Riverside Drive
Bond No. 9 (2003)

How is this so classically masculine, yet so unordinary? It is everything a mens fragrance is expected to be, but not. Basil and pineapple leaves being backed up by sandalwood and oak moss. An overlooked classic.

Riverside Drive is my absolute favorite fragrance from Bond No.9. Maurice Roucel really crafted a gem in Riverside, that doesn't get the attention it deserves IMO.

Riverside starts with a big opening of basil, paired with violet and fruit. The basil is more herb garden than kitchen spice rack, so it smells fresh and clean, and a bit sweet with the violet and fruit. The basil accord subsides and a classic gentleman's base of patchouli, woods and a synthetic oakmoss takes over. Pineapple and rose play with the lingering basil and become the heart of the fragrance. I get superior longevity and average sillage, making Riverside a great workday choice. Fresh and modern, with a nod to refined, classic gentlemanly colognes of a suit and tie era. Highly recommended. Thumbs Up.

If you are looking for a basil-oriented scent, this is it!
A paradox in its own right:
Light and Dark, Sweet and Tart, Soft and Loud, Unique and Familiar all at the same time.
This one seems to take a lot of the best of your favorite fragrances
and mix them with basil to create a special composition.
I am a big fan of all of the notes in the dry-down which
will have others smelling you and you smelling yourself for hours.
This could easily be a signature scent and because of the polarizing aspect, and
should be easy to pick up for less than retail online.
Riverside Drive will always be in my collection.

A classic pretty much accessible well balanced citrus-floral-wood fragrance. The basil note is nice but a little excessive. Not bad at all. It would be on the better end of the spectrum if it were a designer fragrance. Taken by itself, it's pretty good but there's better things out there.

3/5

The freshness of the opening, with a mint-basil tone combined with a fruity undertone, with the fruitiness becoming stronger in the drydown whilst fanning out into more distinct varieties. Pineapple, rose and white florals mainly. This is followed by another fresh note composed of aquatic elements with a salty hint. After about tree hours a richer gourmand-style phase develops, with a nigh caramel-cinnamon vibe but not too sweet. This is a tad synthetic but always in a pleasing fashion. Interestingly, after some wood being interspersed, he aquatic side reappears on my skin, only to be supplanted by a light white musk towards the end. Good silage and projection with an excellent longevity if around eight hours. Great in late spring; this is overall one of Bond's convincing creations.

Genre: Aquatic

I've had to spend more time (and verbiage) than I have with other Bond No. 9 scents to figure out Riverside Drive. At first this IS the Creed clone that so many of this house's offerings are reputed to be. Its top notes manage to channel Green Irish Tweed, Millésime Imperial, and Silver Mountain Water all at once. Creed “millésimes” are repetitive enough already. Who needs a knock-off?

Blessedly, Riverside Drive has a different destination than its transatlantic cousins, with no trace of the sweet/animal ambergris that so many Creed scents share. It takes some time before I get the pineapple that others perceive, and when it does arrive it plays a role much like the melon in Millésime Imperial or the black currant in Silver Mountain Water. However, it's unique enough to distinguish Riverside Drive and launch it on its own trajectory. The almost minty basil note also adds distinction, and by the time the herb's bitter but fresh green notes take full hold Riverside Drive has staked out its own olfactory territory. Basil is a complex note in and of itself, and the fresh leaves can give off hints of licorice or cinnamon when crushed. It's the former that prevails here; so much so that it's hard to believe there's no anise seed lurking somewhere in the background.

The fruit drops out as Riverside Drive evolves, and while ozonic elements remain, the scent becomes dry and bittersweet, but also oddly rereshing. This impression may be due to an astringent cedar note in the base. This, plus a crisp rose, bear up Riverside Drive's heart. The drydown is woods, patchouli, and a little moss, with the cedar note remaining dominant. This stage is well put together, but also fairly conventional. Riverside Drive's greatest strength may be that it avoids mimicking the aquatic Creeds as it exits. In fact, it bears a closer resemblance to the far edgier cedar and patchouli drydown of Amouage's Reflection.

One thing that Riverside Drive clearly has going for it is longevity. While it sets no records on this front, it does outlast the Creed aquatics by an hour or two. This is not the kind of bold, original fragrance Maurice Roucel gave us in Musc Ravageur or Iris Silver Mist, but it is one of the most distinguished and interesting in the line, along with H.O.T. Always and Chinatown.