Album Review: Pierced Arrow by The Rides

Supergroup concept revs again in Stephen Stills’s “blues band of my dreams”. Although Cream were the first example of well-known musicians fleeing established bands to play together, the term ‘supergroup’ was minted in May 1968 when Al Kooper, fresh from Blood, Sweat & Tears, booked two days in the studio with Electric Flag guitarist Mike Bloomfield and organist Barry Goldberg, who he had played with in Dylan’s band at 1965’s Newport festival. ADVERTISINGinRead invented by Teads When Bloomfield failed to show on the second day, Kooper hastily brought in Stephen Stills, whose Buffalo Springfield were disintegrating along with the Flag.

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Stephen Stills, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, and Barry Goldberg had enough fun with Can't Get Enough, their first album as the Rides, that they decided to knock out another one three years later. Called Pierced Arrow, the album is pretty similar to the 2013 debut. The two singer/guitarists duel with their six strings and trade off songs, allowing covers like Willie Dixon's classic "My Babe" into the mix.

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Stephen Stills’ “blues band of my dreams” continues his fertile reunion with keyboard maestro Barry Goldberg, who he first played with on 1968’s seminal Super Session alongside Al Kooper. Joined by multi-platinum blues guitarist Kenny Wayne Shepherd and naming themselves thanks to a mutual love of classic cars, the band recorded 2013’s live Can’t Get Enough, joined by bassist Kevin McCormick and Shepherd’s long-time drummer Chris Layton. After it made the US Top 40, The Rides hit the road before recording this feisty follow-up, which shows their honed chops with lead vocals and guitar duties divided between Stills and Shepherd, and Goldberg’s sublime keyboards providing the five-star petrol.

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