Light On Dark Water

Ride: Vapour Trail

Weekend Music

Yeah, ok, I can't resist starting this up again,  mainly because there's always something I want to share. This is one of the bands of the early '90s for whom the term "shoegazer" was coined. Originally it referred to peforming mannerisms: standing still, looking down. Now it means…well, stuff that sounds something like this:

 

For some time I had been hearing Ride mentioned along with Slowdive as the best of the shoegazer bands. Since Slowdive made some of my very most favorite music of the past 20-plus years (thanks to Daniel for introducing me to them), I naturally wanted to hear Ride. Several years ago I bought some tracks from a live album (because it was the only one available on eMusic) that didn't especially grab me, so it was only recently that I decided to try this one, Nowhere, which seems to be considered their best. And I do like it, though not nearly as much as the best of Slowdive.

Maclin Horton
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5 responses to “Ride: Vapour Trail”

  1. Rob G

    Good song. I feel the same way about Ride as you do — some very good songs but on the whole not as memorable as Slowdive. My favorite Ride tune is this one:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njyrC_We6XQ
    Do you know the band Catherine Wheel? Their first couple albums from that same era were pretty good, but then they went more in a straight hard rock/metal direction which I didn’t find all that interesting.
    How about Doves, or more recently, The National? (Clips provided on request.) 😉

    Reply
  2. Mac

    Oh yeah, I love most of CW’s album Ferment, which I think is their first. Never heard another entire album of theirs, though I’ve heard the occasional track. Doves, no, haven’t heard them, although it sort of rings a bell so maybe you’ve mentioned them before. I like what I’ve heard of The National, which is mainly the album…heck, the name is escaping me, but it has the Blood Buzz song on it.
    On first hearing this Ride song doesn’t really grab me, but I’ve found that to be true with most of Nowhere–I think I’ve heard it all the way through three times, and it got better each time.

    Reply
  3. Rob G

    The 2nd CW album, ‘Chrome’ is pretty good too. ‘High Violet’ is the Nationals’ disc. That’s one of my faves of the past few years.
    Doves did two outstanding albums in the early 2000’s — ‘Lost Souls’ and ‘The Last Broadcast.’ The three since then have been spotty. They’re not really shoegazer stuff, but there’s enough of that influence there to give them that sort of attractive sound.
    From the first album:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mG_IMd4lFQs
    A good live version of a song from the 2nd record:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zaf3J1kw3R8

    Reply
  4. Mac

    I really like that first one, the second one not as much–not bad but seems more ordinary. That led me to one called Kingdom of Rust, which I like and which has a nice video:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFM0pUn4dcA

    Reply
  5. Rob G

    Yeah, that’s from one of the later records. I don’t know those ones as well. I will say that the first two are outstanding headphone albums — a lot of really interesting stuff going on sonically, little things that you tend to miss listening in the car or whatever.

    Reply

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