Ride

Ride乐队成立于1988年的牛津，的牛津走出的最有影响力的乐队。乐队的四名成员，Andy Bell，Mark Gardener，Laurence Colbert, Steve Queralt相识于Banbury艺术学院。乐队于1996年解散。2001年乐队曾短暂的重组为BBC做了一次表演。
 
乐队的两位灵魂人物Andy和Mark相识于牛津的Cheney School，1988年10月，两人进入Banbury艺术学院继续学业，结识了Laurence Colbert和Steve Queralt。Andy说他是被The Smith的一场演出激发了组建乐队的想法。在1988年末的圣诞晚会上乐队做了第一次演出。在校期间乐队录制了一张Demo，录制地点是Steve Queralt的寝室和门厅，包含了"Chelsea Girl" 和 "Drive Blind".这样日后著名的曲目。The Jesus and Mary Chain的JimReid听到了这张Demo，这引起了他们的经纪人Alan McGee的兴趣，1989年以慧眼识珠而著称的Alan McGee将Ride签入Creation Record。日后，Andy Bell被评为当代三大吉他手之一，Creation的Golden boy，Ride在Creation旗下发行的《Nowhere》和《Going blank Again》是Shoegazing中的绝世之作。
 
1990年一月到九月Ride发行了三张EP：《Ride》、《Play》和《Fall》。《Ride》和《Play》两张EP合并为《Smile》于90年7月在美国发行。1990年10月，乐队发行了他们的第一张专辑《Nowhere》，这张专辑被评论界公认为Shoegazing运动中的里程碑式专辑之一—近一个小时的旋律缥缈的吉他噪音宛如声音洪流一般将你吞没，带你进入一种半催眠的迷幻状态。（似乎没有其它音乐流派比Shoegazing更能对吉他噪音进行如此完整的诠释）就像专辑封面所呈现出的概念一样，看似波澜不惊的海面充满了细碎的波纹并且蕴藏着吞没一切的巨大能量（足以摧毁一个正常人的心智）。这张专辑的成功使媒体将ride评为91年最值得期待的乐队。1991年3月，乐队发行了Ep TodayForever。Ride开始了他们第一次国际巡演，去到日本，澳大利亚，法国等地，日本站的门票在几分钟内售完。
 
1992年2月，Ride的单曲"Leave Them All Behind",闯进英国流行榜单的top 10。1992年3月，乐队发行第二张专辑《Going Blank Again》，这张专辑被视为乐队在Shoegazing时期最具代表性的作品，在这张专辑中，乐队的创作力和对噪音墙的运用日渐完美，乐队里两位惯用哇音踏板的核心人物Andy和Mark之间的默契配合依然是高水平音乐的保证。
 
1994年，乐队发行了第三张专辑《Carnival of Light》。专辑由John Leckie制作（曾担任Stone Roses，Radiohead的音乐制作人）在音乐风格上有不小的转变，多少受到当时盛行的Brit-Pop影响，旋律相对于之前的Shoegazing风格，变得更加流畅、相对缓慢，自然这张专辑也在乐迷中引发了不小的争议——对它的评价几乎是两个极端。或许这不是他们最具革命性质的一张专辑，没有前两张专辑中那样过于厚重的利用吉他噪音和后期制作产生的‘音墙’，但不可否认这是一张可听性相当高的专辑，在‘Moonlight Medicine’、‘RollingThunder’中，似乎能隐约感到印度音乐对他们的影响；而像‘Birdman’、‘From Time to Time’、‘HowDoesIt Feel to Feel?’都是他们后期风格的代表作。在录制这张专辑时，Andy和Mark的分歧日益严重，andy曾说不愿自己的歌和Mark的放在一张专辑中，最后的结果是专辑的前一半是Mark的歌，后一半是Andy的歌。这张专辑并不为媒体好评，乐队也渐渐走向解散。
 
1996年乐队发行了最后一张专辑《Tarantula》，Andy对此专辑报以很大的期望，但Mark放逐自己，极少参与专辑的录制。最终，在专辑发行的同时，乐队宣布解散。在录制过程中Mark和Andy之间的隔阂已经产生了做用，Mark在专辑中所占的份量明显减轻了，大部分曲子是由Andy Bell独立创作的。离别的伤感和对未来前景的怀疑，不安情绪笼罩了整张专辑，12首曲子显得格外的真切，感人。与乐队的上一张专辑《Carnivalo flight》相比，《Tarantula》更接近于乐队早期作品的风格，既以迷幻和民谣为基本元素，适度地添加一些电吉他噪音效果，清新闲适中透过一种别样不安和无奈。毕竟，THE STONE ROSES，RIDE这类的曼彻斯特乐队所玩出的电吉他噪音和朋克式的狂躁有着很大的不同，RIDE这张专辑中的"WallonWater"是很能说明这种差异的，它必需与英国清新悦耳的音乐感觉相协调。虽说曼彻斯特风格多以流畅明快，洒脱不驹的体现新一代嬉皮青年乐派的快歌为标志，而RIDE的这张专辑中也不泛类似作品，但"Mary Anne""Castle" on thehill""Ride the wind"这类的慢歌这次却显的格外引人注目。"Mary Anne"后段长长的迷幻吉他SOLO听的人腾云驾雾，"Castle"on the hill"是Andy写给Mark的一声叹息，其间有一段木吉他和电吉他的对答重奏，皆是罕有的绝妙佳作。
 
乐队解散后，Mark Gardener和Laurence Colbert组建了The Animalhouse，Steve Queralt离开了摇滚乐，在牛津某足球队踢球，并结婚生子。Andy投身于他心爱的brit-pop浪潮，于1997年组建乐队Hurricane #1，发行了两张专辑《Hurricane #1》《Only The Strongest Will Survive》，同名专辑的首发单曲“Step into My World”有极美的尾奏，可算Brit-pop时期的佳曲。1999年Andy离开Hurricane #1，加入Brit-pop乐队Oasis作为贝斯手。（Oasis于2009年8月解散）
 
With their first records, Ride created a unique wall of sound that relied on massive, trembling distortion in the vein of My Bloody Valentine but with a simpler, more direct melodic approach. The shatteringly loud, droning neo-psychedelia the band performed was dubbed shoegazing by the British press because the bandmembers stared at the stage while they performed. Along with their initial influence, My Bloody Valentine, Ride stood apart from the shoegazing pack, primarily because of their keen sense of songcraft and dynamics. For a while, the band was proclaimed the last great hope of British rock, but they fell from the spotlight nearly as quickly as they entered it.
 
Ride were formed in Oxfordshire, England, in 1988 by guitarist/vocalist Andy Bell, vocalist/guitarist Mark Gardener, bassist Stephan Queralt, and drummer Loz Colbert when the group was still in its late teens. The band soon earned a dedicated following through their blisteringly loud, intense live shows. Creation Records signed the band in 1989 and the group released its self-titled debut EP later in the year. Not only did the British music critics praise the Ride EP, but it climbed into the lower reaches of the U.K. charts.
 
Play, Ride's second EP, appeared in the spring of 1990 and it surpassed the success of its predecessor, entering the Top 40 upon its release. Ride continued to gain new fans and quickly became darlings of the U.K. press. Nowhere, the group's first album, was released at the end of the year and became a significant hit in England, peaking at number 14. The band's third EP, Fall, was released in the summer of 1991 and became a Top 20 hit in the U.K. Ride released their second album, Going Blank Again, in the spring of 1992. Going Blank Again was successful, particularly in the U.K. where its first single, "Leave Them All Behind," went into the Top Ten, but didn't increase their audience dramatically.
 
That lack of a breakthrough success caused tensions within the band, especially between Bell and Gardener. After completing a frustrating American tour, the band decided to take an extended break. It would be two years before Ride re-emerged with their third album, Carnival of Light.
 
Carnival of Light represented a major shift toward conventional psychedelic rock and it turned out to be a commercial misstep. Not only did their die-hard following dislike the record, but Ride failed to pick up a new batch of fans with their stylistic makeover. Wounded from a lack of sales and critical respect, the band moved to the studio in the summer of 1995 to record its fourth album, Tarantula. Tensions between Bell and Gardener escalated throughout the recorded sessions. After Tarantula was completed in August 1995, Gardener left the band; Bell followed immediately afterward. Ride announced its disbandment in January of 1996. The album was released in March of 1996.