Review Summary: An emotional trip through Ed Roland's mind and memories that manages to come out catchy, fun, and enjoyable.
When listening to Collective Soul's sophomore untitled album, its best to listen with an open mind. Don't be expecting an astonishing, world-class album that takes many listens to sink in; just relax, and listen to it loud. And by the end, you'll be highly educated in one of the 90s best bands, because to fully understand Collective Soul and what they were is to listen to this album, its the only album you'll need by them. Most of their other albums were mediocre and just not very good, but Collective Soul really stumbled onto something good with this album because the album manages to have a 90s feel to it while still keeping a strong, unique feel about it.
Where Collective Soul's debut album left much to be desired outside of the hit,
Shine; this album manages to pick up what
Hints, Allegations, & Things Left Unsaid left unfinished. Their typical approach to melodic hard rock with deep lyrics is found profusely in this album. Triple platinum and still counting; Collective Soul's untitled album is truly the best album they ever released and is by far one of the best mainstream hard rock releases of the 90s. With a profusion of famous singles on it's side like
Gel,
December,
Where The River Flows, and
The World I Know, this album manages to stand toe-to-toe with the best albums of the 90s.
A perfect combination of traditional melodic hard rock songs like the opener
Simple, a very catchy song with some very good guitar riffs and drumming mixes. The chorus has the traditional Collective Soul charm and Ed Roland's traditional vocal echoes. Then of course, there's
Smashing Young Man which was Ed Roland completely making a fool of Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins when he insisted that Shine was a copy off of
Rhinocerous off of their debut album. When Ed Roland proved them wrong, he wrote this song as a rebuttal to Billy Corgan, and while the song is surprisingly cheerful and upbeat, the lyrics clearly show the lyrics revolve around Ed Roland's anger at Billy Corgan for his accusation. But its not just the lyrics as the main guitar riff is very catchy and the tempo to the song is so very catchy the song is just simply impossible not to remember.
Where the River Flows features some nasty, dark and heavy guitar riffs fused with some falsetto vocals in the verses and choruses. The song is very good and has a much darker vibe than the rest of the album.
Gel features some great bass work with some really good guitar work. The chorus is very catchy, and the backing vocals manage to just make the song addicting. And by now, you've figured out the guitar work on the album is fantastic and that's just the case on
Collection of Goods, as it features plenty of good distortion of guitars and vocals.
And even though Collective Soul is classified as a hard rock band, their true talent is with the same tempo, feel and ideas behind their major hits
The World I Know and
December. They truly know how to make slower songs and make them really, really good.
The World I Know starts off with a simple, acoustic guitar riff and a catchy drum tempo which picks up into a little bit louder chorus. The song is filled with strings and other orchestral instruments which manage to add the solemn, deep, and thought-provoking feel of the song. And even though
The World I Know was a great hit,
December is the best Collective Soul song-hands down. Opening up with a simple, yet very memorable guitar riff and very mood-setting vocals mixed with a really fun and upbeat chorus makes this one truly unforgettable song.
When The Water Falls is a slower, yet very good song with a perfect guitar riff. The lyrics manage to be kind of silly and immature, but still are pretty powerful and moving.
Bleed is the epic on the album; it's heartfelt, very meaningful and deep. Its about suicide, and manages to be perfectly instrumentally because its very catchy and memorable. But
Reunion ends the album in style, with a
December feeling guitar riff with soothing vocals from Ed Roland that manage to keep a feeling of coming back to all that's good and cheerful in your world.
Collective Soul's untitled album is a deep, emotional trip through great times and bad times, anger and joy, and so much more. But where most of the more emotional albums fail Collective Soul's sophomore attempt succeeds because it manages to be catchy, unique, and some songs like
The World I Know and
December are epic and memorable. This is clearly one of the 90s best; and a true pleasure for the ears and mind.
DOWNLOAD:
The World I Know
Smashing Young Man
December
Where the River Flows
