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On March 31, Rhino is taking a Ride with the shoegaze band of the same name. That’s the date the label will reissue Ride’s OX4, a 2001 best-of anthology, to coincide with the reunited group’s upcoming tour. Though the Oxford band released just four studio albums and a number of EPs between 1990 and 1996, its small discography has proven an influential one.

Friends and art school students Mark Gardener and Andy Bell (guitar/vocals), along with Laurence “Loz” Colbert (drums) and Steve Queralt (bass) formed Ride in 1988, inspired by The Smiths. Ride came to the attention of Jim Reid of the Jesus and Mary Chain, and then to that band’s manager Alan McGee. He signed Ride to his Creation Records label in 1990, with Sire Records handling the group outside of the United Kingdom.

Ride made a big noise with its three EPs released between January and September 1990. All three EPs made it into the UK Top 75; two even made the Top 40. The first two EPs were combined as Smile in the USA in July 1990 (and later released in the UK in 1992), while the third was incorporated into the CD version of the band’s first album, Nowhere, that fall. A fourth EP, Today Forever, followed in 1991, as did three more studio albums – Going Blank Again (1992), Carnival of Light (1994) and Tarantula (1996) – before the group broke up in 1996, clashing over musical direction. Bell went on to play bass for Oasis, and Gardener and Colbert teamed up again as founding members of The Animalhouse. A brief one-off reunion occurred in 2001, but the upcoming tour marks the group’s first major rebirth.

The 15-track, chronologically-sequenced OX4 includes selections from each of Ride’s studio recordings. In addition to the CD release on March 31, it will also be released on vinyl in the U.S. The double-LP set will be available on limited edition red vinyl on Record Store Day, Saturday, April 18. Look for Ride on the Main Stage at Coachella this April, followed by a tour of North America and Europe through June!

Ride, OX4: The Best of Ride (Ignition (U.K.) IGN 14, 2001 – reissued Rhino, 2015) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

1. “Chelsea Girl”
2. “Drive Blind”
3. “Like A Daydream”
4. “Taste”
5. “Dreams Burn Down”
6. “Vapour Trail”
7. “Unfamiliar”
8. “Leave Them All Behind”
9. “Twisterella”
10. “OX4”
11. “Birdman”
12. “From Time To Time”
13. “How Does It Feel To Feel?”
14. “I Don’t Know Where It Comes From”
15. “Black Nite Crash”

Tracks 1-2 from Ride EP, 1990
Track 3 from Play EP, 1990
Tracks 4-5 from Fall EP, 1990
Track 6 from Nowhere, 1990
Track 7 from Together Forever EP, 1991
Tracks 8-10 from Going Blank Again, 1992
Tracks 11-14 from Carnival of Light, 1994
Track 15 from Tarantula, 1996