Going Blank Again

Infobox Album | Name = Going Blank Again
Type = Album | Artist = Ride


Released = 9 March 1992
Recorded = Chipping Norton Recording Studios, Chipping Norton & Blackbarn Studios, Ripley
Genre = Alternative
Length = 50:24 (Original 1992 release) 73:04 (2001 re-release)
Label = Creation Records
Producer = Alan Moulder
Reviews = *Allmusic Rating|3.5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:27rx284c056a link]

Last album = "Today Forever" (1991)
This album = "Going Blank Again"
(1992)
Next album = "Smile"
(1992)
Limited Pressing

Misc =

"Going Blank Again" is the second studio album by British shoegazing band Ride, released in March 1992 on Creation Records. It was produced by Alan Moulder.

Album

Following Ride's 1990 debut album "Nowhere", Ride released "Going Blank Again" as their second full-length record, accompanied by the singles "Leave Them All Behind" and "Twisterella". [http://wm03.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=&sql=10:f9frxqt5ldae AMG: "Leave Them All Behind"] ] [http://wm03.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:0nfwxqwgldhe AMG: "Twisterella"] ] The album consists of ten tracks, selected from twenty-five that the band had recorded.

It has been said that "Going Blank Again" resembles the band's debut album but also has an upbeat, power pop factor. [http://wm03.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:27rx284c056a AMG: "Going Blank Again"] .] In this sense the album has been compared to the music of Teenage Fanclub who were Creation Records labelmates of Ride, although it is pointed out that Ride's vocals are more layered, and that the guitars are not as sharp and cutting as those of similar bands of the same era, whilst retaining the reverberating sound that was typical of the shoegaze sound, which was influenced by Phil Spector's Wall of Sound technique. The lyrics on the album have been criticised, but overall this was not seen as an important factor for the album given the nature of shoegaze.

Reviewing the album at the time, British music weekly NME noted that they did not have high hopes for "Going Blank Again" but that Ride "did the business" and restored the magazine's faith in the band [http://www.creation-records.com/ride/goingblank.html NME: "Going Blank Again"] .] , noting particularly that they had taken on board a diverse set of influences and developed their sound:

This LP has some top punk rock bass guitar on it! Some new effects pedals! New ideas! It is not "Going Nowhere Again" which is the album we feared they'd make. Instead, "GBA" fills in the lines between Ride's beauty with cement and then builds like a demon. There is no stone left unturned, as they open up to new reference points... would you believe King Crimson? New Order? The Who? The Beach Boys? Ride have reinvented themselves whilst retaining all the cuteness of Haircut 100.

An academic study on My Bloody Valentine's seminal shoegazing album "Loveless" mentions that the tracks of "Going Blank Again" are "predictive" of later genres of indie rock, and notes that the seventh track "Cool Your Boots" is a "shoegazing classic". [http://etd.lib.fsu.edu/theses/available/etd-04102006-103749/unrestricted/fullthesis-1.pdf Florida State University College of Music, thesis on My Bloody Valentine's "Loveless", by David R. Fisher, 2006.] ]

The band credit Christopher Gunson with creating the cover art for the album. [http://www.rideox4.net/qaa/qaa58.html Q&A, Ride0X4.net] ]

The album was re-released on 24 September 2001 featuring 4 bonus tracks on the Ignition U.K. label. [http://www.rideox4.net/gba.html Ride, "Going Blank Again", Ride0x4.net] .]

Track listing

#"Leave Them All Behind" - 8:18
#"Twisterella" - 3:42
#"Not Fazed" - 4:24
#"Chrome Waves" - 3:53
#"Mouse Trap" - 5:14
#"Time Of Her Time" - 3:16
#"Cool Your Boots" - 6:01
#"Making Judy Smile" - 2:39
#"Time Machine" - 5:54
#"OX4" - 7:03

Bonus tracks taken from the "Leave Them All Behind" (track 4) and "Twisterella" (tracks 1-3) singles for the 2001 re-release:

#"Going Blank Again" - 3:21
#"Howard Hughes" - 4:03
#"Stampede" - 4:16
#"Grasshopper" - 10:56

References

External links

* [http://www.creation-records.com/ride/goingblank.html Review of the album] in NME, from the Creation Records website.