Back catalogue: All genres

Review: Shoegaze legends Ride are on a reissuing roll, having announced a re-release campaign of almost all their early classic albums on Wichita Recordings. 'Nowhere', of course, is their magnum opus. Helicoptring in out from a tundric seascape and Hemingway hazes, Ride's sound is massive, sonically honest and remarkably different to some of their later works. In keeping with the iconic wave depicted on its front cover, this new vinyl reissue comes in the form of a blue 12" housed in a see-through inner sleeve.

Review: Tarantula is one of those bittersweet moments in the history of UK rock & roll. On the one hand, it's a fantastic album that showcases the natural talent and innovative approach to song craft that Ride had first grabbed attention with. On the other, it marked the beginning of the end for the group, or more accurately, the first chapter following the end - finally getting a release after the outfit had called time and gone their separate ways. Still, in so far as swan songs go, there are plenty to celebrate here. Tarantula is a purist's rock & roll extravaganza at times, with its gritty riffs and forward momentum, tracks like 'Burnin'' perhaps best typify this, or those looking for a taste of the genre's 1960s origin story might look to 'Deep Inside My Pocket'. But then it's all much more complex than that, too, with the reflective indie balladry of 'Castle On The Hill', noise pop on 'Gonna Be Alright', and hypnotising layers on 'Ride The Wind'.

Review: Although it didn't receive quite as rapturous reviews as its predecessor, 1990's Nowhere, Ride's sophomore album Going Blank Again remains one of the finest shoegaze sets ever recorded - a dense, psychedelic, glassy-eyed, heavily layered set whose immersive sound, harmony vocals and droning textures come together to create a heavy, immersive and enveloping masterpiece. This remastered reissue replicates the format of its 2001 predecessor, expanding the set to include a quartet of bonus tracks plucked from singles and EPs released in the same period. These include the glistening, dancefloor-ready dream-pop swell of 'Going Blank Again' and the wall of sound that is 'Grasshopper'.

Review: Shoegaze legends Ride's reissuing roll reaches their first four EPs; the first here, simply titled 'Ride', was emblematic of the band's sound and, outside of that sphere, paved the way for an entire genre. After that, and before 'Nowhere', came the subsequent EP's 'Play', 'Fall' and 'Today Forever', which make up this sprawling blue vinyl boxset. Once again, you can now bask in the shimmering waves that lap at this jolly band's feet, and ours.

Review: By the time they released Tarantula in 1996, Ride had run out of road. The band split shortly before the album's release and would not reform again for almost two decades. At the time, the album was panned by critics, but listening to this remastered reissue, it's hard to see why. Sure, the dense, dreamy and heady shoegaze sound they'd pioneered at the turn of the 90s was long gone, replaced instead by a nostalgic late 60s rock sound that doffed a cap to the Beatles and those Britpop era bands that emulated their sound (hello Oasis). The sound is authentic - all blazed vocals, alternately jangling and heavy guitars, dependable bass and wide-eyed audio effects - and the songs entertaining. Perhaps it will be judged more sympathetically this time round.