Written by: Alex Green

Oh yes, he does.

It’s no secret that The Cure’s Robert Smith has been a longtime fan of Ride.

Having once declared that the band’s “Vapour Trail” boasted the finest first fifteen seconds of almost any pop song ever written, Smith has been an admirer of Ride for years.

Now with Ride’s Nowhere due to hit shelvers November 6th in an expanded anniversary edition which will go under the moniker Nowhere25, Smith has emerged from the shadows to show his continued devotion to the now-legendary Oxford band.

Asked by Ride themselves to remix “Vapour Trail,” Smith jumped in immediately and got right to work. The result is what he calls the song’s “Trail Mix.”

Those first fifteen seconds remain untouched, but Smith’s sonic embroidery includes a layered, spectral echo on Mark Gardener’s vocals and towards the end of the song he weaves in a sonic texture that gives the composition a bit more punch.

This version will not be on the Nowhere25 reissue.