Sunday, October 29, 2006



Ride - Waves (BBC Sessions 1990-1994)

A vastly underrated band from the great 'Madchester' era, even though they hail from Oxford. I still remember hearing 'Vapour Trail' for the first time and how blown away that I was and still have a deep respect for this band. For some reason (lack of commercial sound, willingness to sell-out...) they never reached the heights that lesser contemporaries achieved. I can't help but believe that fame didn't mean all that much to them - they did what they did best and bowed out after several great discs. Besides, isn't Andy Bell with Oasis now? I am sure he prefers critical acclaim to worldwide sycophancy anyways. Here are 17 tracks - some recorded for the immortal Mr. Peel and the rest for other BBC luminaries and showcase a more lo-fi approach to their performances but does nothing to take away any of the towering wall-of-guitars that they had perfected. Such great musicianship and thoughtful lyrics - no wonder they never made a big splash in America.

1. Like A Daydream
2. Dreams Burn Down
3. Perfect Time
4. Sight Of You
5. All I Can See
6. Decay
7. Severance
8. Time Of Her Time
9. Not Fazed
10. Mouse Trap
11. Birdman
12. Walk On Water
13. Since Then
14. Crown Of Creation
15. Get Lost
16. 1000 Miles
17. I Dont Know Where It Comes From

link in comments and thanks to the folks at SFRP for hooking a brother up with this one.

4 comments:

Daddy Rich said...

http://tinyurl.com/y2t3kp

Anonymous said...

Thanks man!! Ride is my favorite "shoegaze" band ever!!

KiDG said...

Darn! You beat me to it...

Heh, never mind I'll probably wait a couple more posts besides putting this up at my side. Great band, brilliant album...

Why the hell is Andy Bell rotting away in Oasis?!!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting some rarities from arguably the greatest forgotten band of the shoegaze/Britpop era. If memory serves (you're not the only old guy), the Charlatans and Inspiral Carpets seemed to generate more buzz. But the foundation of both those bands' sounds was the Hammond organ. I've always been a guitar guy, and Ride were the best guitar band of that scene, at least until Stone Roses and then Oasis came along. Ride definitely listened to My Bloody Valentine and the Jesus and Mary Chain in their spare time, and they compare favorably with those two legendary noise-pop bands.