  Information Home Articles Discography Faqs History Lyrics Member Bios News Tour Dates Mulitmedia Audio Pictures Video Interactive Bulletin Board Chatroom Guestbook Extras Links Mailing List Wallpapers My Stuff About Me Bootlegs Contact |
   1. Better Now - 3:14 (Roland/Green) 2. There's A Way - 3:50 (Roland/Green) 3. Home - 3:57 (Roland/Green) 4. How Do You Love? - 4:20 (Roland) 5. Him - 2:38 (Roland) 6. Feels Like (It Feels Alright) - 3:07 (Roland) 7. Perfect To Stay - 3:05 (Roland) 8. Counting The Days - 2:40 (Roland) 9. Under Heaven's Skies - 3:32 (Roland) 10. General Attitude - 4:00 (Roland) 11. Satellite - 3:24 (Roland) The Song Breakdown: Better Now - Rating: ***** There's A Way - Rating: **** Home - Rating: ***** How Do You Love - Rating: *** Him - Rating: **** Feels Like (It Feels Alright) - Rating: ***** Perfect To Stay - Rating: *** Counting The Days - Rating: **** Under Heaven's Skies - Rating: ***** General Attitude - Rating: ***** Satellite - Rating: ***
My Short Review: Collective Soul returns after 4 years and are as good as ever. "Youth" brings Collective Soul back to their roots of great songwriting, awesome production, and albums full of car stereo booming songs with some beautiful ballads thrown in to top it all off. Overall, there isn't a single bad track on the album and all being single-worthy... you just can't go wrong with "Youth". Personal favorites: The rockers: "Better Now", "Home", "Feels Like (It Feels Alright)", and "General Attitude". Personal favorites: The ballads: "How Do You Love", "Satellite", " and "Under Heaven's Skies". My Rating: ***** AMG Expert Review: Well, this is a weird one. Collective Soul parted ways with their longtime record label Atlantic following the release of the 2001 hits collection 7even Year Itch, and it took them three years to deliver a new album, which meant there was a gap of four years separating their last proper studio album, 2000's Blender, and its 2004 followup Youth. Freed from the pressures of a big record label and the constrains of post-grunge modern rock radio, the band seized the opportunity to reinvent itself. While they still retain some of their essential DNA, especially when they delve into ballads like "How Do You Love," they restyle themselves in fuzzy, shiny glam threads, sounding like a weird cross between David Bowie and INXS (and on "Feels Like (It Feels Alright)," Roland recalls nothing less than Peter Murphy in his vocals). Since Collective Soul are natives of the American South, they favor big riffs ready for big arenas to slinky T. Rex grooves, and since they once had big hits on the radio, they still favor big, glossy productions, but Youth still comes across as a stylized, somewhat modernized spin on heavy glam rock. It sounds a little bit a streamlined, Stateside Spacehog, which means that it doesn't necessarily sound hip, or like something that the "youth" of the album's title would dig, and it's not necessarily something that fans of their big ballads like "December" and "The World I Know" would like, either. But that doesn't mean it's a bad record. Far from it, actually. While the ballads still are a little too saccherine, there aren't many of them, and the rest of the record is fizzy, outsized, hooky, trashy fun. Anybody that considered Stone Temple Pilots a guilty pleasure, or thought that "Gel" was far and away Collective Soul's best song, should check this out — it doesn't sound much like anything that the band has done before, or like anything that's on modern rock radio, but it's easily one of band's best records. It's a Collective Soul album for people that don't like Collective Soul. AMG Rating: ***1/2 Additional Reviews: "Back And Modern" An in depth review of Collective Soul's new album entitled "Youth" By Conner Roberts Reviewed "Youth" or another Collective Soul album? Send me your review: darkallegations@hotmail.com Additional Information: Produced By Ed Roland and Dexter Green All lyrics written by Ed Roland except on "Better Now", "There's A Way", and "Home". Lyrics by Ed Roland and music written by Ed Roland and Dexter Green. All songs published by Sugarfuzz Music, Inc (BMI) "Better Now", "There's A Way", and "Home" also published by Made With Blank Ink Songs (ASCAP). Recorded by Shawn Grove Recorded at Brannon Productions, Atlanta, GA, Tree Sound, Norcross, GA, and Quad Studios, Nashville, TN. "Better Now", "How Do You Love?", and "Under Heaven's Skies" mixed by Chris Lord-Alge at Image Studios, Los Angeles, CA. All other tracks mixed by Shawn Grove at Tree Sound in Norcross, GA and Quad Studios at Nashville, TN. 2nd Engineers: Zack Odom at Tree Studios, James Warner and Aaron Chmielewski at Quad Studios. Additional Tracking Engineers: Mills Logan assisted by James Warner and John Jaszcz assisted by Grant Green. Mastered by: Stephen Marcussen at Marcussen Mastering, Los Angeles, CA. Additional Musicians: Guitars, piano, keyboards, and programming: Dexter Green Ryan Hoyle: Additional Drums and Percussion Guitars everywhere and keyboards on "There's A Way": Chris Donohue Saxophones: Jim Hoke Background vocals: Melissa Mathes Piano: John Lancaster Organ on "Satellite": Joey Huffman Percussion on "Satellite": Kenny Cresswell Background vocals on "Perfect To Stay": Michelle Rhea Caplinger Background voclas on "Feels Like": Teresa Schaefer and Vanessa Davidson String selection on "How Do You Love" and "Satellite", violin, and arrangements: David Daidson Violin: Dave Angell Viola: Kris Wilkinson Cello: Sari Deleon-Reist Art direction and package design: Brian Porizek at IDesigns All photography: Lee Clower Styling: Mark Mcnairy Cover concept: Zach Harkey Cover model: Annie Shu Dedicated To Ed and Dean's Grandmothers: Ruby Byrd (1920-2004) and Susie May Roland (1904-2002). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
