Nowhere

If you were to point me to this album and say “here is a pretty decent album” I would nod and say “yes, here is a pretty decent album. It has a semi-epic, sweeping melodic quality, which combats neatly its noise-rock leanings. Pretty decent. Thanks.” If, on the other hand, you were to point to this album and say “there are 1001 albums that you MUST listen to before you die, and this is one of them” I would cock an eyebrow and say “It’s a decent album, don’t get me wrong, but I can’t help feeling I’ve been goosed here. I now HAVE listened to it before I died, you got your wish, but I can’t help feeling you’ve somehow pulled a fast one on me with that.”

I'm so sick of depressed British men

The Wordle of albums. Just a nice, easy way to pass the time that some people unnecessarily feel the need to make into a big deal.

A shoegaze classic. Ride is the final head of the three headed shoegaze monster of My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, and Ride, and this is their seminal album. They play a more confrontational, more drum-heavy brand of shoegaze than their noise-pop contemporaries, but it is just as essential.

I don’t greatly dislike this. I just have no interest in ever listening to it again. I can see what it’s reaching for, a sort of Cure/Smiths thing meets psych rock and at times I found myself nodding appreciatively at the guitar breaks. But I’m amazed this had stood the test of time, it’s so uninteresting to me. Sometimes this list feels like things are included just because they were really popular at the time, but does anyone actually still listen to this album??

Nowhere seems to hold consensus as the second-best record of the shoegaze era, and with very good reason. All of the common words, phrases, and adjectives commonly used with the short-lived subgenre fit properly here, and they're all positive, every one of them. Whir, whoosh, haze, swirl, ad nauseum -- this record holds all of these elements at their most exciting and mastered.

I went from “kinda like The Cure + Cranberries” to “ehh, that was way too much credit — more like Oasis” to “OK enough is enough, this should have ended a half hour ago.” 2.75/5

A lot of these songs have a melancholy vibe but the production buries them in layers of feedback and noise. The insane amount of feedback and reverb on the guitars in “Dreams Burn Down” is a good example of this. When the music turns up to 11, it feels like hard rock but it’s not a hard rock song, really. I love that contrast and I love the energy of this band. I’m surprised that I’ve never heard of them but delighted to now. They’re a hell of a rock band — the drums on opener “Seagull” are fast and ferocious and never let up. And the rest of the band piles on the noise! It’s a great opening statement and a great track. (I love the drumming on “Polar Bear” too.) 4 stars for the songs and music + a bonus star for this drummer working overtime. He singlehandedly transforms a few of these songs with his playing.

Compact wall of sound with intriguing but beautiful melodies in what is one of more significant shoegaze releases

I really loved this album when it came out (1990, hard to believe it was that long ago, and was a pre-Nevermind release!), and truth be told, is probably my favourite shoegaze band. I can admit that MBV's Loveless is the true masterpiece of the genre, but Ride has better songs. I still listen to this album on a regular basis. I regret that I didn't go to see them supporting Ratcat at the Hordern Pavillion in 1991 (but seriously, can you imagine paying good money to see RATCAT at the Hordern? They were, in my mind, an archetypal Annandale Hotel band) I love the mix of actual tunes (and vocal harmonies!) with the big walls of noise. They probably did that better than anyone. The guitar squalls are controlled and expansive, building on the lessons learned from Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr, but not taken as far as the extreme of My Bloody Valentine. The singing is adequate, but the use of harmony highlight that the melodies are often quite pretty (especially when contrasted against the guitar noise) and allow the singing to promote the song rather than the singer. The lyrics are often a bit self-conscious or pretentious, which is forgivable given that the band members were only about 19 when they recorded this album. At least they don't fall into the typical traps of juvenilia that afflicts many immature bands (unwarranted egotism, sexism, puerile humour, etc). Most valuable player goes to Loz Colbert, drummer extraordinaire! What a powerhouse he is. I've heard him compared to Keith Moon (reasonably apt), but 'Dreams Burn Down' sounds to me like a take on 'When the Levee Breaks'. That along with 'Seagull', 'Vapour Trail', and 'Polar Bear', are classics of the shoegaze genre, and I still find compelling listening. they became a much more conventional band on subsequent albums ('Leave Them All Behind, aside), which did not play to their strengths as strongly. But this album I love. it really is the tension between noise and beauty that I really dig. They manage to walk the fine line gracefully all the way through this record.

Love love love this. It feels like getting dunked in a cold and violent sea and getting dragged down by the current.

The finest album of the shoegazing era. Yes, it's better than My Bloody Valentine.

A fusion of the jangle pop and harmonious vocals of the Byrds with the fuzzy noisiness of Jesus & The Mary Chain's Psychocandy. Moreso than any other shoegazing artist can I see their influence on the shoegazing and eventual Britpop scenes, Suede being the top example. It's heavy and loud, marked by heavy distortion and drumming. I'm proud to be able to pick out the six-ish channels in the songs. There isn't a single bad track in the original album. Most are great, and some are just incredible. Crank on high volume for max enjoyment. Constantly I had hazy images of lighthouses, seagulls, and sailing the sea, impressionist paintings turned to sound. I have a feeling this album isn't as revered as Slowdive or mbv due to the lack of iconic tracks or emotions. When I first listened to Loveless, I was constantly surprised and experienced feelings of nostalgia or sadness, despite having never heared any of them before. Here, I still felt surprised in a few areas, but it hardly blew my mind, and I mostly knew what to expect going into a track. Meanwhile, the only track I hear talked about is "Vapour Trail." That doesn't stop it from being coherent and full of great tracks I could enjoy alone. While I'm at it, I might as well talk about the two EPs attached. Most versions have the Fall EP attatched, which is just incredible. Each of these 4 tracks (including "Dreams Burn Down") are super memorable and distinctive, leaving more of an impact on me, faster and more passionate. I love their inclusion, although I wish they were integrated, as "Vapour Trail" is the perfect closer. The version on Spotify also has the Today Forever EP. They're enjoyable and not bad, but they're a bit monotonous, especially "Beneath." "Today" is a decent way of closing the album, but I think this EP could be cut out.

3 minutes into “Seagull” and I just said out loud, “that’s what I’m fuckin’ talking about”. There’s literally no one else around, but that song needed to be acknowledged. The insane drumming, the reversed guitars, the harmonies and hypnotic Taxman bass…Holy fuck, it’s great. This record is getting high marks based solely off that song. …and I’ve heard this record before. I mean, I’m listening with a fresh set of ears today, because it’s been quite a while (more than a decade, in fact), but I can’t believe I’ve let that song slip from my psyche the way it has. Nowhere has always kind of played second fiddle to Loveless in the race for best shoegaze record, but I think it might be better. Without a doubt, the songs here are better written and the sound is a little more fun and adventurous. Listening to Loveless, to me, feels like a lecture or a treatise: cold and clinical, focused on a singular emotional state and style. It’s monolithic. Nowhere has a sprawl to its sound, it doesn’t stay in one place for too long, but each song is unmistakably drawn for the same well. It’s cohesive, yet varied. Kevin Shields and company may take the prize for inventiveness with Loveless’ wall of guitar noise, but Andy Bell and Mark Gardener’s guitar interplay on Nowhere is more engaging and just as dense and hypnotic when it needs to be. I should just stop making comparisons at this point. Nowhere is the better record and I’m tired of pretending like it isn’t.

Only 4 songs in as of right now and already have a lot to say about this album. Starting with the gritty yet upbeat soundscape that revolves around this UK hard surf rock sound that I simply cannot get enough of. These songs make me feel like I'm riding down a hill on a board of some sort, whether it be a snowboard, skateboard or even just the curl of a wave. This album is fun to listen to and with the watery, floating lyrics in the background of the warm, yet quick repetitions of drums and heavy guitar and bass presence, this album makes me feel like I'm no where close to home but on a vacation. In these 4 songs I've listened to so far, it does feel like a wave is being rode with the ups and downs, in terms of the happier songs like seagull and kaleidoscope representing the ups or the top of the wave if you will, and then feel a hint of melancholic shoegaze once the track "In a Different Place" sets in, or as the listener works their way down the wave, almost underwater where the down is. Its hard to compare the songs thus far, due to every song seemingly to fill the holes in this theme of a wave swell and the crash of it, making each of the songs cumulatively come together in a beautiful way. I'm now 7 songs in, and the music progressively seems to become gradually more "shoegazey" leaving a sense of despair as a background theme. I'm now on the song "Here and Now", and it is starting to pick up again with a more upbeat tone, and while it could be a stretch to say so, I feel like the album at this point could be trying to paint a picture of being lost at sea and accepting the lack of control of such a thing, and accepting the lack of control just as it would be an analogy to life with going with the tide and rolling with the punches I will suppose. With this analogy being present, the progression of the album and being strayed further into sea, the songs while keeping slightly upbeat at parts definitely hold an instrumental sense of pain, frustration and edgy tone to it. Some more evidence to offer for this viewpoint of straying further and further out, would be with the top half of this album containing song titles of things that might be present while near a land mass, with track one titled "Seagull" and track three titled "Polar Bear", whereas the rest of the song titles point towards a more helpless demeanor and lack of familiarity with surroundings.

This album is a shoegaze masterpiece. Ride’s debut album dials back some of the noise elements from the genre and focus instead on melody and infuses it with neo-psychedelia. The noise elements are still present of course, but Ride’s unique formula help them stand out within genre. It’s also worth noting how young the band was when they recorded this album; all members were 18 and 19.

A band I love more than I should, as I lived in Oxford in the early nineties and even knew a friend of one of the band. Got a guest pass to their gig at Oxford Apollo on the second album tour. Full disclosure over, they have aged brilliantly and this album is full of brilliant tunes, Vapour Trails above all, lush harmonies and clever guitar textures. I listened to it from start to finish in a traffic jam on the M6 and was never less than admiring.

A threshold question is do you like shoegaze – I do. For many then this is like grading on a curve. I understand that. However, along with My Bloody Valentine, Ride is the probably the other seminal shoegaze band. Putting aside the discussion as to whether they visionaries, the combination of pop songs and dense, hypnotic noise works for me.

And once again, thanks to this project, I not only discover a new band but also a new subgenre: "shoegaze" (according to the Wikipedia entry, "is a subgenre of indie and alternative rock characterized by its ethereal mixture of obscured vocals, guitar distortion and effects, feedback, and overwhelming volume"). This album is really good, this band is great, and I'm glad I've been introduced to them. Remind me a bit of the Meat Puppets, who I like, as well as a bunch of 90s bands that came after, and were probably influenced by, the Meat Puppets, this group, and similar bands at the time. Really great music here.

Expected absolutely nothing but it was quite an enjoyable album, liked the unorthodox edge it had with melodic melodies and singing

It's like Oasis and The Smiths had a less-talented child who was kinda into LSD. Don't get me wrong, I love the whole psychedelic sound and, when they played that card, I was here for it. The guitar tones were wonderful and this drummer knows how to do work. But, it's an album from 1990 so you know they had to get shoegazey. And shoegaze is such a lame vibe. Quit whining. Make rock and roll. It's not hard. Overall, it's a very "meh" album and I fail to see why it merits inclusion on the list.

I've liked this one for a long time, enough to buy the special edition on vinyl a couple of years ago. I wasn't around for the first wave of shoegaze's popularity in the 90s, but was firmly on board the second wave in the early 2010s. It's a great album, definitely one of the best from the shoegaze years. I love the drive of the music, very strong in some places and nice and floaty in others. The vocals do get a bit annoying after a while though, and some of the lyrics are a bit immature. I can forgive it though, because it all ties together so brilliantly with Vapour Trail. Solid 9/10 for me.

bought it when it came out based on hype alone and love it to this day. really really awesome debut, shame they never matched it. Great live band too

“Nowhere” is tuneful but not catchy, sensitive but even-tempered, noisy but delicately so, music I avoided when young expecting to hate it, and probably would have, but it’s a picnic, bucolic in the Romantic way: if John Constable painted soundscapes, they’d feel like this. You can feel it in the granularity of the timbres, the eschewal of big, gestural riffs, and the graceful sweeps and swerves of chord sequences; diligence is behind these constructions, Olympian drumming back there once you start paying attention. They go hard and fast, tyres squealing, but never leave the road, a doggedness that I can now appreciate.

Great, muscular shoegaze with some of the best gems the genre has to offer, like Vapour Trail, Dreams Burn Down and Kaleidoscope.

Pretty mint album, you can definitely hear echoes of The Stone Roses which I was not expecting. 'In a different place' deserves to be amongst the pantheon of indie classics. Not sure if that's the case as I have certainly never heard of this band.

A great album which shimmers and shines with murky melodies. Like the album sleeve, the beauty can be found on the ocean surface or lurking underneath. The tones and production is first rate. Not sure why Vapour Trail isn't played at every indie disco.

I like my shoegaze with longer songs and less clarity

"her fingers will learn / the lightbulbs burn" Cool album full of walls of psychedelic sounds, and with an underlying sense of urgency about the music. although I can enjoy a bit of something like this, the songs really tend to melt into each other, and it's difficult to comment on them individually. I was listening to this while scrambling to finish some homework before 11:59, and I felt the urgent tone helped that process. T1- "Seagull" has a really sick bassline, and will be the playlist track. Although I enjoy some of the genres this album encompasses, I really need something to be able to catch my attention and to get my head start to bop, it falls short in those places but does offer some great noises. 3/5

Ok, so this is more average than Mr A. Average, of average age and average height with average shoe size. He’s got brown hair and brown eyes. He’s so average if he walked alongside you you’d barely blink at just how average and unremarkable he is. He lives in a semi detached house with a back garden patch and his bins. He drives a Dacia Duster and listens to The Eagles (favourite song is Hotel California obviously). He wears jeans and a polo top on the weekends and enjoys watching Britains Got Talent on a Saturday with five cans of pale ale. In conclusion, it’s average.

Specialising in a shimmering kind of relentless noise which doesn't break for choruses, verses, solos, anything. Lax tunings, lots of cymbals, recorded to create the effect of being heard through two woolly hats and a balaclava. Most recent modern example of the style (though not the production values) is Seek Shelter by Iceage, except the atmosphere here is more light sea spray than impending cloud of volcanic ash. Biggest problem are those vocals, though. Conspicuous by their absence (or as good as).

Awful jangly indie with zero substance to it. It's the equivalent of a limp handshake from a slightly moist hand. Nasty.

La estupenda portada ya indica que estamos ante algo realmente bueno. Ride son una de la bandas esenciales del Shoegaze, esa corriente que mezcla distorsión, sonidos etéreos, pop psicodélico y algo de ruido. No son mi banda favorita (Slowdive sin duda, también Pale Saints) pero sí que están en lo más alto de uno de mis géneros más escuchados. Vinieron a ocupar el hueco que dejaron Stones, Happy Mondays y demás bandas del sonido Madchester. Se acabó la fiesta y llegaron con un variante menos bailabe y algo más introspectiva, que a mi me parece imprescindible. Este debut les puso en cabeza del pelotón, en un lugar distinto al que llegaban My Bloody Valentine por ejemplo. Contiene canciones fabulosas como la estampida inicial de Seagull o la eterna Vapour Trail (con una exquisita version años después a cargo de Trespassers William) aunque yo creo que el tema que mejor les define es Polar Bear (igual título que otro tema del imprescindibe debut de los Charlatans de ese mismo año). Ahí cristaliza lo que serán Oasis y han sido Stone Roses, pero con el toque de ellos mismos. Dreams burn down la han escuchado demasiadas veces Coldplay para hacer In my place... Decay es un tema 100% shoegazing. Las bonus tracks también merecen la pena sobre todo Taste, que es una gozada, y Today otro de sus esenciales éxitos. Una enorme influencia para otras bandas, Beach House por ejemplo. La cosa no acaba aquí, el siguiente y sobresaliente Going Blank Again (con temazos como OX4, mi canción favorita, o Twisterella) que no les sirvió para un éxito masivo. Y el tercero, despreciado incluso por ellos, el magnífico Canival of light, tampoco. Luego llegó el Brit Rock que arrasó con todo, publicaron el decepcionante (ahora no tanto, pero muy lejos del resto de su anterior discografía) Tarantula y se tomaron un descanso de más de 20 años (Bell con cosas interesantes como Hurricane 1 y un temazo como Only the strongest... y uirse a Oasis) hasta que resucitaron con los formidables Weather Diaries (2017) y This Is Not a Safe Place (2019), hace poco publicaron Interplay, que me parece su peor disco desde Tarantula, a pesar de la buena recepción y crítica. En resumen, un disco fundamental al que el tiempo no le hace mella. Si no es este, que sea el segundo, y sino This is not a safe place, pero escuchen alguno o todos. También sus EPs: desde la triada inicial Ride, Play (ambos unidos en Smile) y Fall (publicado casi a la vez que Nowhere) hasta el fabuloso Tomorrow's Shore.

the continued disrespect this record receives from the shoegaze crowd comes from a place of ignorance. not all shoegaze sounded like My Bloody Valentine in the genre's heyday; in fact, Loveless was so highly praised because nothing else sounded like it. the reason Loveless was accused of having killed the genre was because it set such an impossibly high sonic standard that no other group content with their sound could catch up to, and everyone who didn't meet them (read: 98% of all shoegaze bands signed to labels who wanted to make back their money) caught flak from the British Music Press. this is what led to almost every single shoegaze or baggy band switching to Britpop by '95. so in a sense, your average RYMer is simply falling for the same booby trap the NME fell for: the next best thing arrives, and your old toys are left to collect dust in the attic. i am not exempt from such stupidity. anyway, Nowhere! it's one of those records where you can hardly believe it came out so soon after a contemporary, and this is definitely true in this case. maybe you could trace bits of it to the baggy of The Stone Roses, but the fact that it was just a year after proves how far Ride pushed the needle at the time. Screamadelica came out a year after this! so did fuckin' Nevermind! the best part is that even though i think the sequencing of the tracks could be better, i don't think there's a single bad song on the record. the effects and dreaminess is all grounded by this regular indie rhythm section, so you're always suspended six feet above ground. if you meet it on its own terms, Nowhere holds up remarkably well.

4.5 stars. I really enjoyed this! Some of it felt like filler but there were also moments that felt like they spoke to me where the sound was unique and powerful.

This album feels like an echo from a far simpler time. It begs the listener to dig deep and really listen to the space being created within each song. These compositions stretch out and open up like the Nevada desert. Shoe gaze will take you on a hazy psychedelic trip with or without drugs and the result can be life changing.

really cool album. it's noisey in all the right ways and catchy in a way that is really referential to a lot of rock that came before it. super fun listen and i would love to come back to this!

Great!

Not much to say, just a phenomenal album. I wouldn’t call it a 10, but definitely closer to 5 stars than 4

I can’t believe it took me 35 years to listen to this band for the first time. This album is required listening for any 90s kid.

5- Stars (13/15)

It was interesting listening to this post the shoegaze boom that has happened in the last few years. I enjoyed it a lot, and there were bits that were heavier than I would expect from what is essentially a British Indie album. Obviously it was too long, but if you condensed it to 45 mins we could've been on for a 5.

Ah shoegaze. One of the finest sub sub sub genres of guitar music. Much maligned at the time, forgotten for years. Then a whole new generation rediscovered it in the mid 2010's. I personally have never forgotten it. It is intertwined with some of my favourite times of my life. Early 1990's bumming around mates flats and houses in north London, gigging and clubbing more nights than I should have. I love anything with lots of guitar effects, with a tune or not. Luckily Ride's debut has all these elements in spades. I remember reading a review of one of their early gigs in the NME and describing them 'like the House of Love with chainsaws'. What was not to like? Alan Moulder produced this too. Seagull a great opener with it's Beatles bass line, it just thunders along.with it's big crashing ending. kaleidoscope noise and pop done with a headlong rush to the finish. in A Different Place is a beautiful song, I love the chorus pedal leading this song. Polar Bear with it's tremelo ridden phased guitar line chugs along. Dreams Burn Down is majestic with it's feedback driven highs and crashing lows. A highlight of their sets in small pubs in Dunstable, and now in Brixton Academy. Decay ups the tempo again, with a scorching guitar line and thudding drums. The dreamy Paralysed is a pure pop song, with a tough of sadness about it. Everyone loves (or should love) Vapour Trail with that long intro/outro jangling along through it. This is in my top ten albums of all time. To be in there it has got to be able to cope with me discovering a new facet to it with every listen. This still keeps my attention after 35 years.

10/10

The absolute pinnacle of the somewhat commercially silly but artistically tremendous "Shoegaze" movement. This album presses my very most powerful late teens/early 20s earnest yearning nostalgia buttons and brings to mind the faces of many girls I never asked out.

i love shoegaze!!!! this is such a good album. absolutely lush guitar and really interesting songwriting

Super bad ass. Don’t know why shoegaze people don’t mention them much.

One of the classic shoegaze albums, but this one differs a bit from Slowdive or MBV in that it retains more of the basic rock song structure. I know I am biased as if I was being objective I'd probably give this a 4, but I'm giving it a 5 because it's awesome.

This is an album I already knew well, and had even played relatively recently, so it was an instant 5 stars from me. I can see why not everyone would like this music, it's superficially similar to the Stone Roses and the Cure, but there's far more shoegaze elements, and a murky, full sound throughout. From the wall of white noise the guitar and particularly the drums stand out. The main vocals are fitting, giving a pleasing drone-like sound that matches the melancholy songs. Perfect for me when this came out, when I was only slightly older than the band (early 20s). I listened to the album, then the four bonus tracks that Spotify had, ones I'd never listened to before. I was expecting there to be a jar from the tracks I knew so well to the "new" (to me) ones, but it was almost imperceptible. It's a bit of a shame that Ride never really matched their debut album. The fact that they're still doing tours where they perform the entire Nowhere album instead of promoting newer material is telling.

Sooth but rocks

In a Different Place is good, very melodic with the thudding drums and bass. Dreams Burn Down has a big opening riff and I'm into it. Almost post rock vibes but the vocals are pure shoegaze. Crushing noisy guitars wash over us. Really strong track. Nice bass and melodies in Paralyzed, but Vapour Trail is the big song: the right mix of jangle and dreamy atmosphere, the lead riff repeating throughout. Grandiose and inspiring stuff. The three bonus tracks after didn't really add anything, and I stopped there, but this was a surprising hit for me. The best songs are _really_ good.

Having never even heard of this band, I absolutely loved it. Will definitely be coming back to this!

One of my favs, so freaking good

It's been a hot minute since I listend to the Ride. I was so caught up in the music that I forgot to pay attention to the song names to mark as my favourites. Which I guess is what would happen if I was gazing at my shoes too. Faves: Polar Bear, Dreams Burn Down.

I've checked out Ride before but they've generally played second fiddle to MBV and Slowdive (No Slowdive on the list? Dimery you berk.) so this is a good opportunity to get to know them better. I dig the injection of psychedelia! I was thinking this was a 4, maybe a 4.5, but decided to treat myself to a third play through to pick out some fave tracks, and started noting down almost all of them as I kept going "Oh yeah, this is a good un" as they started, so actually upgrading this to a 5 makes sense! Fave tracks - "Seagull" is a great opener, with great psych elements. I like the vibes of "In a Different Place" and "Polar Bear", and now I'm gonna stop listing tracks and bump the whole thing to a 5, heh.

Love it!

carai. esse tem MUITO tempo MESMO que não escuto nada. vô começa falando que eu não curtia muito esse album inteiro nos meus bons tempos de adolescente shoegazero não. mas PORRA QUE ALBÃO. só pedrada atras de pedrada. é ser arrebatado pela maré da capa, com alguns momentos de tranquilidade sendo levado pra costa, até o mar te puxar de volta com muita barulheira. ce eh maluco. bão demais. inclusive, é um shoegaze com uma bateria mais viva né, isso é mto bom. o baterista soube viver demais nesse album aqui

Ok, now THIS is showgaze, that I like! For me it is the first positive experience with this genre on this list. Unlike the complete ear rape from bands like "My Bloody Valentine" this one is listenable and interesting. I like the production and instrumental-action (especially the drumming!!) very much. Ride >>>> mvb

What a find!! Absolutely loved this. List, you have fully atoned for inflicting 4 albums of shit from the Beastie Boys on me.

Phenomenal work with beautiful, distorted, but ultimately transcendent, songs. The original ended with ‘Vapour Trail’ which was so poignant it hurt. Magnificent album. A Shoegaze classic.

Shoegaze, Ride's debut. Yep, well done boys, good process. The fast, Byrdsy ones are great but the gorgeous ones are the slowest. In a Different Place. Dreams Burn Down is an absolute monster. This is late night music. If we stop after the delicious Vapour Trail (the original end point) there is not a single track less than great, so I'm rating it thusly.

Deservedly one of the big classic albums of shoegaze. I enjoy how Ride's vocals are a bit more clear in the mix than a lot of shoegaze. They do a good job of balancing that wall of sound with more concrete sound.

Great

Back at it babey! Auto 5 stars here.

I'm a sucker for shoegaze, which is funny, because if you were to look at my summary page, it's currently listed in the "worst genres" section for me. Strange how that works out. Now. Ride. Hmm. I'm not as familiar with them. This record is definitely an interesting proof-of-concept. It's not as immediate as My Bloody Valentine's "Loveless", however relying on the more "jangly" aspects, a lot more dream-pop and really showing the post-punk roots of shoegaze. I listened through it again, and it was a comfortable ride (fuck, no pun intended), but definitely not as powerful or changing as the first time I heard the opening riff from "Only Shallow" or, say, "Stars" by Hum. I *did* go back and listen to it again, and it grew on me pretty heavily, going from interesting to, "Oh, I genuinely enjoy this." Call it a 4.5 with room to grow. Favorite tracks: "Dreams Burn Down", "Vapour Trail", "In A Different Place"

After my only experience with the Shoegaze genre being Loveless, this is certainly different from that seminal album, what with there being more influence from Psychedelic artists. I really groove with this one, so I'll give 4.5 rounded up to 5.

Have always loved this record and this listen didn’t change my mind.

I've had Vapour Trails in multiple playlists throughout the years, but hadn't gone for the whole album yet, and - whew. I've listened to it like four times now. The official tracklist ends with Vapour Trails, but I listened through the CD bonus tracks. I love how the title track closes with the cries of seagulls in a full circle moment, as the album opens with Seagull. And, by the way, what a first fucking track. Blew my socks off. The harmonies are Alice In Chains-esque, but make it shoegaze. This is a 5 star album for me. It may not be a 10 out of 5 like some of my other 5s, but I hear something new in the lyrics or the guitar layering or the drums (the drums!) with each listen, and that's worth the rating for me. I'm so glad I got to fully discover this one.

cool

Love Ride. Saw them live and unplugged in Bristol and they were just the nicest guys, they had such rapport among themselves and with the audience. And this album is great. Initially, it sounds a lot like The Stone Roses, but there's something far deeper and more intelligent and meaningful happening here; an existential ecstasy-fuelled escapade. My kind of music.

A real joy, from a band I had heard of, but not fully explored. In the gaps between Madchester and Brit-pop, but also between 70s prog and Radiohead. Sounds a bit like Oasis in points, reminded me to look up Hurricane #1, surprised to see Ride still going in 2024, and still with the original line-up.

Yay!! I love(d) Ride! This album gets better with each listen. Saw them live a few months ago too.

I'm confused. This was right in the center of the music I listened to in 1990 as a DJ in a college radio station. But somehow despite totally knowing the name, I don't recognize any song in the album. I love it and think had I heard it then, I'd have bought the CD or record, or at least got a tape copy if I was strapped for cash. So maybe I'm rediscovering an old lost favorite or hearing something new for the first time. 5 either way.

Very good

This project has really converted me into a massive shoegaze fan. This album really worked for me. Have to check out their other stuff.

Wonderful

Top 5 Shoegaze album. Might even be number 2 after MBV's Loveless but Ferment, Going Blank Again, Isn't Anything, Just for a Day, Souvlaki, Whirlpool, Everything's Alright Forever, Giant Steps, The Comforts of Madness, In Ribbons, Raise, Spooky etc. are also all great albums too (I much prefer the Shoegaze period in the first half of the 90s before Britpop took over in the second half).

Amazing

This is one I already know well and love. Not really into any of their other albums or other shoegaze albums generally, just this album specifically. It feels to me like a very specific sound from that genre, from that time, from the UK. Also, it's a funny one for bonus tracks. I got it on CD and so the proper end to me feels like it should be the song "Nowhere" whereas the bonus tracks after that feel extraneous. I don't think we should have to listen to them! They sort of dilute the album too much.

Ooooo baby love me some of that shoegaze vibes

This was great. Sounded like a more shoegaze style Stone Roses. What more could be better. An overall nice sounding album with a couple of good stand out tracks. Imma have to listen to more Ride now.

A really amazing album, all through. I discovered shoegaze recently and have quite enjoyed it, and Nowhere was no exception. From the opening notes of "Seagull" to the hazy vocals of "Today," it was a wonderful journey. It's hard to pick a favorite track, but on this listen it's probably "Decay."

Beautiful

One of my favourite shoegaze albums. It’s so soothing but at the same time very aggressive.

If this isn't a 5 it's because you didn't play it loud enough.

Other than Vapour Trail I hadn't listened to this before and it is just gorgeous. I generally stick to listening to an album's original track listing and skip any bonus tracks for this project but this time I just kept on going, I didn't want it to end.

9/10 super tight shoegaze

OG Shoegaze. This is a mood.

I really love this album and at times my favorite "shoegaze" album. It retains a more pop rock sound than say My Bloody Valentine's Loveless which really explores the noise.

Just great. I've listened to this a bunch of times and it's still a treat to listen to.

A perfect shoegaze album

Great shoegaze record. I’m actually surprised there are shoegaze records on this list. I just felt like it wasn’t mainstream enough. Yeah great album though. Feels like a great mix of jangle pop and shoegaze.

"Nowhere" is the debut album by British shoegaze band Ride. Shoegaze, neo-pyschedelia and noise pop all sound like good genres for this. Vocalists and guitarists Mark Gardener and Andy Bell met in school and formed the band. Other members include bassist Steve Queralt and drummer Loz Colbert. More to come on Colbert. The album was recorded live in studio and often late at night which the band found difficult and gave the album a sense of isolation. The album had a lot of critical acclaim and is cited as "one of shoegazing enduring moments." Guitar feedback and distortion and banging on a cymbal or something open "Seagull." The song then just takes off; right away you notice Colbert's drumming which is all over the place and reminiscent of Keth Moon (no accident there as Colbert was a big fan). The distortion and feedback remain and we're washed in a haze. The hope is lost on a relationship as he sees her far below. Melodic guitar gives "Kaleidoscope" a more pop feel. The drumming is still quick. The feeling of when a relationship is gone and looking back. "Polar Bear" has more distorted, wah-wah guitar and stays in a drone pattern. We're in shoegaze land now. The relationship won't work cause they're polar opposites. Tinny drums begin "Dreams Burn Down." The guitar builds the melody. The song goes hard and they got the slow-fast-slow dynamic going. The album ends with the first single and one of my favorite songs of the 90's in "Vapour Trail." A melodic guitar. About halfway through the song, it goes fully instrumental adding a cello and violin. I would argue that Colbert makes his drums the lead instrument. The song ends with just the strings. Fantastic. The is a really good album, so many positives. Very atmospheric with the distorted and droning guitars. Melodies hidden with the guitar haze. At times, absolutely beautiful sounding. The music fits the lyrics which are mostly about bad or ending relationships. One of my favorite 90's albums.

Shoegazy banger

Super sexy shoegaze

I really love this album. I've definitely listened to it in the past and am not sure why it never went into my regular rotation. I've always liked shoegaze and think they do a great job of balancing the heavy effects with good songwriting, it doesn't just wash out the whole sound. Side note: Some of my favorite album artwork. Standout Tracks: Seagull, In a Different Place, Polar Bear, Dreams Burn Down, Vapour Trail

Brilliantly gazing at shoes.

Big YES. I definitely like myself some good post-rock or shoegaze. Really enjoyed having this one on while working and bopping along to the rhythms in my office chair.

bought it when it came out based on hype alone and love it to this day. really really awesome debut, shame they never matched it. Great live band too

Excellent