Artist: Soundgarden
Title: Telephantasm
Genre: Alternative / Rock / Metal / Grunge
Release Date: 24th September 2010
Label: A & M Records (Universal)
Album Review
SOUNDGARDEN was one of the crucial bands on the Seattle grunge scene, at the same time it stood apart from NIRVANA and PEARL JAM. Grunge as a genre itself is self-limiting, one was bound to predict SOUNDGARDEN and ALICE IN CHAINS (AIC) as those that can get on further and not strangle themselves in repetitiveness as these two bands could straddle other styles, but in 1997 SOUNDGARDEN called it a day due to internal conflicts and pressure whilst AIC due to inactivity caused by drug addictions and death of their vocalist. Cornell went off to play with AUDIOSLAVE, which he formed with members from RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE (RATM, minus Zack de la Rocha), whilst the other members collaborated with various bands and fellow musicians such as DEAD KENNEDYS singer Jello Biafra, Tonny Iommi, Dave Grohl’s side project, SMASHING PUMKINS and PEARL JAM. ALICE IN CHAINS started again in 2006 and finally in January this year SOUNDGARDEN reunited after 12 years too. Their comeback album is ‘Telephantasm’, a retrospective spanning over 13 years of their career; it includes their best as well as rare songs and also one new track ‘Black Rain’. It comes out as 1-CD edition and Double CD deluxe edition; this is the review of the later.
CD 1 is a trip through their earliest songs, when they forged their sound from BLACK SABBATH and LED ZEPPELIN to BAUHAUS; building their bridge between metal, hard rock and grunge, with their trademark divergent time signatures and alternative tunings underlined with Cornell’s wide ranging vocals. DOORS and JIMI HENDRIX also come to mind when considering their starting directions and sounds. It is interesting to note that whilst ‘Big Dumb Sex’ with its repetition of ‘I’m gonna fuck you’ presented a controversy to the moralising establishment when it was released in 1989 whilst today it wouldn’t ruffle hardly as many feathers - not because moralising has died off but only moved on elsewhere. Also it might be that the establishment collected some brain cells and realised it was a parody of glam rock’s pussy footing around lyrically and obsessing on the subject of sex all the same. ‘Rusty Cage’ has a hard HENDRIX guitar sound, a bridge between metal and grunge; it was also covered by JOHNNY CASH. ‘Outshined’ is one of their more typically grungy ones, one of their greatest songs. This CD shows a wider diversity of sound and from that point of view makes it as a better one of the two.
Second CD is a showcase of Cornell’s darker, existentialist lyrics, the psychedelic tone is here still, although more lucid, on the other hand the songs are more homogenous in overall sound. ‘Jesus Christ Pose’ reminds one of RATM, the sound quality of the live song is poor, maybe it was untouched to give the listener feel of those times. It’s not a good idea - if one wants to revive memories, one will go to the concert, on the CD it’d have been better engineered. Brave inclusion on the other hand considering it was perceived as anti-Christian, it enraged some so much that the band started receiving death threats at the time. ‘Black Hole Sun’ - melodic, superb lyrics, although grungy it transcends it. Finally, the new track closes the collection, ‘Black Rain’ - SOUNDGARDEN moves on in with progressive metal; Cornell’s time playing with RATM’s members also shows a mark here regarding the guitar sound.
Some of their most loved songs are not at either edition (single or double CD) - such as for example: ‘Nothing To Say’ on neither and ‘The Day I Tried to Live’ on the Single CD-Version though you’ll find that uncensored on the DVD, which would one lead to think it’s not just best of, but also a bait to go back to the catalogue. After all, the 1-CD edition is being released together with new Guitar Hero game to spool even more listeners, be their new or roll call for the old ones. “Punk's not dead it just deserves to die when it becomes another stale cartoon” (DEAD KENNEDYS ‘Chickenshit Conformist’, Bedtime for Democracy LP) - to me it doesn’t only apply to punk, but all the other music trends, so much of grunge came to this so is SOUNDGARDEN an exception? If they keep on expanding their sound, keep exploring the other music paths as they did, but more so - yes.
Although the new song ‘Black Rain’ was not as promising as Cornell’s performance with James Bond’s Casino Royale theme song, ‘You Know My Name’, even with the limitations of the film’s production it was a better song, so I’m still not absolutely sure whether SOUNDGARDEN can create a refreshing new music and resurrect their career successfully, on the other hand I think that they are more than capable of it. As a compilation ‘Telephantasm’ gives a good, comprehensive overview and is essential in order to see the musical paths they’ve followed through their founding to their disbanding in late nineties.
Tracklist
CD1
01. All Your Lies (3.52)
02. Hunted Down (2.40)
03. Fopp (3.38)
04. Beyond the Wheel (4.22)
05. Flower (BBC Session) (3.27)
06. Hands All Over (5.58)
07. Big Dumb Sex (4.11)
08. Get on the Snake (3.29)
09. Room a Thousand Years Wide (Single Version) (4.13)
10. Rusty Cage (4.27)
11. Outshined (5.11)
12. Slaves & Bulldozers (6.57)
CD2
01. Jesus Christ Pose (Live) (7.13)
02. Birth Ritual (6.04)
03. My Wave (5.14)
04. Superunknown (5.08)
05. Spoonman (4.06)
06. Black Hole Sun (5.19)
07. Fell on Black Days (Video Version) (4.46)
08. Burden in My Hand (4.49)
09. Dusty (4.36)
10. Pretty Noose (Live on SNL) (4.24)
11. Blow Up the Outside World (MTV Live 'N' Loud) (5.31)
12. Black Rain (5.25)
Line-up
Chris Cornell – vocals, guitar
Kim Thayil – guitar
Ben Shepherd – bass
Matt Cameron – drums
Website
http://www.soundgardenworld.com/ / http://www.myspace.com/soundgarden
Cover Picture
Rating
CD1
Music: 7
Sound: 7
Total: 7 /10
CD2
Music: 6
Sound: 5
Total: 5.5/10
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