Collective Soul - Afterwords Review
by Zane Ewton
.
There is a Mexican restaurant down the street. We go frequently and I always order the same thing, a chimichanga. Sometimes that deep fried burrito is a slice of culinary heaven; sometimes it is just some filling for my empty stomach. I will order it again next time. I am hungry and it tastes good. Not always great but I feel satisfied.
Collective Soul is that musical chimichanga. Ed Roland and company have the staple ingredients and with each album, they mix it around just a little differently. You can count on a couple driving rock riffs, a massive does of drum loops and samples and Roland's undeniable vocals.
You will also hit a couple sleepy mid tempo numbers and many ballads. Many ballads. Collective Soul's '90s albums broke through with some big hits but usually had a few filler tracks as well. Then they released Youth, a fun, upbeat record that was chock full of excellent songs.
With Afterwords, the band is back to its old ways. Lead off track "New Vibration" has a canyon deep riff, mountain high chorus and the album is officially off to a hot start. Then the ballads start in.
My initial thought with Afterwords was that Ed must have found love for the first time all over again. Then I read that he was recently married. That makes complete sense. Where Youth was a bright, sexy new relationship kind of album, Afterwords is a mature, married-man kind of album.
It does not matter too much though. The album is deep and the songs are as good as usual. The band even throws a curveball on a rather sinister sounding dance rock track, "Persuasion of You." Lead off single "Hollywood" is your typical Collective Soul single, all hook and slightly silly lyrics.
As noted, the ballads are in full force and you might find yourself passing them up with the first few listens because the great songs are immediately great. You will probably go straight to those few three or four songs right away. The others will grow on you with a little time though. As usual, the chimichanga is fulfilling this time around, it is just not quite the masterpiece you remember from last time.Note the CD was released in Target stores and iTunes. The Target online store has some errors in the listing (strange for an exclusive) so the buy link goes to an online preview of the full CD instead. Also hit the more stories link for the Collective Soul week articles where the band give some stories behind the songs -ed
CD Info and Links
Collective Soul - Afterwords
Rating:
Preview and Purchase This CD Online
Visit the official homepage
More articles for this artist
.
