Track Listing

1. Leave Them All Behind
2. Twisterella
3. Not Fazed
4. Chrome Waves
5. Mousetrap
6. Time Of Her Time
7. Cool Your Boots
8. Making Jody Smile
9. Time Machine
10. Dx4

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #54852 in Music
• Released on: 2006-02-06
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Extra tracks
• Dimensions: .22 pounds

CD Description
Ride set themselves a tough task by having to follow up their excellent full-length debut, NOWHERE, an album that stillstands as one of the finest examples of Britain's shoegazermovement. Fortunately, the band rose to the task. While notquite as immediately striking or hypnotic as NOWHERE, GOINGBLANK AGAIN is a charmingly different kettle of fish.
Ofcourse, there is plenty of the band's trademark epic sonic play, including oceans of layered guitars shot through with distortion and effects, shimmering psychedelic textures, andthumping bass and drums. But GOING BLANK AGAIN is much brighter and more pop-oriented than its predecessor, with songs like "Twisterella" and "Not Fazed" making ample use of chiming guitar lines and catchy melodic hooks. While the dark-and-gloomy, drone-fixated shoegazer fans may disparage the record, Ride's sophomore release shows the band building on their sound while polishing their popcraft.

Customer Reviews

Tremendous
I'm pretty young, 21 to be exact so for obvious reasons I was never into Ride while they were a band. However, I've always classed myself as a bit of an indie kid, but christ I hate modern indie bands. Razorlight, Babyshambles, The View etc etc man they all sound exactly the same, like punk with the distortion turned down.

Ride are the perfect example of how good indie once was, pre-dating Britpop they wrote some cracking albums... this is their best I reckon.

Ambitious to say the least, starting an album with a track just over 8 minutes long, but it works. The juxtaposition is amazing as Leave Them All Behind finishes and the classic pop tune that is Twisterella kicks in.

A lot of people would say Carnival Of Light is Ride's best effort, I'm not saying that's wrong but this one is certainly my personal favourite. It's a little more self-indulgent and places and maybe a bit more of a challenge to get into, but it's ultimately the more rewarding listen.

Welcome reissue of classic 1992 album
There was a lot of pressure for Ride to deliver a classic album by the music press- who declared this a failure and touted Suede & Verve as succesors- despite the fact grunge was the dominant genre with the impact of 'Nevermind'...Next to that 'GBA' seems a bit-prog rock; listening to it now it appears to have transcended its time & become a lost classic.

'Leave them all Behind' (a top-10 hit!) is the Nine-minute opener: a blend of The Who's 'Baba O'Riley' and their own 'Drive Blind' (with a hint of 'Disintergration'-Cure). This song is huge and features jangly acoustic guitars, "sky-high-fly"-lyrics, a Cure style bassline & an epic feedback conclusion. And the oblique statement-"I don't care about the colours...lights".

'Twisterella' is a great pop song, a typical Ride blend of feedback & The Byrds/Gene Clark. The lyrics capture the city & the hedonism on offer, in the wake of their success. It is somewhere between jaded & giving yourself up to these times.

'Not fazed' is a great groove- influenced by Happy Mondays- with a short, silly lyric. This is followed by 'Chrome Waves' (better than the more acoustic version on the 'Box Set'); it's a bit sci-fi (P K Dick, Ballard) and precedes Radiohead's similar work on 'OK Computer'.

'Mouse Trap' sounds like a follow-up to 'Seagull'- and despite some mediocre lyrics has some great guitar adventures. 'Time of her Time' (title from a Norman Mailer book) sounds like early Ride- such as 'Perfect Time' or 'Chelsea Girl'. 'Cool Your Boots' is another classic,sampling the same line from 'Withnail & I' that Orbital did on 'Planet of the Shapes' (its title courtesy of Danny the Headhunter); Lawrence Colbert's drumming are, as ever, excellent here. 'Making Judy Smile' sounds like 'Goo'-Sonic Youth covering The Kinks; it is not far from 'Revolver'-Beatles (though not anywhere close to the nostalgic pastiche of later works).

'Time Machine' exhibits an intro that could have been on Massive Attack's debut; this gives way to a Peter Hook style bassline- an extension on New Order's 'Dream Attack'. This leads to closer 'OX4', where Mark Gardener ponders the meaning of success & the passage of time & distance between temporary home & hometown. The keyboards are wonderful- and it is a shame they generally abandoned this direction (touring & Andy Bell's 60's influences neutered them after this). It sounds great today- the missing link between 'Who's Next' & 'OK Computer'.

More than welcome, like a best friend you haven't seen in ages (and at a budget price).

"Just let it flow"

One of the greatest albums ever?
Well, at least that's my opinion. If you'll indulge me for a few moments I shall try to explain why. As previous reviews explain, Ride are criminally underated. They either tend to get completely ignored or are lumped in with other early 90's bands such as Primal Scream, The Charlatans, Blur, The La's etc. Whilst all these are no doubt fine bands, they didn't have that extra something that made Ride special (until Tarantula that is). To me, this album encapsulates the early trippy feel of Nowhere (Time Machine, Twisterella) but also gives a glimpse of the more 60's feel found on Carnival of Light (Making Judy Smile, Chrome Waves). That said, it has a sound all of it's own and only one that Ride could've produced.

It opens with the magnificent 8 minute Leave Them All Behind before Twisterella immediately kicks - surely one of the best examples of early 90's indie pop. Not Fazed, Chrome Waves and Mouse Trap, whilst still better than anything their peers could muster, only serve to whet the appetite for the awesome double header of Time of her Time (she thought that I would care, thought that I'd be there - think again..) and my personal favourite Ride track of all time (and therefore one of my favourite tracks ever) Cool Your Boots. Laurence Colbert's drumming has never sounded better, Andy Bell's absurdly catchy hook dominates proceedings and Mark Gardner's vocals just seems to drift beautifully over the entire 6 minutes. If you love Withnail and I then well, that's just an added bonus.

If that wasn't enough I have yet to find a better 2 songs with which to close an album than Time Machine and OX4. All in all, simply magnificent. Buy it now - or forever remain in the dark.