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.
My (life in) music lists 