Get up (Chris Cornell) (LP 2183)

Chris Cornell  Scream (CD, Interscope Records, 2009) **  

Genre: pop rock

Places I remember: Virgin Megastore (Dubai)

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Watch Out

Gear costume: Climbing Up The Walls

Active compensatory factors: I love Soundgarden (and I enjoy Audioslave) and a lot of the appeal is Chris Cornell's vocals.

Credit to him for veering away from those other bands to embrace something different on Scream. To do so he enlisted the skills of American producer Timbaland. 

The album credits reveal that all instruments were played by Timbaland and Jerome Harmon. So, it's all a mile away from grunge or heavy metal.

I'm not sure what to make of it. I certainly wouldn't have bought it if Chris Cornell wasn't singing on it, but I'd also like to give myself some credit for also branching out and trying something different.

Bottom line - this is maybe the second time I've played it, and I don't envisage a third any time soon.

Where do they all belong? This was his third solo album. The others have passed me by, and I don't have the yen to seek them out.

On another note: having gone for a strict alphabetical arrangement for the CDs and records, I've now caught up with the vinyl collection - which was stalled on Elvis Costello. So it's back to him and the vinyl.

From here on in, I'll be combining the two formats and writing about all of the albums I have by that artist. Otherwise I'll never actually get through the collection in this lifetime!!

What you are (Audioslave) (LP 482)

Audioslave Audioslave (CD, Sony Music, 2002) *** 

Genre: American pop/rock 

Places I remember: Gifted from the Hope family's CD collection

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: I Am The Highway; Bring Em Back Alive

Gear costume: Cochise; Exploder 

Active compensatory factors: I was dubious when this came out. 

I love Chris Cornell's vocals in Soundgarden, and I love the first and third Rage Against The Machine albums. I was worried the supergroup thing wouldn't work, and that I was too invested in the original bands, so I backed off buying this in 2002.

When Lindsay Hope very generously gave me his family's CD collection this was amongst the loot. 

Now, I'm not sure what to think really. Audioslave deserve to be heard on their own merits - but I find that difficult to do. My opinion sort of stands that Cornell is better in Soundgarden, and The Rage boys were better with Zack De La Rocha fronting them. 

However, there is no denying the power of the music here. It's one of those albums that grows better with repeat listens.

Where do they all belong? The band released two more albums before calling it quits. I don't own them. Maybe I should.