Blind Melon

Capitol

It's not hard to create music that sounds just like everyone else. What IS hard, however, is to create music with a distinct style and carry that sound over into your next album...uninfluenced by what everyone else is doing. Add to that the difficulty of trying to follow up a freshman album that contained a soaring number one hit which was "No Rain." These were all problems that Blind Melon was faced with when recording their second album, Soup. And, judging from the success of the first single, "Galaxie," Blind Melon has found the combination of down home tunes and heartfelt simplicity to win their audiences over a second time.

Soup is not musically unlike the first release, Blind Melon. The music still contains jangly, folksy songs, though this time around, Blind Melon has made the decision to conquer some tougher moral issues than whether or not the Bee Girl can tap dance. "Car Seat (God's Presents)," was written as a reaction to the Susan Smith case in which the mother drowned her two young boys. Other songs worthy of noting for their depth of subject are "St. Andrew's Fall," written after Hoon witnessed a women fall to her death from a Detroit building, and "Skinned," a jaunty, bluegrass style attempt to explore the psyche of serial killer Ed Gein (also commemorated in "Silence of the Lambs").

But, while many of the songs do have a somewhat morbid appeal, Soup is also filled with more pleasurable fare. "New Life" celebrates the birth of Hoon's first child, and "Vernie" is a beautiful ode to Hoon's grandmother. Even "Galaxie" has a happy side to it. According to the story, "Galaxie" does not refer to a celestial body, but instead to a 1964 Ford Galaxie that Hoon purchased while recording Soup. Add to the driving (no pun intended) lyrics backup by the Little Rascals Brass Band and you have the single that has caught on to the airwaves as quickly as anything off their first release.

Overall, Blind Melon has managed to leave their sparsely acoustic sound intact for their second album, while infusing it with more controversy and a little more jazz. These additional musical elements only add to the mixture, making Soup a delicious addition to any CD collection.

--Lise Harwin