Ride OX4

Possibly Ride's finest hour, though I'm not so sure of the grunge kid returns home video..

Up until they blew it with the Andy Bell-fest that is the misfiring 'Tarantula' Ride were probably the finest of the showgazing bands, and certainly one of Creation Records most astute signings. MBV were just too aloof, whilst Slowdive only occasionally made good their early promise, but Ride gripped in a way both of these never could. There was a best of both worlds vibe to them in that they embraced the wildness and fuzziness you'd expect with a bank of effect pedals and floppy fringes, but they also had real heart, as "Ox4" from the masterly "Going Blank Again" album demonstrates.

It's a song that forever invokes my last ever day at college, coming on as it did on a compilation tape as I confidently walked out of an exam hall into near certain unemployment. Ahh, happy days...

Everytime I hear RIDE these days though I always wonder what if? And I still wonder what possessed Andy Bell to join Oasis in the arse end of the 1990's. After years of wondering I managed to ask him when Quoasis played Marlay Park, and he politely rubbed his fingers together...