October 10, 2000 - Blender

It's a double release day! On the same day as my last release and a year and eight months since "Dosage", Collective Soul released their fifth album "Blender" on October 10, 2000. Collective Soul continue to play the same style of pop-rock but they've gone down and up throughout their career so far, and their last album was solid. Does that mean we're headed back down? Let's give it a listen and find out!

The album kicks off with "Skin" and it's got a light and pop-y main riff that is pretty catchy with Ross Childress playing some decent guitar to lead the way. Ed Roland sings a solid verse in his usual pop-y voice  and I'm a little surprised this wasn't a single with it's very pop-y and accessible music. There's a super catchy "ba-dup ba-dup" vocal part that I'm describing terribly, but this seems like a great choice to open the album; it's a little repetitive, but still solid. Up next is "Vent" and Will Turpin plays a catchy bass riff and Childress and Dean Roland follow with some catchy and cool guitars. Ed sings another solid verse and things sound very pop-y yet solidly catchy once again. It's got a light, breezy and uplifting mood to it and Childress spices things up with a cool guitar solo as well that fits the mood very nicely. The good times keep rolling with track 3 "Why, Pt. 2" and if you're confused you have every right to be, because there is no Why Pt. 1. Childress leads the way with a simple but nice and heavy main riff and Turpin backs him with some solid bass. Ed sings nicely inbetween the heavy guitar notes and they move nicely into a pop-y chorus with Ed sounding good singing overtop of a lighter but still cool chorus riff. The verse is just so damn catchy, it's hard not to tap your toe or bang your head along. The guitar solo starts pretty simple, but Childress picks it up a bit at the end and then they nicely wrap things up with a final chorus and final catchy riff. A great single! The next track is "10 Years Later" and it's very slow with a sappy acoustic guitar riff leading the way and Ed singing very softly as well. Turpin's slow bass is solid and things sound decent, but it's very simple and there's not a whole lot happening as we lazily float down the river. It's got a really weird ending as well and this is a perfect example of what I don't want Collective Soul doing: it's not terrible, but it's not very exciting either. Track 5 is "Boast" and it's also driven by acoustic guitar, but it's much faster and more exciting and it's cool little intro that leads perfectly into a great electric guitar riff by Childress that nicely takes over and sounds pretty sweet! They return to acoustic for another verse and the shift is once again done very well, the new riff just hits so hard! These two riffs sum up this whole song pretty much, but that's all you need! I thought it was pretty good! Up next is "Turn Around" and it's got a light and breezy main riff with both acoustic and electric guitars and Ed leads the way with a decent pop-y verse that leads right into a very similar chorus. The electric guitar is more prominent the next time round and things sound better for sure with Childress playing some solid light stuff. They ramp up for a nice bridge that says the stage for a solo, but it's a pretty tame guitar solo and it leads to a new part with some very old time-y keyboards that aren't my favourite. After a final verse and chorus they end with just some piano and the piano sounds solid! It's some cool stuff that fits the mood perfectly! Track 7 is "You Speak My Language" and it's a cover of a band I've never heard of called Morphine. It's got a decently heavy guitar riff leading the way and the verse is quietly epic with Ed sounding pretty good singing overtop. Things pick up in a faster chorus with some more cool guitar by Childress and this pretty much sums up the song, but it's a good back-and-forth between the verse and chorus and I never found that things dragged, pretty catchy and solid tune! The next track is "Perfect Day" and it's featuring the one and only Elton John! Ed sings a pretty good first verse overtop a light but smooth main riff and the chorus is unbelievably catchy with some sing-along woohooing and a very catchy and breezy tune. Elton shows up to play piano and sing the second verse and he does a pretty good job of both of them with a solid verse! After another chorus there's fun little bridge part with Ed singing a short part and Elton going off for a pretty sweet piano solo! That's what I'm talkin' about! They predictably wrap things up with a final verse and jam out sever choruses, but this was an excellent single: very accessible and catchy, but also pretty good! Track 9 is "After All" and it has a pretty simple and pop-y main riff with some light guitars and Ed singing a soft verse to match the mood pretty perfectly. The chorus is in the same vein with Ed holding some longer notes overtop the light and simple music that Childress adds a bit of extra guitar too, but not much. The "solo" is also extremely tame and whole this song is okay, it's definitely a lesser one for me. Up next is "Over Tokyo" and the first verse is pretty sappy and quiet, but the chorus is louder (though still very light and pop-y) and then some louder guitars enter for the rest of the song and these two electric riffs combine for a catchy backdrop. It's definitely an improvement, but this is another very pop-y and not all that exciting song, which makes two in a row. Can they end strong? The final track is "Happiness" and they definitely can finish strong eas they jump right into a pretty cool and nice and hard rock main riff led by some sweet guitar by Childress. The rhythm section is really catchy behind him as well and Ed sings a pretty solid verse as well, which makes for a pretty cool song! The chorus is super catchy as well and the lead guitar still hits nice and hard. There's no solo, but there's a fitting instrumental break before they nicely wrap up this song and this album.

That is the end of "Blender" and I thought it was mostly a pretty good album. Like every Collective Soul album it had a couple lighter, lesser songs, but ai thought most of them weren't just good, they were pretty solid! I think this album is easily better than "Disciplined Breakdown", but it's also definitely not as good as "Collective Soul", which leaves it firmly in third place. So it was slightly down, but not a huge dip down! Where will they go next?