Collective Soul
After the surprising success of "Shine" from his debut effort,  Collective Soul honcho Ed Roland told anyone who'd listen how the track was a  demo that wasn't even recorded by his "real" band. This self-titled  release is the first thing recorded by Collective Soul as a group, and guess  what? The sub-Allman Brothers country boogie and ultra-derivative classic-rock  riffing proves that "Shine" was a fluke and Roland certainly isn't the  best judge of his own material.--Jim DeRogatis