After an extensive hiatus of four years, Collective Soul is back
\nwith all the positive energy it is known for: This has always been
\nits strength, and thank god it is still hanging on to it.<\/p>\n
The group has gone through a few personal as well as
\nprofessional changes in the four years of its absence: It have a
\nnew producer — Dexter Green — and a new guitarist, Joel Kosche.
\nFurthermore,
\nYouth<\/i> is the act’s first release on its independent label,
\nEl Music Group. Also, singer Ed Roland got divorced, and drummer
\nWill Turpin had a child.<\/p>\n
So how much have all these changes affected the band on the
\ncreative front? Thankfully, not that much. The men are as energetic
\nas ever, and importantly, they have limited themselves to their
\ntrademark style of catchy guitar-hooks, irresistibly singable
\nchoruses, and numbers that last for less than three-and-half
\nminutes.<\/p>\n
The lyrics are as uplifting as the music: “Oh I’m newly
\ncalibrated \/ All shiny and clean\u2026Oh I’m happy as Christmas \/
\nAll wrapped to be seen,” sings vocalist Ed Rolland on Collective
\nSoul’s first new track in four years, “Better Now,” which features
\nthe chorus “Let the word out \/ I’ve got to get out \/ Oh I’m feeling
\nbetter now.”<\/p>\n
On the sprightly “Feels Like (It Feels All Right)”, he declares
\n“It feels like ready go \/ I’m full throttle while the fluids flow,”
\nand asserts “Yeah I’m coming round, this world loves me now \/ Feel
\nthe rhythm of changes laying down” on the exuberantly optimistic
\n“General Attitude.”<\/p>\n
\nYouth<\/i> is as conventional a Collective Soul record as any of
\nits other ones. If
\nHints Allegations\u2026<\/i>is remembered for the hit
\nsingle”Shine,” and
\nCollective Soul<\/i> for “Gel,” then
\nYouth<\/i> offers “Counting The Days” — a song having the
\nperfect attributes of a single — as a fitting counterpart.<\/p>\n
As a matter of fact,
\nYouth<\/i> captures all the other elements of a traditional
\nCollective Soul record: hard-hitting guitar-power songs (“Better
\nNow,” with the awesomely funky sax solo), “There’s A Way,” and
\n“Feels Like”; slower ballad-like numbers (“How Do You Love,” “Under
\nHeaven’s Skies” and “Satellite”); and sexy dance-grooves (“Home”
\nand “General Attitude”).<\/p>\n
With so many music styles being infused with each other in the
\nwider music industry, and so many of the other attempts at creating
\nhybrids falling flat on their faces, Collective Soul’s interesting
\npastiche of crispy rock music mixed with fun pop vibes has proven
\nsuccessful time and again with every album that it has put out. The
\nband is undoubtedly one of the few genuine pop-rock acts left in
\nthe music industry, which stinks today of so many phony
\nlook-alikes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":26963,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5735],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-38275","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-collective-soul","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38275\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38275"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}