Here and Now” and “Nowhere” that would be added to CD versions of their album at a later date.
Nowhere
Released: October 1990
Produced by Marc Waterman (Final mix done by Alan Moulder)
Record Label: Creation Records
This album for me is the very pinnacle of the shoegaze genre...this is all about personal opinion by the way...don’t shoot the messenger. There were other bands...other albums...but this was my personal favourite when it came to shoegaze...only Gala by Lush came close. I know that people will throw Slowdive's Souvlaki at me here but I wasn't a fan. Sometimes, an album just works...all four members of the band drawn together by a certain chemistry and focus...heading in the same direction. What they created was something truly amazing ...although as Loz Colbert suggested that it was difficult to make...not because of the usual strains of technical problems or lack of creativity but because they were so young at the time...they were still growing up...and their music was evolving with them.
From the moment the guitars erupt on opener “Seagull” following the funky opening bass line their intent is there. It turns into a ferocious and quite driven song with an incredible and loud climax...an excellent six minute start to the album. “Kaleidoscope” continues in a similar vein with fast paced guitars and frenetic drumming that give the album a knockout punch...pretty much like a boxer hitting someone with a 1-2. Out of the opening songs though it is “Kaleidoscope” that seems to have a more well developed vocal melody along with a great surfer atmosphere. “In A Different Place” is a beautiful song that takes me straight back to a time aged 15 with the world at my feet, opportunities were endless...instead I was laid on my bed listening to Ride with my eyes closed and a big grin on my face. The chiming guitars and Gardener’s at times etherial vocal gives way to a hit of loud and layered guitars before switching back to the soft. It takes things down a notch and is more gushy and sentimental. “Polar Bear” was a song that was primarily built up on effects pedals rather than melody and structure but I loved it. The lyrics seem to be adapted from J.D. Salinger’s novella called Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters. The lines “He said she surely just dreamt that she was able to fly. The baby stood her ground like an angel. She said she knew she was able to fly because when she came down she always had dust on her fingers from touching the light bulbs” from the novella turned into “She knew she was able to fly/ Because when she came down/She had dust on her hands from the sky/She felt so high/ the dust made her cry. She knew she could fly like a bird/But when she said/ "please raise the roof higher" nobody heard/They never noticed a word/The light bulbs burn/her fingers will learn” for the song. Nowhere isn't all loud guitars and feedback though. The band quiets down on "Dreams Burn Down", with dreamy melodic guitar lines that occasionally cascade into piercing white noise. This is a song that many people have as a perfect example of the shoegaze genre...the majestic atmosphere, saturated harmonies, and a distinctive pounding drum-beat. It’s funny how people can have such differing opinions about songs...from reviews at the time of its release they have “Decay” and “Paralysed” as poor filler tracks on the album...I love them and think they fit perfectly. They are dark and brooding with far from positive lyrics but “Decay” is a furious post-punk surge with dark ridges, background chaos and repetition of the ominous utterance, “We die” and “Paralysed” takes you back to the long beautiful guitar intros, and does it with much success. By the time the vocals arrive about a minute in, the song has me captivated. It’s slow, beautiful and heartbreaking all in one. “Vapour Trail” is one hell of an album closer. Lead vocal and song writing switches to Andy Bell for this phenomenal slice of indie pop that probably still remains as Ride’s most well known release.
Two 12 string Rickenbacker’s buzz and chime throughout the song before fading out to strings...a mournful cello and violin bring Nowhere to its natural vinyl end. Bell has said that he wrote it while they were on tour...sat in his room in a Bed and Breakfast one morning he started playing the riff on his acoustic guitar...the lyrics flowed easily and a true gem of a song was born. I don’t think that its mood can ever be replicated, in fact I’m probably doing it a disservice trying to describe it. It is difficult for me to end my feelings about Nowhere without mentioning some of the best B-sides to have ever been made. As I said earlier, “Taste”, “Here and Now” and “Nowhere” were added to the CD version for the American audiences that then found its way back to the UK. I never owned a copy of Nowhere on vinyl so my recollection of it was with these songs added, hence why I’m going to talk about them now...apologies to anyone I upset by doing this...you know where to find me. “Taste” is a song that sits quite comfortably with me if I had to choose favourites from Ride on one hand...especially live and on an indie disco dancefloor. It is the band at their poppiest best with furious drumming, driving bass and simple chiming Byrds-esque melodies...the only shame being that it is only a little over 3 minutes long. It isn’t everyday that you find a harmonica played on a shoegaze song but you do on “Here and Now” along with some excellent bass playing from Steve Queralt. It is a song that has become a fast favourite played live too after reading a few gig reviews of late. “Nowhere” is an amazing soundscape, a swirling abyss of noise and warping bass lines. The song itself has a very experimental feel to it and does not feel like an album closer...which it wasn’t meant to be anyway.
Nowhere is an extraordinary album and still to this day moves me in similar ways that it did when I was a baggy haired teenager...the haunting songs and lovelorn lyrics...the at times blistering guitars...some of the best rhythm sections of any album ever made! For me it shows how good it was by the fact that it does not sound old and that bands today are still trying to repeat what Ride did over 25 years ago.
Before they launched into their follow up album, they released the Today Forever EP. This was an EP that ended up on the quite beautiful blue marbled vinyl 25th Anniversary edition of Nowhere. It featured the songs “Unfamiliar”, “Sennen”, “Beneath” and “Today”. “Unfamiliar” brings with it indie pop charm that was seen on Nowhere, with catchy melody and the much more prominent drumming from Colbert. “Sennen” is a strange one for me...I like it...and many people have it down as one of their favourite Ride songs...or favourite b-sides...but all I can hear is “Bewitched” by The Wedding Present...please get in touch if you agree...I know I have rose-tinted Wedding Present glasses but I’d be interested to find out others opinions. “Beneath” and “Today” are further perfect reminders of Ride doing their thing...they were on the crest of the musical wave with tours of Japan and Europe doing really well...so, onto their second studio album.
Going Blank Again
Released: March 1992
Produced by Alan Moulder
Record Label: Creation Records
This album reached No.5 in the UK album chart following its release in early 1992...not bad for an album that NME didn’t have high hopes for. Having released a taster single from the album a month before...the already high expectancy level for this album shot through the roof. That taster was the album opener and still one of my favourite songs in the world “Leave Them All Behind”. Here we saw Ride come back with a diverse set of influences and developing their own unique sound...no-one came close to them with this release. If Nowhere was dark and brooding, Going Blank Again was the up-beat ray of sunshine...it was as if the whole album has been sprayed with a layer of glossy indie pop perfection. The loud guitars were still there...and more effects pedals to throw a well worn shoe at...but this wasn’t something raw and haunting...this was...for me anyway...something of musical beauty...it hit me just at the right time in my life...I was 17 and in my 2nd year of going to gigs. I saw Ride at Middlesbrough town hall on the day of its release so I only had their single as a pointer for what to expect. They were supported by The Verve...who I must admit didn’t get much of a listen as I was trying to get served in the crypt bar downstairs at the time. If you look at the playlist from that night...it could well be a perfect song list for Ride’s best ever songs.
Leave Them All Behind Taste Not Fazed Cool Your Boots Like A Daydream OX4 Perfect Time Twisterella Drive Blind Making Judy Smile Nowhere Vapour Trail Chrome Waves Mouse Trap Dreams Burn Down Time Of Her Time
It was probably the loudest gig I have ever been to in my life...and I’ve been to some very loud gigs. You can’t get away from the heavy influence of The Who and especially a mix of “Won’t Get Fooled Again” and “Baba O’Riley” on album opener and absolute classic “Leave Them All Behind”.
The opening Hammond organ swirls where the guitars used to, before Colbert and Queralt’s interlocking rhythm drives the song onwards with Gardener and Bell joining in with their shimmering guitars. This isn’t just another song that is born from the thump of an effects pedal...this is sonic wave that builds and builds with beautiful harmonies and distortion...right up until the end of this eight minute epic. Rumour has it from the stories from Creation records that Alan McGee went absolutely crazy when he first heard it and jumped about the office...then demanding that it would be the first single from the album. They followed up that indie anthem with a song that oozed feelings of summer afternoons sat in the park listening to music on someone’s portable stereo with your mates...drinking whatever cocktail of alcoholic beverages could be found at the back of your parents cupboards...usually Malibu or Cointreau...anything but the cooking sherry!!! “Twisterella” was the second single released from the album and it showed that behind the wall of noise they can make some excellent jangly indie pop from the very start of Queralt’s nifty little bass strum to the uplifting melodic guitar riff...two songs in and it is already sounding bloody amazing. The album was filled to the brim with crisp, clean melodies and catchy riffs. The use of Hammond organ that was layered behind the guitars on “Not Fazed” was just brilliant and with the Massive Attack (from Unfinished Sympathy) samples on “Chrome Waves” set the laid back tone of the song just like the Bristolians used with their trip-hop...I love the harmonised line “I’ll meet you on the way...doooown”. If “Chrome Waves” was a chilled affair then what was to come next would blow those cobwebs away. “Mouse Trap”, “Time Of Her Time” and “Cool Your Boots” were all live favourites of mine...a time to get my Adidas sambas mucky in the mosh pit. The Withnail and I line “even a stopped clock gives the right time twice a day” gave cinema fans and stoners alike a link to “Cool Your Boots” and “Mouse Trap” was such an explosion of noise on top of Queralt’s driving bass it seems as if the vocal harmonies were fighting a constant battle to be heard. “Time Of Her Time” was a bit like their Nowhere send off with the characteristic reverb from their debut album. They leant more on their inspiration from 60s pop bands than My Bloody Valentine, The Jesus and Mary Chain or House of Love. A good example of this was with “Making Judy Smile” that sounded like an ode to The Kinks. The mostly instrumental “Time Machine” starts off with a dub style intro before fading out then back in again with a Peter Hook-esque bass line from Queralt in quite an experimental song similar to earlier b-sides. “OX4” the best song ever made featuring a postcode...their postcode as it happens. It is probably the best interpretation of Ride’s ability to swirl loud guitars with quiet sentiments and create something that was undeniably a powerful slice of indie heaven.
“OX4” was the album closer...although when Going Blank Again was originally put together the band wanted it to be a double album with extra tracks added. The reissued version included the songs “Going Blank Again”, “Howard Hughes”, “Stampede” and “Grasshopper”...all songs that accompanied the singles from the album.
There are many people out there that will prefer the rough edges and stripped back noise of Nowhere but for me Going Blank Again was their masterpiece. It is funny that the term for their genre was shoegaze where the name derived from media types saying that they spent the whole gig staring at their guitar pedals instead of interacting with the crowd...well the music they made definitely sounded like their heads were blissfully floating in the clouds. It was such a shame for the success of this album to take a hit from the release of Nevermind by Nirvana...suddenly everyone wanted a piece of the grunge scene and the UK was forgotten about for a while...in the media anyway. I still have it down in my top 10 albums of all time...and I can’t see it ever moving.
What was starting to show though from the second album was that the song writing credits were alternating between Gardener and Bell and the amount of time spent on tour was causing the usual strains on the group. They were tired and decided to take time off...it was just that they took too much time off.
The next two album releases Carnival Of Light and Tarantula passed me by for one reason or another and it is only in the past 6 months that I have bought them both and given them a proper listen.
Carnival Of Light
Released: June 1994
Produced by John Leckie
Record Label: Creation Records
The first thing that jumps out to me on this 3rd studio album release is that their guitar sound that was so prominent on the other material has gone...no twin sonic guitar effects...no frenetic Loz Colbert drumming...no driven bass lines...instead you have a jangly relaxed indie pop sound with 60s influences from The Byrds, Bob Dylan and The Beach Boys. It seems to me that the music changed from being shoe gazing indie pop to alternative 60s psychedelic soft rock.
The album seemed to be a near 50/50 split between the writing of Gardener and Bell...with Gardener’s songs taking up the first half and Bell taking the second...or thereabouts. Loz Colbert also managed to get in on the act too on the song “Natural Grace” which was a massive change in how the band went about things. World renowned producer John Leckie had the reigns and to be honest in parts you can hear influences from a host of bands that were playing around that time of its release. There are similarities from tour co-headliners The Charlatans, especially on album opener “Moonlight Medicine”...where the Hammond organ kicks in recognisable places. This is quickly followed by “1000 Miles” that has more than a murmuring of The Byrds “I’ll Feel A Whole Lot Better” to it...as does “Natural Grace” a few songs in on the album. Look, don’t get me wrong...this is a pretty decent album...I know lots of people have panned it and slagged it off because it isn’t shoegaze or indie pop enough for them...but if you try and forget about Nowhere and Going Blank Again for one second when listening to this then you would probably like it. It probably won’t be in your favourite albums of all time...but I’m sure that it would get an airing now and again. It is only because of what the band have produced leading up to this point has been extraordinarily brilliant that this album is frowned upon. Even the band themselves have distanced themselves from it and ripped it to pieces over the years since its release. Leckie’s production on the album is really tight though and is quite a shining point. Personally though this album does seem to be quite ballad heavy...and some of those do tend to drag a little bit.
The only time that they really seem to muster any real energy for the songs is on the cover of Creations “How Does It Feel To Feel?”...the band that their record label got their name from...where their guitars screech and squeal over the repetitive “How Does It Feel...” that reminds me very much of a poor Oasis effort that would arrive a few years later. “Endless Road” sounds very much like something that label mates Super Furry Animals would have produced...and so does “Magical Spring”...I can hear Gruff singing them right now. “I Don’t Know Where It Comes From” harks back to the same sound of “Twisterella” but with more of a Rolling Stones “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” feel to it ...and with addition of a boys choir of course...crazy days. Throw in the sitar driven instrumental “Rolling Thunder” that all late 60s psychedelic albums seemed obliged to add and the album is complete.
The band when they are together and focused are a thing of absolute musical beauty...this album unfortunately showed through their music that they were strained and fractured. It is funny when you hear Andy Bell talking about this album because he says that he doesn’t like his songs on the album at all with the exception of the instrumental...but likes Mark’s side. I do believe sometimes that the pressure put on bands from media types can have their consequences from building them up to trying to rip them down...it must affect the music.
Tarantula
Released: March 1996
Produced by Richard Smith and Paul Motion
Record Label: Creation Records
Tarantula was deleted from Creation Records catalogue only a week following its release. That is not a great start for this album. The song writing mantel is firmly in Andy Bell’s hands now with only 2 out of the 12 songs being written by Mark Gardener or Loz Colbert. The initial sound of this album leans towards songs styles that label mates Oasis and Teenage Fanclub were using...especially on “Black Nite Crash”, “Sunshine/Nowhere To Run” and “Mary Anne”. It is difficult to get away from the “Sweet Home Alabama” riff on “Dead Man” and it also is a little sample of the type of music that Bell would go on to repeat with his next band Hurricane #1. There are more “tune robberies” as an NME review at the time of release put it with “Dawn Patrol” that was straight out of Steppenwolf’s song “The Pusher”. Gone was the Sonic Youth, Spaceman 3 and My Bloody Valentine influences to be replaced by The Jayhawks, The Byrds and Gram Parsons...a very American sounding album.
Many of the songs sound like they were made with a half decent idea in mind but the togetherness and energy to lift it up just wasn’t there...which is a damn shame knowing what these lads can do...there is a definite ghost of genius about them on this album.
This was an album that was meant to be a collection of songs rather than an actual album...and with Mark Gardener telling the band that he intended to leave midway through recording...the production sounded a bit rushed and thrown together in the end.
I think the simple fact was that Creation records didn’t care about Ride anymore at this time. They had their hands full with Oasis and everything that brought along with it. As with Carnival Of Light, I don’t think that it is as bad as some people make out...for me though I think that It was the weight of expectation on their young shoulders was maybe too much to take at the time.
Although they settled their differences rather quickly after disbanding, they never really thought that they would ever reunite at any point. That was until successful shows from The Stone Roses and My Bloody Valentine inspired them to make a comeback. The band often talk about reaching a crossroads after Going Blank Again with them nearly all in agreement that they chose the wrong path...I wonder if Weather Diaries turns out to be the path that they should have gone down instead?
Weather Diaries is released on Friday 16/6/2017 and is available various formats from Ride's website, iTunes and other musical establishments.
