(antiMusic) Collective Soul's latest album "Afterwards" will be hitting ALL retailers on December 9th with bonus tracks. This is a reissue of the Target exclusive which debuted at #25 on the Billboard Comprehensive album chart in September 2007. It contains three new songs by frontman Ed Roland, exclusive to this release, according to Amazon.com.
Wanna taste of what the songs are about? Ed and Joel spoke with us the week of the original release about some of their favorite tracks from the album.
"You're All That I Know". Joel says of the track, "I think this song showcases some real maturity in Ed's songwriting and in the Collective Soul sound. A great chorus hook and interesting guitar parts over some cool changes. I got to sing background vocals on that one as well. I also replaced what was once a clarinet solo with a guitar solo. Now that's way it's supposed to be!"
And here is Ed's take on the song: "That's basically about my wife. We've been married a little over a year. She's a wonderful woman. She changed my outlook on life and it's my way of telling her she's the one. 'You're all that I know when the sun goes down/ You're all that I know when the sun comes rising like that devil in me.'"
Joel tells us about the song "Bearing Witness": I remember Ed writing this song a few years ago for a TV show that never made it to air. After watching the pilot episode I remember thinking that the song was actually better than the show. I love the lyric ".... but stars have only so many wishes though".
Joel tells us about the song " Persuasion of You ": This song kind of took on a different life once we started putting down the " keeper" guitars. All of the sudden the main riff went from a sort of strummy kind of thing to this big classic C. S. riff. I got to sing background vocals on that one which was a lot of fun. Our co-producer Anthony Resta called my guitar solo a 50 mile an hour haircut.
Joel tell us a little about the song "Georgia Girl": Another song that sort of transformed in the studio. I had a hard time coming up with a guitar solo for that song. I guess I was over thinking it or something because nothing was really working. It's strange, sometimes the hardest part is finding that perfect first note to play. Ed gave me the first three and from there it turned into one of my favorite solos yet.
And here is Ed's take on "Georgia Girl": " "I just sat down one day and wrote it. It's basically a true story about a wonderful girl who helped me through a hard time. That may be the hardest kind of song for me to write - a story that people can follow. That's the greatness of someone like Springsteen. He can write you a story. I really wanted to challenge myself to do something like that."
Here is Joel with comments on "New Vibration": A great riff. That song has actually been around for awhile and almost made it on the "Youth" record. A fun song to play live.
And now Ed's tells us about "Good Morning After All": That one I wrote for my Mom. The strength she showed us during the time when we lost our father. You keep going. What keeps her going is her faith. 'You wake just to crawl/You stand just to fall/ But you say good morning after all.'