Tag: Andy Bell

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Tunes

Best tunes of 2020: #9 Andy Bell “Love comes in waves”

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Ever since pioneering shoegaze rock band, Ride, called it quits rather spectacularly back in 1995, I’d been firmly planted in camp Mark Gardener in terms of following the post-breakup careers of the two warring principal songwriters and driving forces behind the band. I’d always preferred his voice and with the exception of “Vapour trail“, enjoyed far more the songs he led with Ride. I always thought he’d do greater things. Who knew the opposite would turn out to be true?

Sure, Gardener was the first of the two to record and release a solo album by a long shot. However, Bell seemed to get back on the horse quicker, forming Hurricane #1 in 1996, a band of whom I’ve still only heard a few tracks but who released a couple of reasonably successful albums before breaking up a few years later*. Shortly after that, he was recruited by the Gallagher brothers to replace founding Oasis member Guigsy, a job for which he had to quickly learn the bass. He stuck with them until their rude implosion a decade later** and stayed on with Liam for a couple of albums under the Beady Eye moniker. Fans (and readers of this blog) will know that Ride successfully reunited just over ten years ago and not only toured but have released three amazing new albums that build beautifully on their legacy. There’s also been a host of other collaborations and projects that I know little about or only heard tell of so I won’t list them, but know Mr Bell has been quite active indeed.

And in the midst of all this productivity, Andy Bell has been writing, recording and tinkering with songs, a step away from all of these projects, refining and honing sounds, lyrics and melodies. Apparently, “The view from halfway down” became something more than just a ragtag collection of song snippets shortly after David Bowie’s death, this event lighting a fire under Bell’s comfy chair. As a debut solo album, it works perfectly, recognizable enough as Andy Bell but different enough to set it apart from his other projects. And, yeah, some excellent tracks here.

“If you’re searching for meaning
Or a secret worth revealing
And you’re missing the feeling
Of connection, a reflection back from above
You’re ready to ride the first wave of love”

“Love comes in waves” is the opening number and the lead single from the album, a clarion call, a demand for attention. It’s frenetic jangling guitars repeating and not giving up, pounding it in to you, dancing up and down your spine. Meanwhile, the drums just chug along, breathless and immovable, like the unbreakable ocean that he’s comparing with love. A thing of beauty that creates a space that I would definitely want to revisit again and again, sometimes dancing, sometime just being.

*Hurricane #1 was re-formed by cofounder Alex Lowe without Bell and really, the rest of the original lineup in 2014.

**Of course, he was asked to join them on their wildly successful reunion tour this past summer/fall as well.

For the rest of the Best tunes of 2020 list, click here.

Categories
Albums

Best albums of 1990: #3 Ride “Nowhere”

At album number three on this best albums of 1990 list, we are getting even more iconic.

Ride is the legendary original shoegaze quartet from Oxford, England. Mark Gardener, Andy Bell, Steve Queralt, and Loz Colbert first formed the band back in 1988 and created a buzz with a string of cool singles. They were extraordinary for the genre in that they were relatively commercially successful, even during the first go around, even performing on some of the hip TV music shows at the time. They released four albums but the last did them in and they split acrimoniously in 1996. Of course, they re-formed triumphantly almost twenty years later, in 2014, toured globally a number of times, and have released three more excellent albums.  And yeah, they are still a going concern.

“Nowhere” was Ride’s debut album. Originally released with a track listing of eight songs, the version I first heard was substantially longer with a bunch of bonus tracks from an earlier EP tacked on. This wasn’t my first exposure to Ride. I got a copy of it based on my love for their sophomore album, 1992’s “Going blank again”, which was passed to me on dubbed cassette from my friend Tim and I nearly wore out from playing. The debut by comparison was a lot more raw and immediate, with much less programming and a cleaner production. But I grew to love it just as much as the sophomore.

“Nowhere” was genre defining. It is a mass of swirling guitars, intense basslines, heavy drums, and the layered duo lead vocals of Mark and Andy just hanging out deep in the mix. Pure shoegaze perfection. Each of the eight tracks is now a classic but I’ve selected three for you to sample, just in case you’ve never had the pleasure before.

“Seagull“: “You gave me things I’d never seen. You made my life a waking dream.” The opening track on “Nowhere” is a six plus minute explosion of sounds. It is a miasma of four musicians playing the hell out of their instruments. Though somewhat buried in the haze, Loz is going full-on animal on the kit. Queralt’s bass line, though, refuses to be ignored, as muscle-bound as they come, relentless, hammering and holding up everything on a platter. Meanwhile, Bell and Gardener are punishing their guitars, playing against and with each other, conversing between jangle and feedback, and at the same time, their duo vocal attack adds yet another layer to the noise. All of it, like a tangled web to pick through, each line interesting to pull out and examine but all of it best taken together, like a tasty sugar pill that explodes in your mouth.

“Dreams burn down”: “Lying on the floor, the tears are falling down and more, her eyes speak loud but actions speak the best.” On “Dreams burn down”, Gardener takes the lead, singing about the breakup of a relationship, probably one-sided, evoking the despondency of endings. The verses are measured and even and melancholy. The drums laconic, the bass line warm and embracing, and the guitars chime, evoking a haunting, early hours feeling, where the question is raised on whether or not to finish the dregs of that last drink. But each of these verses are rudely interrupted by a burst of noise, as if each of the instruments are ripped away from their corresponding musicians and railed against by a demon intent on destroying them. The volume is flipped to eleven, matching the angst and flood of emotion. It’s almost too much. But just when you are thinking it might be a good idea to get up and adjust it, so as not to anger the neighbours, Andy, Mark, Loz, and Steve right the ship, and you settle back into your comfy spot in the bed of sound, sighing… until the next explosion and the next.

“Vapour trail”:* “Thirsty for your smile, I watch you for a while. You are a vapour trail in a deep blue sky.” “Vapour trail” is easily Ride’s most recognizable and popular tune for a reason. And even Andy Bell, who wrote this particular track, has been quoted as saying that this is the song of which he is most proud from that era. It closes “Nowhere” with a bang and an exclamation point. The funky drums that won’t quit and that string coda leads the listener reluctantly away from such an explosive mess of noise and begs for a click on the repeat button. There has been lots of conjecture over the use of effects to create that sweet guitar line that pulls the whole song together but Bell has been adamant that it came about naturally. They achieved it by twinning twelve string Rickenbackers and you can almost picture Bell looking at Mark Gardener with a nod and a smile, free and easy, embodying the whole mood of the song. It’s eyes closed on the dance floor, not quite dancing but shuffling, and not a care in the world, except for the fear that the song might end. Unfortunately, it does but the ecstasy stays, fading slowly, that beautiful, shimmering C-sharp minor–B–A–E chord progression reverbering in your eardrums.

*Pardon the bit of self-plagiarism here but I couldn’t help it. I don’t think I could have said it better than I did when I posted words for this song when it appeared at number three as part of my best tunes of 1990 list… so I didn’t…

We’ll be back in a handful of days with album #2. In the meantime, here are the previous albums in this list:

10. The Northern Pikes “Snow in June”
9. Jane’s Addiction “Ritual de lo habitual”
8. Sinéad O’Connor “I do not want what I haven’t got”
7. The La’s “The La’s”
6. Concrete Blonde “Bloodletting”
5. Spirit of the West “Save this house”
4. The Sisters of Mercy “Vision thing”

You can also check out my Best Albums page here if you’re interested in my other favourite albums lists.

Categories
Albums

Best albums of 2024: #2 Ride “Interplay”

Unlike the last three albums up to this point, albums by bands that have yet to be featured in any of my Best albums lists, those of you who might have come across this site before might have seen words written about the band behind this next album.

Ride.

I feel like I have loved them forever, even though I know it’s only really been just over thirty years. I’ve already shared words on these pages about my introduction to the group via a dubbed cassette of their sophomore album from my friend Tim and that anthemic first track, “Leave them all behind“.

I didn’t know it at the time but the quartet had formed six years earlier and were already on the downward trajectory from being the poster boys and the most commercially successful act of the group of bands lumped together under the pejorative moniker ‘shoegaze’*. Their third and fourth albums saw diminishing returns and the band split in 1996, none of the four members looking back.

After their magical reunion in 2014 and subsequent tours, albums started appearing from the Ride camp. Despite early concerns about where or how these would fit within their historic back catalogue, I really liked each of the new post-reunion albums. Indeed, 2019’s “This is not a safe place” appeared at number four on my Best albums list for that year. And now here we are, just over four years later, and their latest is my second favourite album of 2024 and is vying heavily to be in consideration for favourite by the group.

Mark Gardener, Andy Bell, Steve Queralt, and Loz Colbert, much like their contemporaries in the five members of Slowdive, seem to be improving as a group with every release. They are not rehashing their glory days, nor are they ignoring it. They are embracing what people loved about them back then and building upon it and they are just have a blast recording and playing together again.

Each of these twelve tracks are so excellent and are worth your time, but especially these three that I’ve picked for you. Put on some headphones and thank me later.

“Monaco”: “Broken by this country, we get smashed into pieces. Better take these pills ’cause everything’s for sale.” According to songwriter Mark Gardener, it was inspired by his realization and anger at all the financial troubles he was seeing around him. The name that had been assigned to it during demo tracking was purely coincidental but it fit, so Gardener worked it into the lyrics, taking aim at the perceived rich community in south California. It kicks off with a drum machine and uses synths to push the stuffed envelope forward. It’s bright and full of energy and shimmers like a strobe personified. All four members sound alive in their passion, overtaking the programming with their crashing cymbals, a muscular bass that Hooky would be proud of, and some Marr-like jangly arpeggios thrown in for good measure.

“Last night I went somewhere to dream“: “Running from a life that’s running out of time, believing in a future that won’t be yours or mine.” I’ve heard some voices out there question whether this classic shoegaze band can still be termed ’shoegaze’ in the classic sense. But listening to this track over and over again, I find myself thinking that I don’t care at all what you term them. This is a song that this band wouldn’t have made and probably wouldn’t have been able to make thirty-five odd years ago. Hammering drums pounding deep into your soul and the bass line a foreboding rumble of distant thunder. Sustained keys punctuating and echoing all over the place. Gardener’s vocals are assured and beg to be sung along with and Bell seems only so happy to add his voice and jangly guitars to the proceeedings. The song is dreamy, yeah, but it is also rich in dreaming for the future and is hopeful and beautiful.

“Peace sign”: “Give me a peace sign, throw your hands in the air. Give me a peace sign, let me know you’re there.” Ah yes, Peace Sign. The opening number does its job with verve and excitement and exuding all the passion you might expect from a bunch of fresh-faced youngsters, not these battle hardened veterans. But there it is. Bell’s guitars thunder up and down and Loz keeps the pace frenetic and peppy, albeit with the help of some programming. But what I love most about this track is the dual attack vocals of Bell and Gardener, harkening back to the early days when they took this approach due to less confidence. But here, the two working together and harmonizing beautifully is a massive vote of optimism. “Give me a peace sign.” Yeah. Give us all a peace sign in these crazy and chaotic times. We need more music like this.

*For fans of this alt rock subgenre, I highly recommend the 331/3 genre series instalment written by Ryan Pinkard based interviews with everyone who’s everyone that was involved in the original scene. I read it just after the new year. Excellent stuff.

We’ll be back in a handful of days with album #1. In the meantime, here are the previous albums in this list:

10. Quivers “Oyster cuts”
9. The Jesus And Mary Chain “Glasgow eyes”
8. The Last Dinner Party “Prelude to ecstasy”
7. Vampire Weekend “Only god was above us”
6. Real Estate “Daniel”
5. Wild Pink “Dulling the horns”
4. Wunderhorse “Midas”
3. Gift “Illuminator”

You can also check out my Best Albums page here if you’re interested in my other favourite albums lists.