By Robert Vasels, Lake Zurich
Reviews by listeners
It's funny to think that not too long ago, Collective Soul was thinking about not playing for too much longer. After the release of 7 Year Itch (a greatest hit compilation of sorts) Ed Roland was on the radio in Florida talking about how the band was kinda burnt out and might only play for a few more years. What happened since then was Ross Childress left the band and he was replaced by Joel Kosche. A year later, Collective Soul released Youth. That album was important because it allowed Ed Roland to get reenergized about making music. Youth had its moments of excellent songs like "Counting the Days", "Better Now", "Him", and "Perfect to Stay". Some songs just become filler, but you can see the influence Joel has had on Ed and it shows on Afterwords. Since then, Collective Soul started their own label (El Music Group) and signed a deal with Target for Afterwords to be the exclusive retailer for the new album.
Afterwords is an absolutely fantastic album. It's fresh, contemporary, and filled with great songs from beginning to end. It is arguably the best total album Ed Roland has ever written. The best thing is that this album is 100% Collective Soul. As you start listening to the album, you start hearing previous records like Self Titled, Disciplined Breakdown, and Dosage. Actually, Afterwords is almost a cross between Self Titled and DB. Roland and the guys have mastered the delicate balance between hard rock and softer, bittersweet slow tempo arrangements to make a sound that is timeless on Afterwords.
If you look at the songs themselves, you can see the influence of previous albums. New Vibration parallels Precious Declaration and Better Now while mimicing the tempo of Counting the Days. The album is touches many ranges. Frankly, the best are the mid tempo segments such as "Persuasion of You", "Never Here Alone" that can remind people of "In Between" from Disciplined Breakdwon. You also get your share of ballads that Collective Soul is known for such as "Run", "Blame", "Needs", "December" and of course "The World I Know". While none of the ballads here are as epic as those, they will become Collective Soul classics particularly "Bearing Witness" and "What I Can Give You" which both have a rainy day instrumentation backed by Ed's soft spoken lyrics that are full of uplifting hope and loving intentions. The same can be said about "Georgia Girl" and "Adored", but I do not find them as memorable as the previous two.
By far the most infectious song on the entire Album is "All That I Know". It is going to become the best song from this album. Possibly the most noticable. It would probably become a major radio hit if Collective Soul was on a major label. It's a typical Ed Roland song about love, but instead of using it in a softer, balladic (if thats a word) format, "All That I Know" is a mid tempo, filled with the best guitar work on the entire album. The song starts off with drum work and a funky guitar rift followed with some "doo doo doo doo" vocals from Ed. About 20 seconds in, the bass comes in and you're hit with the first verse which is followed by the best, most anthematic chorus I think Ed has ever written.
All in all, the lead single, "Hollywood" is somewhat out of place with the rest of the mood of the album. In fact, the album has great depth where "Hollywood" is a modern pop rock anthem. It's bubbly, but that's the point. Ed is making fun of our obsession with Celebrities and their lives. Still, its a good song. It's catchy and there's really no other band who can pull it off like Ed and the rest of Collective Soul.
This album is a must have for any collection. It doesn't matter if you're emo, metal, prog rock, or whatever. This is an album for everybody. There's so much to be engaged by on Afterwords. The album is a classic and will suck you in after the first listen.
Go buy it at Target. Exclusive retailer.
Top Picks:
1: New Vibration
2: What I Can Give You
3: Never Here Alone
4: Bearing Witness
5: All That I Know
8: Hollywood
9: Persuasion of You
10: Georgia Girl
By Robert Vasels, Lake Zurich
last modified
9/6/2007 2:18 PM
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