In 1995 Collective Soul created their self-titled masterpiece. It sold way more than any of their records, past or present. It launched them into stardom after being basically a one hit wonder. After that, they broke up with their manager in some painful way (the details are foreign to me), and fueled by his anger, Ed Roland wrote a new album.
Collective Soul:
Ed Roland: vocals, guitar
Dean Roland: rhythm guitar
Ross Childress: lead guitar
Will Turpin: bass
Shane Evans: drums
The first single off the album, Precious Declaration, is probably one of the catchiest tunes on the album. The song rides a recognizable riff and basically just great guitar playing throughout the whole song. But after that comes, without a doubt, the album's best song, Listen. From the catchy riff to the perfect solo, it's hard to not love. Shane Evans's huge fills in the chorus make you pull out your air drum sticks and bang along. Ed wrote perfect lyrics, ranging from digesting bullets to crucifying honesty. The album continues with another decent song, Maybe. In the lyrics booklet you notice that it is dedicated to some guy who died. Listening to the lyrics, it's easy to tell. Ed wonders if this guy is in heaven or not, and all he can decide is "maybe." This is not a sad funeral song, more like a happy tribute to a man's life.
The angrier tunes on here begin with Blame. The intro/outro is simply beautiful, played on a mandolin or acoustic guitar. But that's not the only amount of great instrumentation. Ross and Dean display a great use of the guitar. Ed explains during this song that he's mad and he doesn't want anyone (the ex-manager) to blame him for stuff that goes wrong. During the title-track, Ed sings about how everything is messed up and it's not his fault. The album was recorded in a cabin, and this song explains most of their frustrations on that matter. Great bass and guitar riffing highlight a good short song.
But then something happens. Forgiveness is a ballad of all ballads in which Ed explains that he shouldn't stay angry forever and that forgiveness will always be the best option. The guitar playing is fabulous, and for some reason reminds me of The Edge's Achtung Baby era style. Following Forgiveness, a song of the same mold is sung, called Link. Link is a lot faster, but the lyrics deal with basically the same issues. Ed sings about how he will have to use the link of love to get rid of the band's struggles, just because hating people and holding grudges never solves anything.
There isn't too much filler on this album, but still some. Full Circle was written in a style that Collective Soul had never even come close to before. Full of crazy trumpet playing and weird guitar riffs, you may love or hate this song. I haven't decided yet. But the real filler comes with songs like Giving and In Between, with their meaningless lyrics and musical simplistic ness.
The end of the album is much better. Crowded Head is a great song, chock full of wild guitars and a catchy chorus. The song is basically about confusion and frustration. The album concludes with Everything. This song is not very serious, but the chorus is fun to sing along to. Ed explains about, well, Everything. The final line of the album is, "Everything is kool-aid."
Collective Soul decided to experiment more with this album. It took me longer to get into this album than any other of their cds. Not a bad album, but if you're new to Collective Soul I would recommend buying the previous album or the one that follows.
Final Rating: 3.7/5
