Soup

Blind Melon’s best album ever

I’m a huge Blond Melon fan and own a dozen different copies of each album, Half of them are locked in a safety deposit box along with a few other albums that are becoming harder and harder to find. This album is GOLD and no CD or LP collection is full without it. Blind Melon is one of those bands where you can listen to the album straight through and that goes for all of their albums. Although only a few of their songs ever get airplay (Mostly from the first album), there is so much ear candy to be enjoyed. Too bad today’s music isn’t like what it used to be in the 70s 80s and 90s. Even if you’ve never heard the album in the past, if you enjoyed the first, this is not to be missed!!!

Soup was released on August 15th, 1995, under the production of Nirvana and Rage Against The Machine’s producer, Andy Wallace (who is on the front album cover). The album was released just a mere 2 months before Shannon Hoon’s fatal cocaine overdose. The band tried to veer away from the image that the “No Rain” music video unfortunately managed to create for them, and hopefully be taken seriously as a legitimately talented musical act. The songs on Soup use much tighter and more intricate guitar arrangements than their previous album. It is skillfully structured and introspective in terms of the songwriting. Hoon wrote all of the lyrics for the album himself, and they mostly revolve around themes of self-deprecating insecurities and the immobilizing uncertainty of drug addiction. Hoon was indeed channeling his inner most turmoils into a creative and painstakingly honest work of art, which is completely devastating in hindsight. Initially overlooked, Soup was absolutely the statement of a band at their creative peak. They managed to not only surpass what they had done on their first record in terms of their musical compositions, but they also establish themselves as a rare and unrivaled commodity in an era that was more concerned with trivial MTV garbage. The album itself had mixed reviews, which many believe played a part in Hoon’s unfortunate and untimely death. Soup utterly exceeds Blind Melon in terms of structure, formula and lyrics, but it unfortunately didn’t do enough to shake the “bee girl” image from the public's conscious. Considering this vinyl was out of print and going for $600.00 on eBay, I can't tell you how much of a steal it is to get it for 27.00 here on Amazon! Viva La Blind Melon.

Soup is an amazing record. Through and through Blind Melon is an underrated band. Destined to be thought of as a one hit wonder, even though they had multiple hits, due to the massive success of No Rain and the untimely death of their singer. Shannon had a great voice, but what is little known to many is that he also had a great band backing him.At least half of this album is a pure classic to me, and I am very critical of music in general. These guys simply knew what they were doing. Galaxie was the minor hit, but it would be impossible for me to actually pick a favorite song. The lyrics are catchy and intimate, the guitars and rhythms are spot on, the drums are good, and most importantly the songs have something to say. Whether it's the lucid grace of Mouthful of Cavities or the more lively folk numbers like Skinned there is a wide variety of music here. There are no mediocre songs on the album. A few that you might skip, but that is about the only thing negative to say. Soup is a completely fantastic and underrated work overshadowed sadly by the death of the singer 8 weeks after release. This band could have should have.... sometimes you just gotta appreciate what they left behind.

I'm big into Blind Melon. I really enjoy their demos (The Sippin' Time Sessions, Goodfoot Workshop, Hotel Basement demos, and Head Train demos). What I didn't know until recently was that there is a demo version of this album that exists, with two versions of "Toes Across The Floor" and two versions of "The Duke" and also "2 x 4" was done way differently compared to the studio album released. One thing to add about this album too that is really awesome is the pre-gap song, if you bought the audio CD you can rewind track one and it'll play an untitled song that lasts approximately 2 minutes. All in all I love this album, it's a largely forgotten classic. I highly recommend this to all lovers of 90s rock and Blind Melon fans alike. Also, checkout the demo of Soup if you can find it. There are a lot of interesting gems that were never released on it.

Great album! A criminally underrated one at that. Was so happy to find at such a reasonable price. Great delivery time!

I bought this from second hand store and you’d never be able to tell. Was told to buy soup by an old coworker after they heard me humming “I wonder” off of the self titled. Far from disappointed I fell in love with this album, 10 stars.

This record is a true thing of beauty. Shannon Hoon life is a reflection of mine at the point and time this album came out. This whole album encapsulates the most enduring sounds and emotions that Hoon and Blind Mellon can evoke: sadness, peace, anger, loneliness, happiness, love, gratitude... It was the world's loss when Hoon died tragically so you. Until this re-release of Soup on vinyl, the original record was going for 100-200 dollars, there is a reason for that. This album is fantastic all the way through. My favorites on the release (as if I could pick) would have to be Toes Across the Floor and the haunting Mouthful of Cavities containing the haunting duet with the beautiful and talented Jena Kraus. If you somehow overlooked this album back in the '90's do yourself a favor and pick it up on vinyl and give it a listen, you may just agree, this is a must own record.

Can't fault blind melon or this album... Brilliant, awesome etc... Five stars.This pressing however is shagged. Last track, side A 'Car Seat' will not play through and has an alsonst imperceivable jump that creates a never ending loop. Seller did send a second copy aftr the problem was reported with the initial order but the same thing happens in exactly the same place. Shame when considering that this seminal masterpiece is ruined by crap engineering.

The media could not be loaded.  Great album that sounds amazing on vinyl... apart from the skipping on side A, track 8: ‘car seat’.This is my second purchase of this album (first one was purchased from a different supplier than amazon). Same skipping problem on both!Undecided if I’ll keep a copy or purchase the CD Instead.

I like this album so very much. Varied sounds, beautiful to listen to, devastatingly honest lyrics and some great guitar. A very emotionally moving album.

I recently discovered this album thanks to the wonders of Spotify....and I'm delighted I did.I remember this album being released in the mid-1990's to widespread criticism from just about every reviewer. I loved the first album, but in my youthful ignorance I believed everything I read about this, Blind Melon's second album. In addition, the album barely registered in the charts, leading me to believe it truly was a bad album, so I didn't bother to buy it...Fast-forward about 15 years later, and I finally listened to the album for the very first time. It's absolutely fantastic. Whilst not as polished as the first album, it has a really distinctive feel with some great tunes and musicianship. I've been playing this album constantly over the last month or so (and yes, I did buy the album once I'd heard it!).So, if you liked the first album, including No Rain, I urge you to give this album a go and not be put off by what you may have read or heard when it was released at the time (or since).

Whilst not as good as their first album (but then what can be?), this is still a pretty good attempt.Much better than their later works, but it is less rock music and seems to be mixed in with some jazz-influenced stuff.Where may they have gone if Hoon had not died?