Craft Recordings celebrates the 30th anniversary of southern alternative rockers Collective Soul with their reissue of the band's 7even Year Itch: Greatest Hits 1994-2001, available for the first time in the LP format. The Stockbridge, Georgia band's debut album, 1994's Hints, Allegations and Things Left Unsaid, was a surprise hit that took them from absolute nobodies to mainstream rockers in a matter of months after being signed by Atlantic Records. The album was mostly made of demos recorded in a basement, but it was so very well done, Atlantic rushed the record into production. Despite the misgivings of songwriter and lead vocalist Ed Roland, who would have preferred to spend time in the studio refining the album. Hints, Allegations and Things Left Unsaid peaked at number 15 on the Billboard album charts, mostly on the strength of the album's lead single, "Shine." Which hit the Number 1 slot for eight consecutive weeks, helping propel the album to double-platinum sales status. Collective Soul's original incarnation of the band consisted of Ed Roland on vocals and guitar, Ross Childress on lead guitar, Ed's brother Dean Roland on guitar, Will Turpin on bass, and Shane Evans on drums. The band's early success propelled their career for a five-album run through 2000's Blender, which was the band's final studio album for Atlantic Records. The band's Atlantic swan song, 7even Year Itch: Greatest Hits 1994-2001, was released the following year.
The 180 gram LPs for this new release are being pressed in multiple colored-vinyl variants, including a red and yellow swirl version that's exclusive to Target stores, a clear with black splatter variant that's exclusive to Walmart, and a black and gray marbled vinyl version that's exclusive to Craft's web store. The black vinyl version was pressed at Memphis Record Pressing (MRP); no information was available for the source of the colored vinyl variants. The black vinyl LP version of 7even Year Itch: Greatest Hits 1994-2001 can be ordered from Craft's web store HERE, but can also be found at online retailers and at your local independent record store. And I've also seen the colored vinyl variants on shelves of Target and Walmart stores local to me.
Collective Soul, 7even Year Itch: Greatest Hits 1994-2001. 180 Gram LP, $26.00 MSRP
7even Year Itch: Greatest Hits 1994-2001 contains many of the band's huge hits from the period, including multiple number one and top-ten singles. Along with tracks that might not have reached the same level of national success, but still got enough airplay to be etched into any fan's memory. The album kicks off with the mega-hit "Heavy" from 1999's platinum album Dosage, which spent 15 weeks at the number one slot on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart. That album was also represented by the strongly charting tune "Run." As 7even Year Itch pounds along, you'll hear additional number 1 songs like "Shine" from their double-platinum debut album, along with "December" and "The World I Know" from 1995's multi-platinum album Collective Soul. That album's immense popularity was also fueled by the manically propulsive "Gel," which peaked at number two on the charts.
1997's platinum-selling album Disciplined Breakdown featured two more number one singles, "Precious Declaration" and "Listen," along with the highly charting "Forgiveness." Two tracks are represented from the band's fifth studio album, Blender, "Why, Pt. 2," which reached number two on the Mainstream Rock charts, and the minor hit "Perfect Day," which was a duet between Ed Roland and Elton John. Non-album singles included "She Said," which was featured on the Scream 2 movie soundtrack, along with two tunes that were specially prepared for this compilation, "Energy" and "Next Homecoming." As 7even Year Itch played, I was actually stunned by how very good the songs were—and are—and how ingrained they were in my psyche, even if I rarely listen to them. Hearing this compilation made me want to hear Collective Soul's catalog of albums all over again!
Listening and Impressions
Click on my name in the header and you can see the equipment I used to evaluate 7even Year Itch; the 180 gram LP was played on my mostly-tube, all-analog system. Craft Recordings continues to hold the bar high with their excellent LP reissues, and my black vinyl review copy that was pressed at MRP had beautiful, glossy surfaces that were noise-free. The vinyl was exceptionally quiet during playback, and the sound quality was superb; as the album played, I recognized many of the tunes by ear even though the song titles didn't necessarily jump out at me. And Collective Soul pounds out the big hits, nearly non-stop—7even Year Itch makes for an unexpectedly entertaining listen!
I had one minor quibble; it seemed to me that both sides of the LP were crammed a little too tightly with songs, which is usually not a good thing. My ProJect table and Ortofon cartridge were up to the task, and there were zero playback issues—there was no mistracking, even as the stylus got surprisingly close to the album's label area. I enjoyed this LP immensely, but I can't help but feel that a great opportunity was lost here. Where perhaps Craft Recordings could have done an expanded edition, and cut the album onto two LPs, thereby improving the groove geometry significantly, while taking advantage of the extra space to include additional noteworthy and highly charting tracks from the band's tenure during that amazing seven years from 1994-2001. Just a thought, but most importantly, what we have in this single LP version of 7even Year Itch makes for a very compelling listen!
Even if you already have the digital music files for 7even Year Itch: Greatest Hits 1994-2001, this is an outstanding LP that's well worth grabbing, especially if you're into any of the cool colored vinyl variants, which are priced about the same as the black LP. It's a great listen that will really take you back to the power-pop Nineties, and Collective Soul definitely had their groove on during a seven-year run of impressive chart success. Highly recommended!
Craft Recordings
All images courtesy of Craft Recordings; band photo courtesy of David Abbott.
