Comments on: Chris Cornell Hasn’t Screamed For You Yet

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 09:35:50 +0000

Someone needs to tell Chris that it's not the newness of the fusion of rock vocals and R&B beats that alarms us. It's the fact that these tracks are...not...that...good.

The reason why people keep asking Chris what exactly the dynamic is between him and Timbaland and who contributed what is that from a passive listen it's hard to believe Cornell contributed ANYTHING. He's just not there. He's a sample source, a session musician, putty in Timbaland's hands. The result is an album that sounds like some sullen outtakes from FutureSex/Lovesounds.

I know he CLAIMS up and down that their partnership was an equal thing, but someone needs to tell him that your producer isn't SUPPOSED to write your songs with you. He's not your band-mate. It's supposed to be all about YOU, whereas this album might as well be Timbaland with anyone, it sounds exactly like all the other work he's ever done. Just sulkier.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 04:14:10 +0000

I'm not gonna lie; I've been sold on this album since I first heard about it. I'm sad to know about the constant delays, but not too surprised. Rock radio won't touch it because Timbaland is on it, and Top 40 stations will hesitate because it's a traditionally rock guy and won't know if it'll take.

Isn't Shock Value II supposed to be coming out soon too? Because that might account for some of the delays.

By: Maura Johnston

Maura Johnston — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 01:04:47 +0000

@sambamalicious: I hope you're right! I just wish the ballads weren't so "Apologize"-ish.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 11:20:05 +0000

Timbo and Chris toured last fall, and I actually caught the show in Denver...as a diehard Soundgarden fan, I was skeptical at first. But it was fantastic…seriously.
They did the entire album start to finish and it rocked.

I think even Timbo and Chris themselves were sick of the same chord progressions, over-electrified R&B and grungy tunes that are pushing 2 decades of being heard and wanted to go a different route....this is edgy, different and ballsy.

Chris Cornell may be the bravest man in rock music, its a big risk, but the crossover genre is dope. If people can let go of the Superunknown days long enough to listen to this album without prejudice, they just might dig it.

By: T'Challa

T'Challa — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 10:38:47 +0000

@Maura Johnston: you had me at "near-Scherzingerian"

By: T'Challa

T'Challa — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 10:38:47 +0000

@Maura Johnston: you had me at "near-Scherzingerian"

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 06:22:26 +0000

Speaking as a “former grunge [fan who's] now into Sia”, then I’ll say that it ain’t for us (at least me), either. Cornell’s scared me with his unique style of poor decision making since his first solo album.

By: revmatty

revmatty — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 06:18:35 +0000

I’m not really a big fan of either (I think they’re both fine, but I don’t go out of my way looking for stuff by them) but this sort of unusual pairing has my interest piqued. I’ll at least give them a listen as it might be quite good. Then again, I thought the same thing about Scarlet Johansen’s album and look how that turned out.

By: Al Shipley

Al Shipley — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 04:53:50 +0000

@PengIn: The shame is that I am probably as an ideal an audience as there can be for this album, as a big fan of both Cornell and Timbaland. But they're both pretty over the hill, and even if they'd gotten together at their creative peaks (which were probably both around 1996), I'm not sure the results would've been any good.

By: Maura Johnston

Maura Johnston — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 04:30:26 +0000

@PengIn: Former grunge fans who are now into Sia? I dunno, just a guess.