Back catalog reissues from Ride have come over the past years in drips and drabs – Nowhere was re-pressed on wax in 2010 and 2015, Going Blank Again in 2012, and all as limited editions – but today marks the first widely-available, multi-title reissue campaign for the band. The band’s first four EPs – Ride, Play, Fall, and Today Forever – are being compiled as 4 EPs and new editions of Nowhere and Going Blank Again are coming to market on vinyl and CD, all courtesy of Wichita Recordings.
I’d previously wondered if the last two Ride phase one records – 1994’s Carnival of Light and 1996’s Tarantula – would also be re-released, but if there’s one entry in their catalog I’d personally like to get remastered and on vinyl, it’s their 2003 compilation of BBC recordings, Waves.
Originally released in 2003, the very nadir of shoegaze, it collects five of the band’s BBC Radio One sessions between February 1990 and July 1994, with tracks from the earliest EPs through Carnival Of Light as well as a couple of covers by Pale Saints and Dead Can Dance. Recorded live off the floor, it sounds gloriously dry and immediate, proving these songs didn’t need all the studio effects and overdubs to shine.
And an interesting footnote on the album comes from Ride Digital Archive fan site:
Due to CD time constraints, three tracks from the above sessions were omitted – ‘Here and Now’ (2nd Peel session), ‘Making Judy Smile’ (1st Goodier session) and ‘Walk On Water’ (Radcliffe session). These tracks have been restored for the download version available from ridemusic.net
Ride / Waves @ Ride Digital Archive
Of course, the ridemusic.net site is no longer active, nor is the associated store, so as far as I can tell there’s no longer any way to get a hold of those extra tracks, and the Waves comp itself is not on any streaming services. But the band has the rights – they reissued it on CD in 2012 – so it’s not unreasonable to think it’ll be included in future reissue plans, perhaps to boost excitement around those last couple albums… One can hope. Until then, at least it’s available on YouTube:
