RIDE rode off into the Oxford sunset in 1996, since when the stock of the art-school pretty boys has risen to the point where Coldplay's Chris Martin admits In My Place is Ride's Dreams Burn Down in disguise.
Latterly their albums have been re-issued and boxed up in a box set, and now Waves collates all 17 tracks recorded in five BBC studio sessions between 1990 and 1994 for Radio 1. Naturally reticent, with the convenient curtain of long fringes, Ride suffered from the cursed 'shoegazing' tag, but when stripped of the fashion of the time, these speedily recorded versions for John Peel's show affirm the undimmed beauty of their early, wistful melodies, guitar pedal to the floor, drums as heavy as a headache. Guitarist Andy Bell will not be alone in thinking the Peel-backed likes of Like A Daydream and Dreams Burn Down "sound better than the official versions". Alas the sessions from 1992 and 1994 only mirror Ride's decline from blistering to ponderous. "Not bad for five days' work," says Bell. Not bad, not great; like Ride's career.
Updated: 09:43 Thursday, September 04, 2003
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