Hints Allegations and Things Left Unsaid

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."

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

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."

Track listing

All songs written by Ed Roland.

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, 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