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At first I was a little puzzled by this album. Truthfully, it's a departure from their earlier, shoegazer psychedelia.What we have here is an experiment with a more organic sound. It fits well with the label "Brit Rock" that was commonly used in the 90s to describe groups like Blur, Oasis, Suede and Pulp.
I'd been looking for a particular song from Ride entitled "Only Now" that seemed pretty hard to come by. The entire album sounds good, but honestly was just ecstatic to have a non-live version of "only now".awesome mellow rock ballad that conforms to nothing.
Kind of like comparing the Beatles to the Small Faces: both were good, but which one was great. Not that those bands aren't good, just that this CD perfects the sound.
Comparing the 2 is like saying who is better: The Montreal Canadians, or the New York Yankees. I read one review of this album that stated that you can't really give this album 5 stars, as it isn't in the same league as "Nowhere." I agree.
"Nowhere" was a masterpiece of shoegazing, on par with "Loveless." "Carnival of Light" is a masterpiece of brit-pop, far beter than anything Oasis, the Charlatans, and I'll even throw in the Stone Roses ever did. It's impossible to answer, as there 2 different sports.
Same thing here. The album comes across as pure pop music (which it more or less is) but at the same time, music wise it seems more daring than anything by their contemporaries.
Now, if you didn't like shoegzaing, you won't like "Nowhere." If you didn't like brit-pop, you won't like "Carnival of Light." If you apreciate both genres, you'll realize these are essentials of there respective fields.
Whereas the two guitars would previously create texture together in an intricate manner, no such attempts can be found here. My favorite three songs on "Carnival" appear consecutively, namely "From Time to Time," "Natural Grace" (the sole contribution from drummer Laurence Colbert) and "Only Now." Right behind these are "Moonlight Medicine," "Birdman," and the instrumental "Rolling Thunder." Quite frankly, I find the rest of the album to be somewhat dull.One of the unfortunate depatures of "Carnival" is that the band no longer seems willing to experiment with sound.
If you're really a Ride fan, putting this album in the same category as the masterful "Nowhere" is rather ridiculous. On the other hand, just because Ride has deviated from their "roots," doesn't make "Carnival" a complete waste of time either.
I truly think that giving Ride's "Carnival of Light" one or five stars, as most previous reviewers have done, is misleading. Although Bell is the more adventurous writer, I generally favor Gardener's contributions on this album (but not necessarily on others).
We can see the signs here of a split between Mark Gardener and Andy Bell, the two principle songwriters. Gardener's songs dominate the first half, and Bell's the second.
The drumming and bass, for instance, are subdued, and don't come close to efforts on prior albums. Still "Carnival" provides for pleasant listening, suitable perhaps, as background music for a small dinner party.
This one you either love or hate. Me personally, it's in my top 5 favourite of all time. I can always get something out of it.
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