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It's 1994. Just yesterday these four former Oxford university students (singers and guitarists Mark Gardener and Andy Bell, bassist Stephan Queralt, and drummer Laurence Colbert) were the greatest promise of British rock; today they risk falling into oblivion. It is no longer the time of "Nowhere" or "Going Blank Again," it is no longer the time of shoegaze. A revolution is sweeping away its dreamlike intimacy and heavenly atmospheres to make way for flamboyant melodies and muscular sounds; it's Brit pop.
The Ride realize that the wind is changing and it is time for a change. So they decide to blend their sound with new influences and to reconcile the two genres with each other in a delicate balance. But the task succeeds only halfway. If the album, produced by John Leckie (The Stone Roses, The Verve, Radiohead, Muse, etc.), is indeed the most psychedelic and sixties of their career, Gardener and Bell are now at odds and unable to cooperate with each other, so much so that the record is perfectly split in half with side A written by Gardener (folk, psychedelic, and close to the old Ride sound) and side B written by Bell (electric, sixties, and close to the nascent Brit pop).
“Carnival Of Light,” although fragmented, is still capable of delivering great musical moments to listeners such as the opening track "Moonlight Medicine," the powerful and electric "Birdman" and "How Does It Feel To Feel," and the ballads "Crown Of Creation" and "I Don't Know Where It Comes From", sung together with the Christchurch Cathedral School Choir. Nevertheless, due to the drop in popularity, the album sales were quite low (Creation would recover two months later with the release of Oasis's "Definitely Maybe"...).
Subsequently, Bell's growing delusions of grandeur (he would become the sole composer) will lead to the disbandment of the group in 1996, two months before the release of their last album, the mediocre "Tarantula." The fate of the two rivals will be very different. While Andy Bell, after the unfortunate stint leading Hurricane #1, will join Oasis and then Beady Eye, Mark Gardener, after a brief experience with Animalhouse, will continue a low-profile solo career. The light had now gone out.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 1000 Miles (05:00)
This night these memories lost and found
Are taking over me
I could see your picture and hear the sound
Of the song you sung to me
You gotta feel and take every chance
You did the right thing
Drove a thousand miles away
Out of trace and in another time
You did the wrong thing
And bought it back in your mind
Why's life so unkind?
For always and ever it's getting better
I feel your steps with mine
I'm moving on like it said in the letter
Another place, another time
Blown away
Got blown away, a thousand miles away
06 Birdman (06:39)
Blackbird flying in the sky
Please don't look me in the eye
You are very very lucky
It's never easy to find me
The winter's coming now you've grown
The cold will numb you to the bone
It cuts you through so that you know
In pain the minutes go so slow
Your soul and mine will carry on
When this transparent world is gone
There's nothing strange in what I say
It's always meant to be this way
Power streams where love is strong
Energy converting, never gone
There's never going to be an end
A million atoms can't pretend
Until the cold ground swallows me
Me and Ide, go running free
Then we'll change, not disappear
All channels receiving loud and clear
Birdman think he owns the sky
But he can't look me in the eye
I walk on gilded mirror blades
I walk on razors feel no pain
In the heat of summertime
Rolling thunder is my sign
I understand what's going on
I'm gonna fly right to the sun
07 Crown of Creation (04:41)
Don't wake me up if it's another day
'cos I don't wanna see it on my own
Your love is all that I am asking for
But they won't let us be alone
I've been running for a thousand miles
I didn't find a better place
I need to hold your body in my arms
And feel your kisses on my face
Don't you hide your love away
You are the Crown of Creation
I wanna be your relation
I'm getting off at your station
Well I was looking for a waterfall
And whatever nature showed to me
To be alone these things just bring you down
When you can share them, then you're free
When I wake up next to you
And I breathe the morning air
I know that you're the only one for me
Baby, nothing can compare
08 How Does It Feel to Feel? (03:40)
How does it feel when the day is over?
How does it feel when the dark comes down?
How does it feel when your room is black as sin?
How does it feel when you're scared by the dark?
How does it feel to feel?
How does it feel to feel?
How does it feel when a shadow moves you?
How does it feel rustled by your bed?
How does it feel when it finally holds you?
How does it feel when you're thinking you're dead?
How does it feel to feel?
How does it feel to feel?
How does it feel when you wake in the morning?
How does it feel feeling sun in the shade?
How does it feel when you slide down a sunbeam?
How does it feel bursting clouds on your way?
How does it feel now that the night is over?
How does it feel never to sleep again?
How does it feel to feel?
10 Magical Spring (04:25)
Baby's got a magic power, she can change the seasons
She's saving up her magic power, for very special reasons
If you drink her potion, you're going to lose your mind
The water from this magic spring, is the best that you can find...
Take a drink of the water, from the magical spring
You'd better believe it, it's a wonderful thing
You'll love her 'til the end of time
You'll need her 'til you die
Maybe you are wondering
So here's the reason why
She holds the key to everything, inside her pretty hands
She doesn't go to sleep at night, she's making evil plans
You can try, but you just can't tell her no
She'll bring you to your knees, and she'll never let you go
Drink from the fountain, where the air is thin
You'd better believe in the magical spring
12 I Don't Know Where It Comes From (05:32)
I don't know where it comes from
I don't know where it comes from
I don't know where it comes from
Don't ask me where it comes from
There's something moving through the air
Years ago, it wasn't there
If people feel it, they don't care
Seems like everybody's sterilised
A piece is missing from their lives
They're never going to be surprised
I don't know where it comes from (don't ask me)
I don't know where it comes from (don't ask me)
I don't know where it comes from (don't ask me)
Don't ask me where it comes from
Turned on the radio tonight
And I was overwhelmed with shite
I got so numb I couldn't fight
What's going on, I can't define
How is it everyone's resigned
We're so uptight, we can't unwind
I don't know where it comes from (don't ask me)
I don't know where it comes from (don't ask me)
I don't know where it comes from (don't ask me)
Don't ask me where it comes from
I don't know where it comes from (don't ask me)
I don't know where it comes from (don't ask me)
I don't know where it comes from (don't ask me)
Don't ask me where it comes from
There's something moving through the air
Years ago, it wasn't there
If people feel it, they don't care
Seems like everybody's sterilised
A piece is missing from their lives
They're never going to be surprised
2x:
I don't know where it comes from (don't ask me)
I don't know where it comes from (don't ask me)
I don't know where it comes from (don't ask me)
Don't ask me where it comes from
5x:
I don't know where it comes from
I don't know where it comes from
I don't know where it comes from
Don't ask me where it comes from
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