If you listen to shoegaze, I know for a fact that you've heard of these guys before. If you haven't, well you're missing out. Now if you have, I'm sure you've listened to their first album Nowhere. Their debut album is considered one of the best shoegaze albums of all time according to Allmusic. I liked it a lot but I think their best work is on Going Blank Again.
Going Blank Again still has the shoegaze feel from the last album but the band sorta turns their musical direction to Britpop. According to Andy Bell of the band, he thinks the shoegaze tag of the band was quite boring. So I can understand why they would change their sound. Anyways, the first track off Going Blank Again "Leave Them All Behind" is a very shoegaze song. It sounds like a left off track they recorded for Nowhere. It's exactly 8:18 minutes long but you just wish it would last forever because it's so damn good.
The next couple of tracks "Twisterella", "Not Fazed", "Chrome Waves", and "Mouse Trap" are all very pop rock. Very catch pop rock that is. One of the tracks that I really enjoy the most is "Time Of Her Time". Mostly because of its intense guitar riff played by Andy Bell. The last track "Ox4" is probably one of my favorite closers for an album I have ever listened to. It has a very Stone Roses vibe going on throughout the song.
After this album was made, the band went downhill. They changed their style a bit too much in their last two albums. They broke up in 1996. Andy Bell went on to form Hurricane #1 but quickly left after being asked by Oasis to play bass. In 2001, they played one last show together for footage on a Sonic Youth documentary called Pioneers. All we can do now is pray that Andy Bell reforms Ride during the Oasis break.
[Ride Website]
[Buy Going Blank Again from Amazon]
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