Artist: Corey Taylor
Title: CMFB… Sides
Genre: Rock
Release Date: 25th February 2022
Label: Roadrunner Records / WMG
Album Review
After releasing his album CMFT back in 2020, COREY TAYLOR and his band decided to release an album that contains acoustic versions, live recordings and covers of songs that inspired them. The album starts with a song from ‘The Metallica Blacklist’ compilation. COREY TAYLOR covered ‘Holier Than Thou’ for this release, honouring the 30th anniversary of the legendary ‘Black Album’. An amazing thrashy version of this classic makes a very promising start for TAYLOR’s new release. From Thrash, the band turns the listeners attention to a song, that bore pure Punk DNA; when it was released back in the days. COREY TAYLOR rearranged ‘All This And More’ of legendary NYC Punk band DEAD BOYS to his own taste and apart from a few basic riffs, there is not much of the Punk left.
From harder songs to soft acoustic sounds the journey goes. A very basic version of ‘Kansas’ is a sharp contrast to the previous songs that were recorded and arranged in a big studio production. Ranging somewhere between Rock and Country, this song might not be everyone’s cup of tea, though guitar-play and vocals are flawless and you might mistake it for a nice feelgood song, but if you pay attention to the lyrics, you will realize, that it kind of comes as a devil in disguise. The song was originally released on ‘CMFT’ and deals with Taylor’s past full of darkness, depressions leading into suicide attempts and his struggle to get out of these situations and carries a light of hope for those, who fight the same issues. The band’s cover of ‘Shakin’ is a brilliant cover of a song that carries the perfect 80s Rock sound. The guitarwork is significantly better than in the EDDIE MONEY version and Taylor proves that his vocal range is a broad one.
Again, a sharp turn takes you back to an acoustic setting, ‘Home/Zzyxz Rd’ is introduced by Corey, dedicating this piano version to his wife. Part of the two merged songs ‘Zzyxz Rd’) is definitely one of STONE SOUR’s strongest releases and the live version is delivered perfectly. The clean guitar intro of ‘Lunatic Fringe’ makes sure, that the contrast between this romantic STONE SOUR ballade and the classic RED RIDER song is not too sharp. The lyrics mood is wonderfully supported by instrumentation and the song has a fantastic groovy aspect, that also is a result of the interchange of solo vocals and multi-voice chorus parts. Taylor performs the lead vocals with such an intensity, that you can be sure, that this song means a lot to him. The song leads over with almost no break into a KISS classic. ‘Got To Choose’ is definitely one of the best songs on the album and to be honest, I like the guitar parts better than on the original release by KISS.
From a perfect studio production the band takes us to a very basic sounding acoustic session, delivering ‘Halfway Down’ in a Folk prone version. The acoustic version gives this song from ‘CMFT’ more intensity and the vocals get more space. Pay attention to the amazing acoustic guitar solo parts. The last song on the album is an amazing studio version of ‘On The Dark Side’. The song release back in 1983 by John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band has been turned in a wonderful good mood Rock song. The characteristic hand clapping remains mainly in the background but is emphasized in the bridge parts. The Sax was left out and replaced by guitars and this gives the song a totally new attitude.
This album is a something nice to have for fans of Corey Taylor. The permanent change between up-beat, high class studio productions and slow live or acoustic settings is a bit unnerving, maybe the record should have been divided into two parts, one with studio material and another with acoustic and live productions. Taylor shows a more emotional side on the acoustic versions of his own songs and offers listeners a glimpse on what influenced him as a musician. By rearranging most of the songs, he gave them an individual touch, but the album is far from being as experimental than Taylors previous release.
Tracklist
01. Holier Than Thou (Metallica Cover)
02. All This And More (Dead Boys Cover)
03. Kansas (Acoustic)
04. Shakin’ (Eddie Money Cover)
05. Home/Zzyxz Rd (Live)
06. Lunatic Fringe (Red Rider Cover)
07. Got To Choose (Kiss Cover)
08. Halfway Down (Acoustic)
09. On The Dark Side (John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band Cover)
Website
http://www.thecoreytaylor.com/
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 8
Sound: 7
Total: 7.5 / 10
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