The new album from slick rockers Collective Soul is being sold exclusively at Target, which seems like an appropriate move, since the band are basically the Target of mainstream hard rock: Not as uncouth and populist as Wal-Mart (Nickelback, say), but with upscale touches that mask their underlying anonymous, mass-produced nature.
Afterwords is Collective Soul’s seventh studio album, but it could just as easily be their third, or their 24th: The same poppy hard-rock sheen that’s been present since their 1995 self-titled sophomore album covers the whole disc, which clocks in at an economical 36 minutes and 10 songs.
But the band’s dependability and shiny inoffensiveness are its central appeal, just as with Target. Songs like “New Vibration” and radio single “Hollywood” are put together with as much dedication and personality as the blenders and shoe racks you’ll find in the aisles near this album, but they’re also just as reliable and easy to use. Band leader Ed Roland writes stronger and more graceful pop songs than many of his higher-profile peers, and the band’s triple-guitar attack is layered and impeccable. We might as well admit it: Sometimes corporate rock doesn’t suck.
Collective Soul
Afterwords
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