*Re-released in 2008 El Music Group.
Contains 3 bonus tracks.
14 tracks total.
Country: U.S.A.Genre: Alternative Rock
Label Number: EMG 00555-5
© 2007-2008 El Music Group
AllMusic Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
© 2007-2008 El Music Group
AllMusic Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
After delving a bit too deeply into glam on 2004's Youth, their first foray into indie recordings, Collective Soul straightens things out on its 2007 follow-up, Afterwords. Contrary to the implication of the title of "New Vibration" -- the hard-hitting opener on this, their seventh album -- Afterwords
brings the band close to how they sounded about a decade before, when
they were riding the peak of their popularity and when modern rock bands
could still be heard on the radio because there was modern mainstream
rock radio. If this kind of radio still existed in 2007, Collective Soul could still have hits, at least with an album like Afterwords
that unapologetically plays to their core strengths of hooky, sturdy
songs, delivered unpretentiously but grandly, as if they were designed
to fill an arena. There may be no one song as grabbing as "Gel" or
gently transcendent as "Shine" -- or even anthemic as that power ballad
classic "The World I Know" -- but the songs are big and tuneful, crying
out for the appealingly glossy production they're given. Collective Soul
needs that kind of huge, clean production -- the kind of recording
where the drums sound cavernous, the guitars are pushed to the front
along with the voice, and the slight electronic flourishes, such as the
occasional drum loop, are buried and used as texture -- because they're
at heart a mainstream band even if they're now on an independent label.
The fact that they're now on an independent is more a reflection of the
nature of the music business than the music, because Afterwords
is the kind of good, solid mainstream pop/rock that isn't heard much in
2007 and anybody missing that sound should seek this out, especially
fans who weren't quite thrilled with its glammier predecessor. Unlike Youth, Afterwords is a Collective Soul album for those who like Collective Soul.
tags: collective soul, afterwords, 2007, 2008, flac,
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