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Chris Cornell Watches The Seasons Roll On By


Chris Cornell is apparently releasing a more traditionally “rock” version of “Long Gone” as the third single from his Timbaland-assisted solo album, Scream; the new version of the track is the bed for the above video. In its initial incarnation, “Long Gone” was a five-plus-minute OneRepublicy ballad about lost love; the new mix speeds up the proceedings a bit and turns down the Timbaland beats and loops in favor of a smoothly gliding bass line and lots of riffs. It’s a smoother version of the track, to be sure, but the proceedings are a bit more lively, and anything that can allow a song to sidestep comparisons to OneFreakin’Republic should be seen as at least a modest improvement.

The producer of the radio-friendly unit-shifter version is Howard Benson, a rock-radio lifer who produced a couple of tracks on Kelly Clarkson’s All I Ever Wanted (including the crunchy Katy Perry composition “Long Shot”), as well as Daughtry’s self-titled album, My Chemical Romance’s Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge, and a bunch of other alt-rock staples (Hoobastank, Flyleaf, Seether). Of note to some is the fact that he also produced the album that spawned the following track:

Chris Cornell – Long Gone [YouTube; HT Music Is The Heart Of Our Soul]
PRETTY BOY FLOYD [YouTube]

 
By Maura at 4:00 PM on Mon May 4 2009
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  • sixstars
    I can now say that Chris Cornell is only great when he is in a band. Majority of the time, Timberland gets my closeted pop music loving self moving and shaking; in this case Timbo makes me want to slap bunnies.
  • LeighBlack
    I still love that Pretty Boy Floyd album and know every single word to all of the songs. =/
  • @LeighBlack: that is not a =\-worthy statement at all!!
  • At one point someone suggested that Scream get rereleased as a rock album. This gives me hope that perhaps that'll happen (before you scoff, it worked for Shania Twain about 10 years ago)
  • LostTurntable
    Okay, so insteading of sounding like a shitty OneRepublic song it sounds like a shitty Daughtry song?
  • @LostTurntable: point taken, but Daughtry > OneRepublic, even if it is a marginal improvement
  • LeighBlack
    @Maura: ha ha. thanks, Maura. that makes me feel a little better.
  • Chris Molanphy
    Singles reference FTW.

    @LostTurntable: To me it sounds more like a David Cook song. Not that that's much more respectable.

    Rather to my surprise, I like this.
  • Thierry
    @Chris Molanphy: This does sounds like a David Cook song - specifically, the Cook song Chris Cornell himself wrote for Cook, "Light On". And listening to the two songs' choruses - "try to keep the light on/when I'm gone" vs. "I'm long gone/long gone" - it seems like Cornell's trying to hide this in plain sight.

    I never thought that a neutered "Burden In My Hand" would appeal to me, but I don't hate this, either.
  • jonian2008
    Well he's been on all the Universal related talk shows doing more or less rock versions of the songs. He must have noticed everybody hates his album. I can definitely see a rock reissue, but it still wouldn't be much better. I think he needs this crushing defeat to send his ego back to Soundgarden.
  • Leigh, you should definitely not feel ashamed about love for that album. I sure don't.
  • Vulture.Protein
    Appalling, all of it.
  • Man, I don't know y'all, I fucking love Scream. Mostly because it's the most fucking ridiculous thing ever, OneRepublicanisms and all.
  • Whereas this version of the song seems to drain all the silly shit from it and infuse it with a smooth nothing. Blah.
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