With "Ordinary Madness", Walter Trout had offered us an introspective and luminous masterpiece. This opus having been recorded before the first internment, it was likely that the isolation imposed to the artist would put him in the best conditions to dwell on his own existence. It is therefore not surprising to find that "Ride" picks up where its predecessor left off.
If "Ordinary Madness" saw the living legend of blues-rock taking stock of his life, the passing of time and the advancing age, "Ride" ventures on the contrary to tell the different stages of his own story and to draw lessons from it. The packaging is relatively classic and only departs from the usual blues-rock on the occasion of a radiant 'Fertile Soil' very rooted in the rock of the 70's, of a 'Leave It All Behind' reinforced by a horn section for a very rock'n'roll big band result, and of the ballad 'Destiny', suave and jazzy. The rest of the time, Walter Trout does what he knows how to do best, that is to say an alternation of powerful and energetic pieces, and of some pauses with a melancholic softness, the whole always enlightened by blinding soli.
We will retain the bewitching mid-tempo 'So Many Sad Goodbyes', the rough 'High Is Low' and its incandescent harmonica and the gleaming 'Better Days Ahead'. The common point of these tracks is the positive message that always emerges in front of a life that doesn't do gifts and regularly puts us down with painful trials. Each time, Walter Trout encourages us to accept the setbacks of life, to learn from them and to get up again because there are always "better days to come". And if there's one artist who can afford to make that kind of moral, it's him after all he's been through in over seven decades. The irresistible self-titled track is another example of that hope, dealing with his childhood and his desire to jump on the train that passed his house and never return.
A logical and necessary complement to "Ordinary Madness", "Ride" is a further proof of Walter Trout's ability to convert the trials of fate into unstoppable songs, real doses of optimism and courage. With a more classic signature than its predecessor, this opus remains nonetheless indispensable to all fans of the genre.