| 657 | Mark Brown | Ride should reform for their old fans whose love affair with them was perhaps cut too abruptly short, as well as owing it to the world to give the public the chance to enjoy some top tunes, especially younger generations who will undoubtably appreciate this rich seam of musical quality long since buried from public view. Ride were a great band, with a highly original perspective in song craft whose quality over time stands up to being able to be descibed as being truly great. Their music can essentially be divided into two distinct styles, the first their early music on 4 EP and the album Nowhere was lauded at the time, and much of it still stands up, though I feel that all 4 of the Eps were of better quality than their actual 1st album. The 2nd period marks their evolvement to a new rockier sound. Again, there are standout songs which really are all time classics, particularly "Birdman" & "Chrome Waves". There are also a number of brilliant siongs on their last album which remain a secret to many people, including "Black Nite Crash", "Sunshine/Nowhere to Run", "The Dawn Patrol", "Castle on the Hill" and "Ride the Wind". But perhaps their best music comes in the period between albums 1 & 2 - the "Today Forever EP", especially the song "Today". Along with "Chelsea Girl", "All I Can See", "Drive Blind", "Close my Eyes" and "Seagull", they mark the definitive Ride sound lost to many, whose eyes would light up upon hearing it again. |