The PORTAL MAGAZINE

Collective Soul
Self Titled (’Rabbit’)
Roadrunner Records
August 25, 2009

by Donna Mair

Collective Soul pulled a fast one today – ‘leaking’ their new Self Titled album (affectionately known as ‘Rabbit’) a week early on Rhapsody and VH1’s sites. Unfortunately for me – neither site would let me listen as anyone north of the border is blocked by these sites. However… Collective Soul themselves came to the rescue just before dinner time -tossing the album up on a mirror site for the rest of us!

I’ve now listened to the album 4 times and I can say I’m hooked! This is Collective Soul heads and shoulders above anything they’ve done to date. This is vintage Collective Soul rolled together with a new energy that hasn’t been there in some time.

The album opens with their second Single, “Welcome All Again”. I’m not a huge fan of this song even though it has classic rock and roll sound, and tells the story of the band’s recording sessions at Ed’s lake house. It’s a decent enough song – the band has been opening their live shows with it the last few weeks and it receives amazing reception from the fans – but to me it lacks passion and feeling;  its more a commentary than an emotional reminiscing.

“Fuzzy” is track number two and it’s quirky and amusing. It opens with background whistling and Ed clearly bemoaning a hangover. It builds slowly between verses and just sounds amazing with the entire band chiming in on the ‘ahhs’ at the chorus’. It almost has a bluesy feel to it which I really love.

Third track up is “Dig” which the band is also playing live and which is receiving amazing feedback from concert goers. It’s snappy with great guitar riffs and a kicking back beat. It’s very much old school Collective Soul -two thirds Rock +  Roll with a dash of Pop, and will be instantly stuck in your head with it’s inevitable hook. And I dare you to not sing along to the ‘hey hey’ parts!

“You” comes next – my favorite song on this album. I’ve been fortunate enough to see this performed live and it hit me like a ton of bricks. It’s light and airy…bouncy like feathers floating but that’s not to say it’s lightweight. It packs a punch. It’s a love song from a realistic perspective of an imperfect lover. The keyboards in this song really add to the overall feel of it. It’s not as rock heavy as the other songs on the album, but it’s still classic Collective Soul.

“My Days” is solid rock and roll. It’s guitar and percussion heavy with cool little things going on in the bridge of the song that compliment Ed Roland’s voice, which is warm and glowing and hits the high notes with no effort at all. It’s heavy, cool, fast paced, hot and the chorus slides seamlessly into the verses with little drag. Newcomer Cheney Brannon’s drumming stands out in this song, as does Joel Kosche’s guitar solo but neither detract from the rest of the band doing their own things in the background. Each musician mixes together perfectly to form the whole, but you can also hear each part beautifully and separately. Love the bridge of Ed singing with only the bass and drum, then back into full blown instrumentation by all. The lyrics are thought provoking – is the singer speaking from a personal standpoint, or generalizing? The song ends on a high note, and abruptly but it works.

“Understanding” comes next and is my second favorite song at this point. This song was written by the entire band using ’stream of consciousness’ writing – each band member wrote out random thoughts and left them on singer Ed Roland’s table and he then fit them all together. The song is melodic, bright, raw, very unpolished – simple guitar strums and Ed’s voice start the song before the bass kicks in – then it changes tempo unexpectedly until the second verse. By the third verse it changes tempo yet again and becomes this big, wide, spacious ending with a distinctly Pink Floyd feel to it. The lyriccs are interesting – a rendering of each band members most inner thoughts. This song is going to recieve heavy rotation on my iPod.

“Staring Down” is the first Single from this album, and from the very first time I heard it, I was hooked.. I’m head over heels in love with everything about this song. From the drumming style, the bongos in the middle, the guitar notes, the background singing, the lyrics… there is nothing about this song I don’t like. The lyrics have hooked me as much as the melody in this song – “loosened from my pride, oh that monster he kept me so tight”  Not many musicians would start a song admitting they have a problem with pride but Ed Roland isn’t ‘any musician’.

“She Does” is a definite love song from Ed Roland to his wife who was expecting during the making of this album, but it’s not sappy. I love the visuals that the lyrics in the chorus give me when I listen to it. The bridge is different but works – Collective Soul have the uncanny ability to fit unique bits of music together to form something amazing, and I found myself humming the melody after only one listen.

“Lighten Up” – very military stacato style of drumming at the beginning of the song. I love the lyrics to this song – but they’re so fast paced that again, I’ll have to give this a few listens to get the full weight of them. I don’t think this will be one of my favorite songs from this album, but it’s a good song nonetheless… definitely rock and roll.

“Love” – “Marching through the corridor, through faces I don’t know, got sunshine on the inside, but nowhere to glow. Counting down the hours, pretending that it’s time, searching for the patience, or treasure I can’t find, “

The opening lyrics of this song gave me a strong visual of Ed about to go on stage for a show, and wondering what it was all about – the song goes on to talk about how much he misses being at home, how much he misses being around love, around his lover. It’s melancholic and bouncy, sad and hopeful. It’s a contradiction like many of Collective Soul’s songs are and it’s a definite toe tapper – it makes you want to sing along and move to the music, while still sharing the singer’s homesickness.

“Hymn For My Father” – Ed has stated that he’s wanted to write a proper song for his father who passed away some years ago – this is it. It’s just Ed on his piano with that incredibly emotion filled voice of his. . This song most likely will never be played at a live Collective Soul concert which is too bad because it’s a beautiful haunting song full of love and longing.

Collective Soul have said that this is the first album in some time, that they’ve written and recorded together as a band – and it shows. This album is (in my opinion) the best album they’ve ever done. They’ve put every ounce of effort, energy, heart, passion and soul into this album – there are no toss away songs, no filler. Each song is full of depth both musically and lyrically, and I can see listening to this album for years to come, and being able to interpret each song completely different based on where I am at that point of my life.

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