“This life dulls away, like a rusty razor blade.”
Bands used to release their double album shortly after they had peaked. They hit their stride, had a megahit or two or six, found themselves overflowing with ideas that their posse convinced them were all totally genius, and came to believe that the sound of their dookies hitting the toilet water probably should be recorded for posterity. Maybe all that was true on occasion.
Collective Soul, who had a handful of platinum albums last century (Hints Allegations and Things Left Unsaid, Collective Soul, Disciplined Breakdown, Dosage), waited until bandleader Ed Roland was sixty years old to finally make their bloated double album, Here To Eternity, which feels less like a potent artistic statement born of a healthy creative process than a palette cleanser; a few muscular singles watered down with a bunch of decent pop-rock songs done in various styles.
At times (‘Mother’s Love’, ‘Bluer Than So Blue’, ‘Hey Man’), Jesse Triplett’s distorted riffs recall the memorable work of Ross Childress on the band’s earlier records, with the brash, layered guitar work usually building to a big melodic chorus that lets Roland belt. The singer’s ability to shift from deep-throated growl to husky elegance (most noticeable on ‘Bring On the Day’) remains a dynamic asset that immediately distinguishes a Collective Soul song.
The band is at its best when its songs bear evidence of artistic collaboration (‘Keep It on Track’, ‘Words Away’). While a handful of these songs do bear such evidence and will no doubt please fans of the band’s old arena rock sound, many more of them could be described as embellished versions of wistful ballads that Roland could probably play solo with just an acoustic guitar or piano. A few of these are effective (‘Not the Same’,‘Over and Out’), and some of the in-betweeners that show the influence of classic acts like The Eagles (‘Letter From E’), Elton John (‘Sister and Mary’), The Beatles (‘La Dee Da’), and Elvis Presley1 (‘Matter of Fact’) will stick around for a couple spins, but one of the main shortcomings of recent Collective Soul output has been Roland’s regression/laziness as a wordsmith and the beefy rock riffs help mask that shortcoming in a way that relatively sparse folk songs do not.
Case in point is a complete misfire called ‘Bob Dylan (Where Are You Today)’, which is probably not the worst song Roland has ever written but aspires to be a contender. I saw him perform it live two years ago and didn’t really care for it, especially in the midst of the band playing through their hits. Inexplicably, they saw fit to undercut any momentum or sonic cohesion on the slickly produced album by placing a live rendition of the song in the fifth slot. To answer the question posed by the title: only a few years ago Bob Dylan released his own great double album (Rough and Rowdy Ways) and has been on a world tour for the past four years. He’s 82 years old. I’m seeing him this summer for the third time.
Here to Eternity may not stand shoulder to shoulder with Blonde on Blonde, Exile on Main St., or Physical Graffiti, and there are no songs here that equal ‘Heavy’, ‘Where The River Flows’, ‘Precious Declaration’, or ‘December’, but it’s a sturdy album and its highlights compare favorably to the band’s last decade of output.
Favorite Tracks: Mother’s Love; Hey Man; Keep It On Track; Therapy.
1. The band made a big deal about recording the album in Elvis’s former home in Palm Springs, California.