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MikeK2011-09-04 12:57:43

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Chris Cornell: Introduction and Euphoria Morning

Introduction

Chris Cornell is best known as the vocalist for Soundgarden and Audioslave, as well as for his involvement with Temple Of The Dog. He has released three solo albums: One after the dissolution of Soundgarden, and two after the dissolution of Audioslave. To be honest, while I do like Soundgarden and think Audioslave were okay, I'm mainly writing about him because I'm interested in tackling the heavily divisive New Sound Album Scream.

*Euphoria Morning* (1999)

This was a relative flop in it's time, which is too bad, because it's a pretty solid album. I'm guessing the lack of success was because 1) Soundgarden's last album didn't sell that well either, and, 2) perhaps more importantly, the general public preferred Cornell as a frontman to a hard rock band, not a singer-songwriter. Considering neither of his other solo albums were as popular as his work with Audioslave, I guess the latter is still true.

In truth this isn't that far afield from Soundgarden though: It's got certain elements in common with the more psychedelic moments of Down On The Upside or Superunknown, just with more subtle production and some additional instrumentation you wouldn't be likely to hear on a Soundgarden record (not always a good thing - the female backing vocals on "When I'm Down" are kind of silly for instance). "Mission" for instance would fit in almost perfectly on a late Soundgarden album. There are some interesting stylistic diversion too - "When I'm Down" brings in some slight blues and gospel influences without being too cheesy, "Sweet Euphoria" strips things down to just Cornell accompanying himself on acoustic guitar, and "Preaching The End Of The World" even partially sounds like a nod to OK Computer-era Radiohead.

Overall, I recommend seeking this out if you're much of a Soundgarden or Audioslave fan - by now I think you'd probably be able to find it pretty cheap somewhere too.

Key Tracks: "Can't Change Me", "Follow My Way"

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