Hints Allegations and Things Left Unsaid

Hints Allegations and Things Left Unsaid
Studio album by Collective Soul
Released	June 22, 1993 [Rising Storm] March 22, 1994 [Atlantic]
Recorded	1992 Atlanta, Georgia (Rising Storm Studios) Miami, Florida (MSE Studios) Stockbridge, Georgia (Real 2 Reel Studios)
Genre	Alternative rock, grunge, post-grunge
Length	45:13
Label	Rising Storm; Atlantic
Producer	Ed Roland Matt Serletic Joe Randolph
Collective Soul chronology
Hints Allegations and Things Left Unsaid (1993) Collective Soul (1995)
Singles from Hints Allegations and Things Left Unsaid
"Shine" Released: March 19, 1993 "Breathe" Released: January 10, 1994 "Wasting Time" Released: April 30, 1994

Hints Allegations and Things Left Unsaid is the debut studio album by the American rock band Collective Soul. It was originally released on vinyl on an indie label in Atlanta called Rising Storm Records in 1993. The track "Shine" gained the band attention thanks to college radio. They later signed on with Atlantic Records and the album was released on CD in 1994 under the Atlantic label.

The album's title is derived from the lyrics of Paul Simon's 1986 hit "You Can Call Me Al." The cover art is a modified version of the original logo of Stephen Sondheim's 1979 broadway musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, with just the man on the cover, the picture in color and on a red background and the knife replaced by a huge banner. The album's opening track, "Shine," would arguably become Collective Soul's biggest hit.

Background and release

Hints Allegations and Things Left Unsaid was recorded in a basement in 1992 as a promotional demo. Frontman Ed Roland hoped to simply sell the songs to a publishing company rather than form a band. He gave the demo to a small college radio station in Atlanta which began playing "Shine." The track quickly became their most requested song and the band was asked to perform some concerts for the station. Favoring an opportunity to perform a few shows with his brother, Roland agreed and regathered the demo's guitarist and drummer as well as his brother Dean.

The attention gained by "Shine" allowed it to chart and catapulted the band to national stardom. They were soon picked up by Atlantic Records who wished to release the demo as the debut studio album of Collective Soul. In a 1995 interview, Roland elaborated on his mixed feelings regarding the situation:

"It wasn't even remixed. It was the same demo. Before we got signed we'd already charted with 'Shine.' Once we got signed I said, 'We want to re-record. This is not a band recording.' But they said, 'You're gonna lose momentum. You're looking at a three to five month process. So let's go with it and you can get your next record out quick.' We thought it would be great to sell 10-20,000 units. [When it went gold], we were sitting there with our eyes wide open."

Consequently, Collective Soul would regard their self-titled 1995 studio album under Atlantic as the band's official debut. Roland told Metal Edge, "It's so funny for people to compare the two. It's like comparing one band to another band. [Collective Soul] is our first record, flat out."^[1]

Promotion and touring

Hints, Allegations, and Things Left Unsaid featured three singles, the most successful of which was "Shine." Aside from radio popularity, the song also had a music video which received heavy airplay on MTV.

Collective Soul performed at Woodstock 1994 and opened for Aerosmith during their Get a Grip Tour.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[2]
Entertainment Weekly	B+[3]
The Village Voice	C−[4]

The album gained overall positive reception from critics. It was given credit for its strong melodies but a less savory response regarding its apparent lack of originality. Also of note was Collective Soul's more upbeat sound amidst their more angst, grunge-influenced contemporaries.

Chuck Eddy of Entertainment Weekly gave a somewhat sarcastic review, describing the album as "bubble-gum grunge: an idea whose time has come."

In The Village Voice, Robert Christgau was even more negative, singling it out in Consumers Guide "Turkey Shoot" feature as a "Must to Avoid", an example of "...mediocre pseudoalternatives from every corner of this embittered, all too grateful land of ours."^[5]

Track listing

All songs written by Ed Roland.^[6]

1. "Shine" – 5:05
2. "Goodnight, Good Guy" – 3:35
3. "Wasting Time" – 3:27
4. "Sister Don't Cry" – 3:52
5. "Love Lifted Me" – 3:48
6. "In a Moment" – 3:53
7. "Heaven's Already Here" – 2:13
8. "Pretty Donna" (Instrumental) – 1:58
9. "Reach" – 4:21
10. "Breathe" – 3:03
11. "Scream" – 3:00
12. "Burning Bridges" – 3:36
13. "All" – 3:29
14. "Beautiful World" – 3:38¹

¹Omitted from CD version

Personnel

Although Ed Roland has stated that the musicians on the recording Hints Allegations and Things Left Unsaid were entirely different from Collective Soul's future recordings,^[1] the following people are credited in its Atlantic reissue:

Collective Soul

• Ed Roland – lead vocals, guitar
• Dean Roland – rhythm guitar
• Ross Childress – lead guitar, backing vocals
• Will Turpin – bass, backing vocals
• Shane Evans – drums

Additional musicians

• Matt Serletic – keyboards, trombones and string arrangements on "Sister Don't Cry" and "Pretty Donna"
• Joe Randolph – guitar on "Goodnight, Good Guy," "Love Lifted Me" and "Scream"
• Melissa Ortega – solo violin on "Wasting Time"

String ensemble

• Jun-Ching Lin – leader, violin I
• David Braitberg – violin II
• Paul Murphy – viola
• Daniel Laufer – cello

Production

• Ed Roland, Matthew Serletic, Joe Randolph – producers
• Bill Richardson – executive producer
• Ed Roland, Matthew Serletic – mixers and engineers
• Matthew Serletic – mastering
• Mike Childers – digital editing
• DTP-Mike Childers – artwork
• Mario Castellanos – photography

Charts

Album

Singles

References