Collective Soul: Blender : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Like deep-sea fishermen trolling for the biggest, baddest marlin, Collective Soul plumb for meaty, mighty riffs and chunky chords. They reel in a brace of them on their fifth album: Front-loaded with penetrating, powerhouse riff rockers with single-word titles -- "Skin," "Vent," "Boast" -- Blender simply shreds with unapologetic classic-rock energy. This is what the slightly robotic Collective Soul excel at: making you pay homage to the Mount Rushmore-like solidity of rock stripped to hard-hitting essentials. On "Why," AC/DC meet the Cars for a ride down some sinister back alley. The lilting ballad "Perfect Day" is given added glow from guest Elton John. But the real appeal of Blender is the scorpionlike sting of songs like "Vent," a churning rocker that builds to the line, "I love you 'cause you're such a prick." (RS 852)

PARKE PUTERBAUGH