According to some critics, Elephant Ride gives a live performance full of vitality combined with a raw sense of emotion. After listening to their Forget album, I can imagine that they would produce a good live performance as the album itself is full of many surprises. The most pleasant of these surprises is that the lead singer, Andrew Woodworth, has a sweet tenor's voice that manages to convey a wide range of emotions. Some have compared Elephant Ride to Live, but they remind this critic more of Blind Melon in their variety of rhythms, ranging from slow and mellow to fast and punchy. Elephant Ride lacks the power and strength that Live conveys on their albums alone, but Woodworth's voice has the poignancy of the late Shannon Hoon's that reaches out to the listener and makes this album memorable.
Working with the legendary John Paul Jones as their producer, Elephant Ride gained strength and were able to use Jones as a guide in order to grow musically. For Woodworth and the other members of the band, working with Jones gained the respect they needed as artists and felt that his help, as well as the help of others, enabled them to relate to other artists on a human level as well as on a musical level, and as Woodworth says, "For me, that comes before the art."
The most memorable track on the album by far is "Bishop Mariah". Woodworth especially displays his vocal strength on this track and proves the band's ability to write a catchy radio-friendly tune. Other songs on the album also work quite well, such as the melodic "Wash Me" as well as "Orphan" which is this band's song about a girl with some sort of problems - doesn't every band have a song like this?
Although Elephant Ride doesn't have the intensity of bands such as Live or R.E.M., they do show great potential as they have Woodworth's beautiful voice to work with and the ability to write emotional lyrics and melodies. For Woodworth, it's all about communication - reaching out and trying to make people realize they're not alone. With sentiments like this in mind, the band Elephant Ride should go far.
