Last self-indulgance before Christmas: Collective Soul’s new album, Youth.

Quick thoughts on it: Good, solid effort, but uneven. CS fans, put it on the wish list- it’s a worthy addition (better than “Hints, Allegations…” and “Disciplined Breakdown”, for my money). The rest of you alt-rock fans can safely avoid it- it’s got nothing really original or outstanding on it. Favourite tracks for the moment are “Better Now”, “How Do You Love”, “Feels Like (It Feels Alright)”, and “Under Heaven’s Skies”. Yeah, there’s the single, Counting the Days, but that’s getting to the point where it’s overplayed on radio, so I skip it.

Very soon (perhaps tomorrow) the Safeway Radio Network will begin butchering Christmas classics, and I’ll have to listen to that it at work. Woo.

It’s not so much that they play Christmas music- because I like Christmas music- but it’s that they play crappy, popped up, we-can-make-it-better-than-the-original Christmas music. With a small handful of exceptions, it’s horrible.

There’s  an unofficial Safeway employee pre-Christmas party at Original Joe’s tonight, about four minutes down the road walking. Still uncertain as to whether I will attend. I can see it now: I’ll go, have a beer, high-five the guys, play a few rounds of pool, and leave in a couple of hours. Yeah, I may as well.