A Collection

Third Eye Blind’s greatest hits

Third Eye Blind is an alternative rock band formed in San Francisco in the early nineties. Initially the band included singer, songwriter and electric guitarist Stephan Jenkins, guitarist Kevin Cadogan, drummer Brad Hargreaves and bass guitarist Arion Salazar. The self-titled debut album Third Eye Blind was released in April 1997 and was a great success among both the audience and the critics. The record included the band’s most popular hit singles Semi-Charmed Life and Jumper. Soon after the release of the second album Blue Kevin Cadogan left the band under controversial circumstances and Tony Fredianelli was recruited to substitute for him. The third album Out Of The Vein saw the light of the day in May 2003 on which the singles Blinded and Crystal Baller became Third Eye Blind’s new hits. Now that there are three studio albums behind the band has decided to release a greatest hits record called simply A Collection. The album includes not only the most well-known songs that the majority of the audience could hear played on the radio, but also tracks which can become new for those who is little acquainted with Third Eye Blind’s previous albums.

A Collection is not an easy listening

Third Eye Blind has picked out the best songs from each of the three albums and this resulted into a 19-track collection about 79 minutes long. It is an enjoyable listening for everybody who values a good guitar rock and catchy hooks. Though not an easy one for the topics the band adheres to are far from innocent. A Collection opens with Semi-Charmed Life, the song that is almost ten years old and still it sounds quite modern. It is rather a pop up-tempo composition devoted to drug addiction. The melodious mid-tempo track Jumper goes about suicide while the deep song Wounded deals with rape. The fans will be glad to find such hits as the great ballad How’s It Going To Be, upbeat rocker Graduate and the romantic track Deep Inside Of You on the album. The bonus tracks from the Japanese release of Out Of The Vein Crystal Baller and My Time In Exile serve real highlights of the collection. Yet the most pleasant surprise is placed at the end of A Collection. Being an instrumental only track on Blue, the song Slow Motion devoted to teenage gunplay is included in its full version on the new record and closes it claiming Third Eye Blind’s high moral standards.

With the release of A Collection Third Eye’s fan base is going to increase

Since the very beginning of its existence Third Eye Blind has been distinguished for the ability to use a variety of styles while maintaining one and the same mood. The band’s manner of performance has been referred to post-grunge, alternative and even pop, and whichever way the music the guys are doing can be called it always remains popular and memorable. Of course some may state that six years is not enough to record a greatest hits collection but Third Eye Blind’s efforts have been such a success that the audience has not got enough and the members have decided to present it with a chance to enjoy all the best songs taken together. It is hard to say for sure what attracts people in these songs – the rhythm, the catchy tunes, front singer’s high tone vocals or the thought provoking lyrics. Whatever that is Third Eye Blind is one of the most well known rock bands of the present days and with the release of A Collection its fan base is definitely going to increase. The band has now drawn a line under what has been done to date and is probably preparing to record something new. Hopefully, it is not too long till Third Eye Blind’s new hits are heard everywhere on the radio.