Review Summary: This album is very good. Collective Soul puts on a great display of their guitar power. Ed Roland established himself as a great songwriter, and not a one hit wonder. Get this.
This album was Collective Soul's second release, from 1995. It was made without a title but is often referred to as "The Blue Album" or "Self-Titled." This was their biggest seller and had most of their big hits on it.
Collective Soul:
Ed Roland-guitar, lead vocals
Dean Roland-rhythm guitar
Ross Childress-lead guitar
Will Turpin-bass, vocals
Shane Evans-percussion
1. Simple
This song starts off slowly and quietly with some instruments making a small rhythm and Ed's voice singing things that are hard to hear except the word "simple." Soon the drums come in followed by a butt kicking riff that basically tells you these guys aren't screwing around. The chorus is very catchy. "Hey, hey, can?t you see? Love is all that you should need." The song is basically about how everything would be better in a simple world. 4.5/5
2. Untitled
The riff to this song is pretty catchy. The chorus is even better. You can tell from the lyrics that this is a pretty religious sounding song about belief in God. One of the best guitar solos on the album is featured here. Overall an awesome song. 4.8/5
3. The World I Know
Probably one of CS's most well known songs. The acousic guitar is wonderful. The song is full of violins and strings that add a perfect touch to it. The bumbling bass moves back and forth through this song and is probably Will Turpin's best line ever. It is, as explained in the music video, about a man who climbs to the top of a building to jump off and kill himself. Then suddenly he decides not to and thinks he's stupid to ever even consider it. This is their second biggest hit and is heard quite often on the radio. 5/5
4. Smashing Young Man
A song dedicated to Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins. Billy sued them and said that the song "Shine" was a knock of off the SP song "Rhinoceros." Ed proved him wrong and then wrote this song about it. It starts on a neat riff that continues throughout the entire song. You can tell Ed wrote this about a person he definitely does not like. 4/5
5. December
Another huge hit for the band. A song about someone who pretends to love someone else, despite that person knowing their true feelings. It begins with a nice guitar part, showcasing the skills of all three guitarists. Ed's lyrics and vocals are amazing. The chorus is crazy and ends with the memorable line, "Turn your head now baby just spit me out." In the middle of the song it kind of ends and then a cool guitar line gets played over a few times and the song starts up again. At the end of the song each line begins with the word December, which some people may not notice. Will plays the bongos to add a neat touch. 5/5
6. Where The River Flows
A pretty popular song among fans. In my opinion, however, I just can't get into this song. Ed's vocals are just plain obnoxious, stupid, and high pitched during the verses. Will's backup vocals do kind of mess up the song too. The song is basically about your journey through life. The best part of the song is the big riff that it starts out on. Check out the live version of it, it's way better. 3/5
7. Gel
Like "Simple," this song starts out quietly until the drums come in. The riff is pretty good throughout the song. I love the line, "Tell me how you'd love to hate me, tell me how you'd love to care." It's basically about working with others and not becoming enemies. Great bass line, catchy chorus, this will get stuck in your head. 4/5
8. She Gathers Rain
Starts off on (yet another) big riff. Ed sings about some girl and the love she gives and receives. The song has some sort of baptismal message tied to it. The guitar playing is superb, as it is on the entire album. 4.7/5
9. When The Water Falls
You guessed it, another nice riff to begin the song. This is more of a slower, ballad-like song. The chorus is great in this song. "Do you know where the sun goes, when the water falls?" The whole message behind the song is kind of funny. It is just about a child asking her parents questions about dumb things, like what all little kids do. One of their more underrated songs. 5/5
10. Collection Of Goods
Terrible song, easily the worst on the album. Annoying distorted vocals that sing the verses. Decent guitar work. The chorus is just some dumb things said over and over. And yes, about another girl. The song, as I've heard, is about concentrating on the good things in life. 1.5/5
11. Bleed
Begins with the very best riff on the album. Ed said in an interview that it was about a girl who was going to commit suicide and came to his father for help. His father wasn't home, so he and guitarist Dean Roland had to talk her out of it. Somehow they succeeded ("I think her gun's unloaded now") and she was happy to be alive. Wonderful lyrics and guitar during the verses. The chorus is great and says that everyone takes a turn having problems, or "bleeding." 5/5
12. Reunion
Starts out with nice guitar picking. It's easy to see that it is all about coming home to all those that you love. There is a group of gospel singers that sing backup. That adds a cool touch. The solo on acoustic guitar is magnificent. This is a perfect outro. 5/5
Overall, I think this is a fabulous album. If you are new to Collective Soul you should get this. There are many classic 90's songs on this album. I'd recommend it to anyone who knows and likes songs like "December" or "The World I Know."
