March 14, 1995 - Collective Soul

Six weeks after my last release and a year since their debut "Hints, Allegations And Things Left Unsaid", Collective Soul released their self-titled second album "Collective Soul" on March 14, 1995. Their first album was only meant to be a promotional demo so frontman Ed Roland has said that he thinks this album is their true debut. This album is still their most successful of their career and it made Collective Soul pretty damn popular with five singles, two of which went to #1 on both the rock and pop charts, which is pretty impressive! Let's check out Collective Soul's big breakthrough!

The album kicks off with "Simple" and it has a quiet opening before Shane Evans plays us in with a loud drum beat and Ross Childress cues up a pretty cool lead guitar riff. Ed Roland starts to sing a catchy verse overtop and it flows right into a similarly catchy chorus with Childress continuing tonkead the way with some cool guitar. After another verse and chorus Roland sings a decent new verse and then they hit reset and play another catchy verse and chorus before closing things out with a Ice fast-paced rock section. A pretty solid intro song! Up next is "Untitled" and after a light rock opening Childress once again lays down a pretty catchy and cool lead guitar riff and this drives things along as Roland sings a solid verse to match the mood. The lighter opening turns out to be the chorus riff and Dean Roland backs his brother on vocals in this dreamy chorus. Another catchy verse and dreamy chorus later Evans plays some solid percussion and Will Turpin plays some solid bass as well as they set the stage for a guitar solo. Childress delivers a pretty cool solo that is a little flashy but fits the mood perfectly and it leads right into a final chorus before they nicely finish it off. Track 3 is "The World I Know" and it is one of two songs off this album to top both the rock and pop charts! Dean kicks us off with a light guitar riff that is the backbone of this song and we then hear a whole strings section join in with the rest of the band to complete the riff and the strings make things sound a little sad, but pretty epic and cool. Ed sings a light verse to match the slow mood of the song and Childress adds some light lead guitar overtop that mixes nicely with the strings and everything else. They play a couple verses before reaching the pop-y chorus that could be mistaken for a boy band! The strings continue to sound great though and it's no surprise that this was a really popular song as it's very pop-y but also done very smoothly. They play some more verses and choruses, never straying from these two catchy parts until they turn things up a bit for the end. It was a slow one, but it was done really well. The next song was also a succesful single and is called "Smashing Young Man". Childress plays another catchy lead guitar riff and everyone builds nicely around it as Turpin plays some cool bass in the rhythm section to back him. Ed sings a nice verse overtop and this riff is undeniably catchy. The chorus is a little slower but still very smooth and Ed sounds great hitting some high notes and leading the chorus. After another catchy verse and chorus Ed sings a brief new part that sets the stage for the guitar solo and Childress plays a simple but epic sounding solo. They play a final chorus before jamming out the catchy main riff one final time to end another solid tune. Track 5 is the other pop and rock chart-topper and it's titled "December". Childress plays the repetitive but catchy light lead guitar riff and Dean compliments him nicely on rhythm guitar before Ed comes in to sing a light verse to match. The rhythm section finally joins in for the chorus and Ed nicely leads the way with a light chorus and he sounds pretty good singing "baby, just spit me out". Evans adds a coop drum beat to the next verse and the strings section is back for the second chorus. They continue to jam out the chorus until Childress plays a solid guitar riff to lead a new instrumental part. They go from here right into the chorus again and everyone plays a little louder as they nicely jam out a couple choruses and Childress wraps things up with a nest little bow. I found it a little repetitive, but it was still a solid song. Up next is "Where The River Flows", another single, and this one has a much heavier and less pop-y vibe to it as Childress leads the way with a pretty cool guitar riff and the rest if the band builds around him. Roland's high verse sounds pretty good overtop as he leads the way with the catchy guitar driving things along. Ed sounds good in the chorus as well, starting pretty high, but nicely ending things by singing the name of the song a couple times in a nice rock voice. After another verse and chorus it's solo time and Childress plays a pretty sweet solo that is nice and fast-paced and sounds pretty great! It leads right back into the catchy main riff and they play a final verse and chorus to end what was easily my favourite song thus far. Track 7 was actually the first single released off this album, "Gel", and after a slow opening they kick into another pretty catchy main riff with a fast drum beat by Evans and a solid guitar riff by Childress leading the way. Ed sings a solid verse overtop and several other band members do the catchy "aha-aha-aha" backing vocals in the chorus while Ed nicely leads the way on this upbeat track. After another pretty catchy verse and chorus Childress tears into a guitar solo and he delivers another pretty epic solo that might just be his beat one yet! After the solo they play a couple final choruses before Childress jams out the catchy main riff one last time. These guys play an undeniably catchy style of rock! The next song is "She Gathers Rain" and Childress plays another pretty cool and catchy guitar riff to lead the way in this interesting, slightly offbeat riff. Ed sings a soft verse to match the mood perfectly and it leads right into a light and breezy chorus with Ed singing pretty high that is pretty pop-y. They play another solid verse and pop-y chorus before Childress lays down a slow solo that is pretty simple, but it fits the mood nicely. They hit reset it seems, but the verse is shortened and they get right to the chorus to predictably finish this one off. Track 9 is "When The Water Falls" and Dean and Rosa both play some catchy light guitar in this main riff as Ed sings in a nice high voice overtop. The verse carries into a similar chorus with more light guitars and Ed still sounding pretty good leading the way. After another verse and chorus Childress plays a slow and sappy solo to match the mood before they close out the song with a couple final choruses. An okay song, but one of the lesser ones on the album. Up next is "Collection Of Goods" and Childress plays a simple but catchy guitar riff to drive things and Ed's singing throughout this song sounds like he's far away from the mic and slightly distorted. I'm not a big fan of these distorted vocals as I find they don't hit very hard at all and along with the light and simple music this is another lesser one for me. After another verse and chorus Ed leads a catchy new part that sets the stage for a pop-y guitar solo. It leads nicely back into the chorus and then they jam out the catchy part again to end things. Track 11 is called "Bleed" and Dean starts us off with a catchy rhythm guitar riff, Ross comes in with a swinging lead guitar, Shane is playing a catchy drum beat and Will is playing some simple but catchy bass as well to combine for a light but pretty cool main riff. Ed sings a nice verse to match and things flow nicely into a catchy chorus with Ed going high, quiet, and then nicely ending things with a "'cause it's only time before we all must... bleed". After another catchy verse and chorus Dean plays a cool rhythm guitar riff that sets the stage perfectly for Ross, who delivers another pop-y yet pretty cool guitar solo. The solo leads right back into the catchy chorus, which they play a couple times before ending the song with the swinging main riff. The final song on the album is "Reunion" and Childress plays a light but cool guitar riff and it's just him and Ed to start as he sings softly overtop the guitar. After the first verse the rest of the band joins in, and so does some light organ to add to this soulful mood. Some female backing vocals really solidifies that mood and things sound pretty cool! Childress plays an interesting little solo that matches the mood perfectly and then things calm down as Childress plays things out beautifully on guitar to close out the song and album.

That is the end of "Collective Soul" and I thought it was a pretty good album! These guys have quickly become masters of making lighter rock music with some undeniably catchy and pop-y elements and they broke through in a big way. I think this album leaves their debut in the dust and is filled with lots of catchy guitar riffs, with my favourite track probably being "Where The River Flows". But there was lots of good stuff on this album and it's gonna be a tough one to top, but I think they have it in them!