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- monkeychow
- Rep: 661
Re: Soundgarden Discussion (King Animal out NOW!)
I'm prepared to accept it's just me....because seriously everyone else I know is raving about how great this album is!
I'm starting to feel like it's some elaborate practical joke and everyone else has a different CD to me 
Maybe it's something about my tastes?
I love so many cornell songs....from old soundgarden, to audio slave, and quite a lot of his solo stuff....but I just can't seem to get any traction with this album in my head.
Re: Soundgarden Discussion (King Animal out NOW!)
since track-by-track seems to be the way u guys roll i'll join in. mine is a bit more like axlin's than polluxlm's..
Been Away too Long: tip-top fun opener, nice to have them back on this kinda form
Non-State Actor: doesn't really go anywhere after the promising pening. gets a little too soft & boring melodywise. some nice flourishes from cornell & thayil rescue it. lyrics are fun - like the idea of settling for a little bit more than everything. might've been an awesome b-side this, if such things existed anymore 
By Crooked Steps: awesome. classic SG moment this.
A Thousand Days Before: bit of a non-starter this one. hints of some killer BMF riffage before it immediately drops/slips into less interesting territory & never really pulls back out of the slog. solo is nice but too restrained!
Blood on the Valley Floor: awesome. classic SG. unapologetic slice of Sabbath-y doom grunge.
Bones of Birds: ugh. desperate cornell crapfest. i was worried the album would be like this when the reformation was announced.
Taree: great cornell vocal on this. grows into a bit of a scorcher. good stuff.
Attrition: nice punky riffage & driing pace. could do w/a bit more spite n bite tho. thayil steals the show on this one. just needed a little bit more venom, or maybe confidence/self-belief & it'd be a classic (it;s kinda like they're afraid to push this one where it really needs to go) .
Black Saturday: terrible after the first part. album coulda done w/a groovy little acoustic number but they totally crapped all over this.
Halfway There: another cornell crapfest. the mid-tempo ballad is what broke the band in the first place (DOTU) & this is maybe the weakest, puniest SG have ever been. bar Thayils exploits you couldn't distinguish it from the plethora of crap american soft rock bands.
Worse Dreams: this is more like it. menacing & exciting. chorus could be bigger. it doesn't quite erupt r explode like the awesome intro suggests. thayil absolutely kills it tho, twice. great track.
Eyelid Mouth: brilliant 1-2 this & WD. in fact the albums closing 3 are the best run on the record. this is another vintage SG performance. unapologetic groovy grunge slime. thayil reminding us of his superhero prowess.
Rowing: the only prob w/this one is it's either a little too long or far, far too short. great track & great closer.
so yea, just reiterating what i said. a few duff tracks, some absolute brilliant one's & lots of fun. coulda been better, coulda been a whole lot worse. stellar return. i'd like to see more ambition, more psych & punk spirit across the board on the next one. an album full of Attritions & Blood on the Valley Floor & we'd be getting back to the days when they were a real vibrant, exciting force (i.e. Ultramega thru to BMF).
Re: Soundgarden Discussion (King Animal out NOW!)
See how you reviewed this John? This album is very quickly turning into Soundgarden's Chinese Democracy, as has been mentioned before.
Certain songs people rave about, others hate or can't get into, other songs people hate, others love, and it seems everyone has a different favorite song on the album.
I re-listened to King Animal today, in full boasting stereo fucking CRANKED in the house (nobody was home for a change), after listened to my newly purchased copy of Telephantasm. It was Soundgarden day. Or is it Black Saturday? Hehe, either way it was alot of fun. Felt like old times.
It's amazing for how quickly I trashed "Been Away Too Long" when it first dropped, how much the song has grown on me since purchasing the album and listening to it over and over again. I am REALLY starting to like it, and the lyrics resonate with me more and more.
Another one -- By Crooked Steps. I really didn't get this one at all, and it took a few listens, and this afternoon it finally just hit me. Whoa, this is fucking amazing. Like some sort of blockage.
This album is a grower, and it gets better and better. It's a glorious return for Soundgarden, and it's been so good it's caused me to want to go out and re-buy their old albums (all i've got is old cassettes).
I agree with John on Halfway There, total Cornell indulgence. Thank God Kim is on it, or otherwise it'd be a total loss.
I'm sorry, but I prefer my Chris Cornell, long haired, screaming his fucking lungs out, with the shades drawn and ready to climb the walls.
Short-haired Chris Cornell aspiring to be a pop star is a fucking pussy that Louder Than Love-era Cornell would be ashamed of. I don't know what Vedder's fucking deal was either. So anti-establishment but dying to be a pop star.
Heel Cornell is a fucking metal GOD, babyface Cornell is a jobber, so he can FUCK OFF with Halfway There. Thank you Kim.
Re: Soundgarden Discussion (King Animal out NOW!)
Halfway There doesn't belong on this album. I've come to that conclusion. It's a Cornell solo song.
Axlin, I agree that the more pop-driven Cornell doesn't belong on a Soundgarden album, but he does serve a purpose outside of SG. The guy has a massive amount of talent and writes great songs in many styles. It's nice to see him have a solo career and be able to showcase those other styles. Another way of looking at it- if he only wrote like he does in SG, his solo career would be a less talented SG cover band and it would cheapen the SG legacy.
Please, in the future, keep songs like Halfway There, which is not a bad song at all, away from SG albums. It has a place, and that isn't it.
Re: Soundgarden Discussion (King Animal out NOW!)
I definitely don't think it's a 'bad song' per say. I just don't go to Chris Cornell for that kind of music.
I like my grunge world to stay un-interupted because it means something to me. There's a heart there and a message in there to live by. No different than children of the 60's, I was one of the 90's. That movement meant something more than just another thing to shovel to the masses.
I just like to keep the Soundgarden-vision of Cornell as my vision. I tread very lightly into Vedder's solo stuff as well.
Re: Soundgarden Discussion (King Animal out NOW!)
I definitely don't think it's a 'bad song' per say. I just don't go to Chris Cornell for that kind of music.
I like my grunge world to stay un-interupted because it means something to me. There's a heart there and a message in there to live by. No different than children of the 60's, I was one of the 90's. That movement meant something more than just another thing to shovel to the masses.
I just like to keep the Soundgarden-vision of Cornell as my vision. I tread very lightly into Vedder's solo stuff as well.
Vedders Into the Wild soundtrack album is pure brilliance. Definitely worth checking out. It matches the tone of the story perfectly.
Cornell has a solo career for songs like Halfway There. When I listen to it I just can't hear Soundgarden.
Re: Soundgarden Discussion (King Animal out NOW!)
From Soundgarden's Facebook:
Soundgarden is filming the official music video for By Crooked Steps today with the man, the myth, the legend Dave Grohl at the helm. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for a behind the scenes look all day: @Soundgarden
I guess that means Grohl is directing the video?
The logical 2nd single. Should have been the first single.