Ride 'Nowhere' Poll

Ride really owned the world for a few months back then, didn't they?

my fave Ride track (and, in fact, the only one I still listen to semi-regularly) is "Drive Blind"...but I'll take "Dreams Burn Down" here, it's the only song listed above that I can still hum...

Jumping back into the 8 tracks v 11 tracks debate, I can remember a review of 'Nowhere' (in either Sounds or MM or NME) bemoaning the fact that it had an already-released E.P. track on it (i.e. 'Dreams Burn Down'). If CDs had been seen as the dominant format (in the Indie market) at that time then that review would have bemoaned the fact that the *whole* Fall EP had been tacked onto the album.

Yeah, it's kindof a testament to how common EP releases were in the indie world at the time, too. They weren't seen as just "singles" from an album with b-sides, but respectable in their own right.

The Disintegration comparison, although interesting, isn't quite apt simply because to my knowledge, Homesick wasn't previously released at the time the album came out. I think it would be fine to include Homesick in such a poll, but perhaps someone who bought the vinyl would feel differently. *shrugs*

SEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULLSEAGULL

(Also, those last three tracks aren't technically Nowhere songs)

I'm relistening to the album now and it's pretty surprising how LOUD the drums are.

Yeah, I don't necessarily have the best ears for that sort of thing, but it seems like the mix is sorta wacked-out. Drums and vocals are too far up front. Where are the guitars hiding-- this is "shoegaze", etc.?

Also, I feel like this record has not dated as well as it might have; possibly b/c those guys were too young at the time to craft a "classic" record? But, with that statement I'm verging into rockist territory, perhaps, as well as risking instigating a whole debate about how being in yr early 20's in the 60's or 70's was a different thing from being that age now or back in '91 or so.

That being said, my kneejerk vote is for "Vapour Trail"; although re-visiting "Polar Bear" definitely gave me some goosebumps today. THing is, it's one of those records that I have trouble listening to without an overload of sentimental associations coming up

baaderonixx, i imagine Rob was thinking of earlier, cherry red era felt, perhaps specifically primitive painters, which could be seen as their proto gaze moment, the guitar lines on dreams burn down do recall Maurice Deebank's a bit. Felt really aren't about getting trapped under collapsing walls of molten feedback though.

-- cw, Wednesday, 28 May 2008 11:54 (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

Thanks - that was exactly what 19 yr old Rob was thinking at the time. Your last line made me laugh for about five minutes today.

Regarding "Dreams burn down" again, I keep finding the intro drum popping up in odd places - I always heard "In my place" by Coldplay as being in awe of "DBD" and then the last song on the recent Trembling Blue Stars album had the exact same drum pattern as well. As someone else said, it's the indie "When the Levee Breaks".

Regarding the 8 to 11 track debate - all the reviews at the time in the UK press considered "Vapour trail" to be the closing track, and certainly the MM review (can't remember if it was Reynolds or Chris Roberts) went nuts over it as a closer.

No more 'regardings' from me.

Hmm, my copy of this also contains tracks 12-15. Where are they from?

I've voted for Vapour Trail too.

12-15 are from 'today forever'

Pound for pound, the 'Today Forever' EP alone is better than (the 8- or 11-track) Nowhere, easily.

The MM review was Chris Roberts, who slagged off the first side (tracks 1-4). There is something about Felt's 'Splendour of Fear' that reminds me of early Ride. Not literally obv, but a there is a definite feeling of some kind of defeated optimism in both.

Pound for pound, the 'Today Forever' EP alone is better than (the 8- or 11-track) Nowhere,
I think I agree with this. The singles and b-sides from Going Blank Again are also better than the lp. In my opinion, of course.

Pound for pound, the 'Today Forever' EP alone is better than (the 8- or 11-track) Nowhere, easily.

Yep.

'Taste' narrowly edging out 'Polar Bear' and 'Vapor Trail' for me - good memories from a study abroad year in Canterbury - I came back to the states and basically thought US rockist guitar bands sucked for a good couple of years.

"Seagull" is still one of the only songs I can think of that channels The Byrds and Hawkwind so explosively at the same time.

Yeah, that's a good way to describe it, Mackro. Did you ever witness it live?

Pound for pound, the 'Today Forever' EP alone is better than (the 8- or 11-track) Nowhere, easily

I can't agree with this at all. I found it disappointing at the time, apart from 'Unfamiliar'.

I saw Ride on the "Today Forever" tour, with Slowdive as the support band. That was March or April 91. It was like shoegazing heaven. Ride were awesome live, and it was a dream set list (except for the lack of "Here and now"). Those strobes during the noisy bits of "DBD"! The sheer sonic assault on "Seagull"! Fantastic night. Slowdive in comparison were a poorly mixed sludge of reverb and noise.

Yeah, I saw them then too. I'm pretty sure it was March. I saw them in Kilburn and they were absolutely amazing. I saw them six times in total, but that was the best one.

I saw Ride only once in early 1991 on the Nowhere tour, when they co-headlined with Lush on their Gala tour. This was at the Roxy in West Hollywood. Lush was the headliner that night. I was there mainly for Ride, who were great, but I stuck around for Lush and thought they were better that night... Ride were great, but they pretty much had their performance style in place for the entire set. Lush was a bit more memorable and dynamic.

Anyway, yes, saw them.. awesome.. etc.

dreams burn down. today

-- Alan, Tuesday, 27 May 2008 12:07 (2 days ago) Bookmark Link

haha, if we were counting the Today Forever EP then these would be my TWO inseparable choices! No dice, though, so DBD it is.

'kaleidoscope' just because the alternateen station where i grew up started off just being on at night and they would play the entire album and 'kaleidoscope' was the first song from the album i ever heard on the radio. greg st james said he liked it, i was impressionable then.

i sense electricsound seething over this entire thread

by no means! actually i haven't sat down to listen to this album in a loooong time. i should dig it out of the crates

well you should be!

I used to love Ride, but their impact on me has diminished over time, which is quite not-nice. :(

Anyway "Dreams Burn Down" for its fuckoffwallfonoise guitar.

If there was to be a Going Blank Again poll I'd also vote for LTAB, UNLESS of course the four extra tracks on the CD reissue made the cut, in which case Howard Hughes all the way. I actually think GBA is very good throughout, though, and considerably better than Nowhere. I appreciate that this makes me faintly batshit. It really helps that all four extra tracks are fucking strong.

Its between decay & here and now for me

I have a signed copy of GBA, i bunked off school the day it was released and went down to tower records :D I was pretty disappointed with gba at the time tho

Polar Bear all the way.

Finally voted Kaleidoscope, as, like many others, it was the first one (shortly followed by Taste) that I fell for. Polar Bear was the ditherer.

i much much prefer GBA. i would still much prefer GBA over Nowhere even without LTAB. i am also batshit. apparently.

GBA is better, I think, because the crisper production and more upbeat songwriting style gives the album a more overtly psych-rock, less overtly shoegaze aesthetic, which I think suits Ride down to the ground. Nowhere's great but it doesn't set about kicking your ass nearly so much, it tries to winsomely charm you into submission. Ride, on those first two albums at least, were always better at their most confident.

crisper and less thin. GBA is a chunky farmhouse soup, nowhere is a distinctive and tasty, but thin broth.

There are some very average songs on GBA. The opener and the closer (OX4) are good. Time Machine is ok, but the rest is average jangle, really. Ride were atrocious at lyrics weren't they? A better place for them to go would have been the 'grasshopper' intrumental on the LTAB 12", which is like the Cure gone pomp prog, and lasts about 5 hours. It's much more interesting than the lightweight fodder on the rest of GBA.

GBA is one of those albums where i know and look forward to every track.

There are some very average songs on GBA. The opener and the closer (OX4) are good. Time Machine is ok, but the rest is average jangle, really. Ride were atrocious at lyrics weren't they?

OTM. Really childish lyrics on GBA (e.g. Not Fazed, Making Judy Smile), plus an overdose of the 'oooooh...oooooooh' thing (which was OK when it was just on Polar Bear and Taste, but very wearing when it's on virtually every track).

Plus vocally, they did often sound like teenagers with blocked noses.

"the Cure gone pomp prog" is a very unfair description of Grasshopper xp. It's great. I found another instrumental once called 'Coming Up For Air' which is pretty fine too. Teasingly, the one I have is marked 'part 7 of 8' - are there seven other parts out there somewhere?

poor "Paralysed"

One track I love that's not been getting love is "Decay"

Ismael, I think the Cure going 'pomp prog' is a great idea, and I didn't intend it to be a criticism. It's something Ride should have done more of. The 'ahhhh ahhhs' on GBA really date them to that time. Grasshopper is like something very few bands have attempted. Proggy as anything, it sounds like it should be a soundtrack to an extremely bleak Lukas Moodysson film.

Grasshopper isn't pomp prog, it's shoerave. Honestly, it's structured like a dance track, extended breakdown and all, just done with psychedelic shoegazey instrumentation. Those screams are the very essence of rave.

's ok xp, I just react badly to any mentions of: a) the Cure; and b) prog. It made me imagine Loz and Steve dressed up in wizard outfits and full clown make-up - not a good look in my view. Agreed 100% that it would make a great soundtrack, ideally to something like 'Badlands'.

Anyway, back to my question: what is 'Coming Up For Air', and why do I only have one-eighth of it?

Is this what you're talking about?
http://www.rideox4.net/coming.html

Dreams Burn Down was my favourite song in the world when I first heard it, but Vapour Trail has stuck with me closer for some reason. A really hard decision but VP edges it (I may create a sock puppet to vote for DBD tho).

I'm really bummed that I apparently don't have this on my iPod right now.

I'm bummed out that I don't have fucking Grasshopper on my iPod right now!

I'm really happy cos I just so happen to have a mix CD on me which ends with "Grasshopper" so I'll be playing in on the way home from work tonight.

That's the one xp. I didn't even know about this reunion! Or did I? That would explain why Mark and Andy were on the radio together reminiscing I suppose. It saddens me that I'm never going to find the other seven parts - they must be like the very tip of the long tail.

Saw them over the summer and they were great. Read an old Nitsuh review of the Field Mice that noted a surprising sonic connection between the bands.

"Seagull" really is the best opener of any shoegaze album isn't it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xy44DgD_F6g-