Album Review: Ride - Going Blank Again

It's hard to believe that it's been 20 years since the release of UK shoegaze pioneers Ride's second album, Going Blank Again, but then time stops for no band. There was an immense weight of expectation on the young four-piece to deliver on the promise of their 1990 debut, Nowhere, and they initially set out to make a double album, but having had that idea quashed by the record company they chose ten songs from the 25 they'd recorded and – unlike some of their peers – delivered on the challenge with the strong follow-up to a successful opening gambit.

Even though across the pond grunge was exploding, around Ride in the UK at the time were bands like My Bloody Valentine and Swervedriver, so they stayed in the realm of distortion and 'wall of sound' guitars, even if Going Blank Again is far less dense than Nowhere, at times seeming almost poppy in comparison. Opening track, Leave Them All Behind, is like a statement of intent, eight minutes of hazy guitars and meandering melody, followed by the one-two punch of the poppy Twisterella, and the more visceral Not Fazed, this eclectic nature becoming a hallmark of the album. There are a couple of relative misfires, but for the most part Ride's key strength was the complementary songwriting skills of Mark Gardener and Andy Bell, whose later falling out ushered in the band's demise.

The reissue includes four solid bonus tracks, beautiful packaging (including track-by-track liner notes from the band) and the 1992 concert documentary, Live At Brixton, making this a must-have for any fan of shoegaze and a more-then-interesting artefact for fans of guitar music in general.