Track Listing

1. Simple
2. World I Know
3. Smashing Young Man
4. December
5. Where the River Flows
6. Gel
7. She Gathers Rain
8. When the Water Falls
9. Collection of Goods
10. Bleed
11. Reunion

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9739 in Music
• Released on: 1995-03-14
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com
After the surprising success of "Shine" from his debut effort, Collective Soul honcho Ed Roland told anyone who'd listen how the track was a demo that wasn't even recorded by his "real" band. This self-titled release is the first thing recorded by Collective Soul as a group, and guess what? The sub-Allman Brothers country boogie and ultra-derivative classic-rock riffing proves that "Shine" was a fluke and Roland certainly isn't the best judge of his own material. --Jim DeRogatis

Customer Reviews

One of the most solid albums of the 1990's
Sophomore releases tend to disappoint, or sometimes worse, if you loved the first album, the next one seems like it comes less from the bands vision and more from overall industry pressure to "fit in" with whatever the latest fad is.

In 1995, Collective Soul released their blue covered, self titled album. The result was not a downward spiral, but a catapult into the stratosphere. To this day it is one of my favorite all time albums.

This album's songs have some various themes to them but what really stands out is the FEELING and EMOTION that is put into every track. We have the usual blend of stadium, foot tapping rockers but they are brought down a notch to have added to them extremely concise structure in rythyme, songwriting, and balance.

The rockers that come to mind are "Gel" "December" and "Where the River Flows". All three are powerful tunes and also are carried by a strong vocal performance by lead singer Ed Roland. Want some dreamy, melodic rock? Then look no further than tracks "The world I know" "Smashing young man" and the bluesy "She gathers rain". There isn't a bad or "filler" song on this album. An album that covers a wide landscape of music enough so that you could listen to any number of the songs here at any given time, in any given place, and never get tired of it. During 1995 we were seeing a slew of one hit wonders and bands trying to be the next grunge star or pop hit, those bands no longer are around, but Collective Soul is. Maybe they should have taken a lesson or two from Ed Roland and the crew.

Jim DeRogatis...Amazon's Editor?
I was apalled to read the review first by Amazon's, Editor Jim DeRogatis, about the "Collective Soul", and then the reviews by all your buyers.It appears as they are talking about 2 entirely different things. In my opinion DeRogatis is ignorant, when it comes to music. I would'nt go as far as one of the reviewer suggested about having a "Proctological Exam" to find Jim's head, but seriously, I think he should have his head examined. I was not a "Collective Soul" fan untill 3 months ago when I got CD "Blender" as a gift, and now I have their entire collection and I love them. The moral of the story is that review should be honest, unbiased and not misleading, because of your dislike or ignorance. I really believe that "Collective Soul"is one of the top ten best bands, and i own thousands of Rock cds. Most of the people buy cds after reading editorial reviews(including myself)and this dude is hurting your business.

Phenominal mid-1990s rock album
There are several bands and artists that helped rock music survive grunge, but none more than this great band with this classic album. This is the perfect hybrid of modern and classic rock. With 5 (count 'em, 5!) rock radio hits, this album and band made a huge splash on the rock music landscape at a time it was really needed.

Need I rave about such hit tracks as the rockers "Gel" and "Smashing Young Man" or the slower tracks "December" and the absolutely stunning "The World I Know"? These tracks are all modern classics in my book. However, I also have to rave about such tracks as the rocking opener "Simple" (one listen to that when I first played this CD and I knew I was in for a special treat). Another fav is the second to last track "Bleed", a slightly above mid-tempo track with a killer bass line.

Another reviewer referred to this album as progressive rock with an edge. I couldn't agree more. For sure this album stands up as one of the classics of the 1990s decade. Both commercially and musically, this album is a winner.