Slash Review

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Slash ReviewEver since I read in Slash's book that he planned to do a "Slash and Friends" record I looked forward to the day it happened. Well that day is here, albeit under a different title. "Slash and Friends" was kind of a corny name anyway; the self-titled Slash is much cooler. Although I wouldn't be surprised to see this record's name ultimately default to the little inscription on the cover that reads "R&FNR". In fact that's exactly how I will refer to it for the rest of this review.
And R&FNR is certainly an apt title, because this is a great Rock and FN Roll record. You get a nice array of rock musicians combined with a nice array of rock vocalists to lift Slash to what I hope will be a big selling record for the guy. It goes without saying that Slash rips it up on every song. I dare say that R&FNR may be Slash's best recording since Appetite for Destruction...okay, at least Contraband.
Slash is joined by many different players across the 14 tracks included on the Amazon MP3 release, including to name a few: most of his former GNR members (except Axl), Dave Grohl & supposedly Travis Barker (but darned if I can figure out or find info on exactly which song(s) it is that Barker is playing on). And on vocals, the guest appearances and songs sound like this:
1. "Ghost" featuring Ian Astbury of The Cult. Great hard rocker to start the record.
2. "Crucify the Dead" with Ozzy. 'Slow & go' rocker with Taylor Hawkins of Foo Fighters banging the drums.
3. "Beautiful Dangerous" featuring Fergie of Black Eyed Peas. That's right...Fergie!...and she rocks. Hey, I don't know if you had a chance to see her blow the doors off Madison Square Garden singing Gimme Shelter with Mick Jagger in the HBO televised 25th Anniversary Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Concert in October 2009, but this pop singer can rock.
4. "Back from Cali" has Myles Kennedy from Alter Bridge. Good rock song. Myles has some pipes. Rumor is that Myles will be will be Slash's touring singer to promote R&FNR.
5. "Promise" with Chris Cornell of Soundgarden, but you get more of the Audioslave Cornell on R&FNR...a slowish rock groover.
6. "By the Sword" has Andrew Stockdale of Wolfmother howling out a slow and heavy Zeppelinesque rocker.
7. "Gotten" Adam Levine of Maroon 5 croons through this somewhat of a ballad that picks up for a bit in the middle when Slash solos.
8. "Doctor Alibi" Lemmy Kilmister deliverers what you'd expect from the Moterhead vet...a punk influenced rocker.
9. "Watch This" features Dave Grohl back behind the drum kit & Duff McKagan on bass for a heavy instrumental worthy of the title that I'd really love to see the three of these guys do live. Slash lights up the album with some serious shredding.
10. "I Hold On" with Kid Rock doin' his country rock thing.
11. "Nothing to Say" M Shadows from Avenged Sevenfold joins Slash for perhaps the heaviest track on the recording. A good hard rock tune, and the A7X influence is loud and clear.
12. "Starlight" Myles Kennedy is back for another track with a bluesy rock vibe. Kennedy can really sing.
13. "Saint is a Sinner Too" On this one a guy named Rocco DeLuca (who?) lays down the vocals for a ballady kinda tune with a slow marching beat in the background.
14. "We're All Gonna Die" Iggy Pop joins Slash on the last track for a foot stompin' party anthem that suggests, "We're all gonna die, so let's get high!"
There are even more tracks available depending on what retailer or what country you buy the disk or download from (including guest appearances by Steven Adler, Flea, Cypress Hill & Alice Cooper). But the above is what you get from Amazon.
R&FNR should, but probably won't, get enough airplay on the radio. Too many Rock radio stations these days (like Octane on Sirius) play cookie-cutter rock that for whatever reason have decided that songs with guitar solos aren't cool. This record defies that stupid theory and will hopefully help set an example for modern rock.
So all in all is R&FNR a masterpiece? No, but it is a very good Rock record. Buy it now.
Slash Overview

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Euphoria Morning Review

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Euphoria Morning ReviewDon't dismiss this as a typical front-man-gone-solo attempt to cash in on his former band's residual fame. Listening closely to this album confirmed my opinion that Cornell's musicianship was the cornerstone of the band's success. In 'Euphoria Morning', Cornell has clearly grown and evolved as a musician, much like the post-Beatles' Lennon, forsaking 'radio playability' for honesty and grace. The musicians with whom he recorded (especially Alain Johannes) are rock solid and lay an impressively understated foundation upon which his superlative vocal skills are showcased. While several of the songs ('Pillow of Your Bones', 'Mission') clearly have their roots in Soundgarden's burial plot, the majority owe their existence and are a tribute to Jeff Buckley, Cornell's late contemporary and close friend. Cornell's soaring falsetto and anguished wailing aptly evokes Buckley's 'Grace'. The songs on the album are not immediately catchy and will appeal to neither corporate pop radio nor hardened Soundgarden fans, but I see this as a positive trait- it sends a clear message that Cornell has neither 'sold out' nor 'bought in'. Final Evaluation: superb musicianship, excellent songwriting, very good albumEuphoria Morning OverviewJapanese edition of the former Soundgarden vocalist's 1999 solo debut with two bonus tracks added, 'Can't Change Me' (French Version) and his contribution to the 'Great Expectations' soundtrack, 'Sunshower'. 14 tracks total, also featuringthe single 'Can't Change Me'. 1999 release.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Telephantasm: Review

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Telephantasm: ReviewI was really looking forward to getting this collection, 3 coloured vinyls mastered by Bob Ludwig and a DVD with all the videos on it as well as lithographs, a 7" vinyl of Black Rain also coloured and 2 CD's. The package is very well done, doesn't feel cheap at all. Everything fits nicely together and the vinyl is in a separate side of the box set to the CD's, DVD's and booklets, as it should be. So...where does it go wrong? From the first notes of the first LP or CD you're in for a big disappointment. Another release gets ruined with overzealous dynamic range compression.
Now I wasn't too concerned about how the CD's were going to turn out, I got this first and foremost for the vinyl and secondly for the DVD of the videos. Due to low sales numbers and the methodology in which vinyl records are created, vinyl editions of recent albums have seen better mastering than their CD counterparts. Don't get all defensive and launch into a CD vs. vinyl debate, because this isn't about that. What I'm saying is, the vinyl releases of new albums from Alice in Chains, Dave Matthews Band and others have received less dynamic range compression and less tools that result in dimished dynamics of the master that is to be used to create the vinyl, resulting in a more dynamic performance, one closer to what the producer was hearing in the studio one would hope.
This isn't the case with Telephantasm, the vinyl is as poorly mastered as the CD is, perhaps even worse. The sibilance does not hold up well in Cornell's high notes and Cameron's cymbals and hi-hat, it sizzles into obscurity. There is little in the way of dynamics, everything sounds like your typical 2010 CD. This is very disappointing given that there are supposed to only be 5,000 copies of this. The loudness war sucks wholeheartedly, but with top bands usually only moving between 12,000~25,000 copies of their records per year the vinyl usually escapes as the idiots in A&R at the labels and those musicians who don't know any better usually don't care about the vinyl, it's not getting into enough people's hands, therefore the mastering engineer can master with dynamics intact like most of them want to.
I compared Outshined and Rusty Cage from SIDE THREE of the coloured vinyl with my 2003 German (EU) pressing of Badmotorfinger, man what a MASSIVE difference, the sonics and dynamics of the recording are wonderful on the 2003 edition, which can still be found on the Amazon Germany website, ASIN B000057UWZ.
If you want to order one of the two copies left, just follow through the buttons, you don't need to read German to navigate, it's all the same set-up as Amazon Canada or US. I highly recommend this pressing at 24 Euros, even though you'll have to pony up 14 Euros for shipping to North America it's still worth it to get the best sounding version of Badmotorfinger I've ever heard, although if you don't spin vinyl be content with the original CD, it's also very good.
I was hoping with Bob Ludwig's name attached that the CD's might be okay, but should have know the label and project team probably said "no, we need this to be loud like other bands albums are these days, or kids won't like it" - which is TOTAL BLOODY NONSENSE. You can see a comparison between the Badmotorfinger CD and the Telephantasm CD in a post I made at the Steve Hoffman forums by googling "Soundgarden outshined telephantasm vs badmotorfinger dynamic comparison" and click on the first link that says "New release sounds like crap" and check out post #20.
The 2010 tracks are clearly boosted, well outside the scope of CD's limits resulting in brickwalling and/or limiting to prevent a massive amount of clipping. Dynamics are suffering, what a shame. It's nowhere near as bad as Death Magnetic, but it's still poor.
I will say that the CD actually sounds better than the vinyl to my ears, or maybe it's just that the vinyl sounds so poor compared to the 2003 EU pressing of Badmotorfinger that I don't even remember how bad the CD sounds.
Now maybe there is one saving grace for this package...the DVD. Nope, it suffers too. The audio isn't as bad as the CD and vinyl from a dynamic perspective, but the bitrate afforded the DVD's audio track is poor. They've gone with 2.0 Dolby Digital only at a bitrate of a little over 200 Kbps. No effort was made to visit the studio and create a 5.1 mix, they didn't even add a 2.0 PCM uncompressed stereo mix which would have been much more palatable. I'd love it if they'd included a Blu-ray of all the videos, but really the source material is probably video in most cases and the Blu-ray would only allow for less compression...but a high resolution 24-bit audio track wouldn't have gone amiss. Anyway, that's neither here nor there, it's nice to see some of these videos and remember watching the Buzz Bin on MTV in 1991 seeing Outshined...but the lack of fidelity in choosing only a Dolby 2.0 mix takes away from it. Had they used the full 448 Kbps allowed on DVD for Dolby it would have been a much more enjoyable sonic experience.
Overall I can only give this collection 2 stars. It's well put together and definitely great for collectors, but the sonic misadventures that afflict the DVD, the 3LP's and the 2CD's are just not welcome in my house, I'm probably returning mine to Amazon.
Telephantasm: OverviewDeluxe three disc (two CDs + DVD) edition. 2010 collection from the Alt-Hard Rockers, one of the most popular bands to emerge from the Grunge/Seattle Rock scene. This multi-label, career-spanning retrospective album includes beloved band hits, deep back catalogue cuts and a never-before-heard unreleased track entitled "Black Rain," taken from the Badmotorfinger recording sessions. Telephantasm marks the first time ever a collection of its kind has been collated in one place.

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Superunknown Review

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Superunknown ReviewI've listened to lots of music, and "Superunknown" doubtlessly stands as arguably the best album I have ever heard. Visionary, perfectly executed and technically impeccable, Soundgarden set the standard for dark hard rock with this one. I can't really think of a place to start in praising this album, but Chris Cornell's vocals are as good a place as any. From the hushed tones of "Fell on Black Days" to the cathartic wailing of tunes like "My Wave" and the propulsive singing of "Fourth of July," Cornell can simply do it all. His dark, churning, guitar riffs, aided by Kim Thayil's soaring, distorted solos, complete the powerful atmosphere of these songs. Add in Matt Cameron's nimble and inventive drumwork and the result is a musical masterpiece. The variety of this album is also noteworthy, as it mixes hard rockers like the opening double shot of "Let Me Drown" and "My Wave" with slower, more melodic numbers like the hits "Fell on Black Days" and "The Day I Tried To Live." The megahit "Black Hole Sun," while a strong song, is easily the worst track on the album, with the exception of the filler track "Half." "Superunknown" boasts all that serious music fans could possibly want, from creativity to technical precision to complex arrangements to a truly masterful and powerful overall vocal performance from Chris Cornell. A masterpiece in every sense of the word.Superunknown OverviewJapanese only SHM-CD (Super High Material CD - playable on all CD players) pressing. Universal. 2008.

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Audioslave Review

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Audioslave ReviewFirst off, there those who rather sneeringly refer to Audioslave as a "super group" are off the mark; whatever this album may (or may not) be it is nothing if not sincere. If they were in it solely for the money, Audioslave certainly could have made a more commercial album, instead they stretched their legs artistically, and while they don't always succeed, they certainly make a game of it.
By way of some background, Audioslave is made up of Chris Cornell, of Soundgarden fame, on vocals with Tom Morello (lead guitar), Tim Commerford (bass), and Brad Wilk (drums) all formerly of Rage Against the Machine rounding out the group. The funny thing is, I was never a particularly big fan of either band, but the match-up intrigued me. As Henry Rollins once said, Cornell's voice can, "peel paint off the walls", and I always liked Rage's fusion of funk and rock, personified in Morello's remarkable guitar playing. The problem was, Zach de la Rocha's self-consciously political lyrics ruined the music for me (what rhymes with `Zapatista'?). With de la Rocha's ouster, I saw a lot of potential, and while the end result is a mixed bag, it's more than worth the price.
The first three tracks on this album ("Cochise", "Show Me How To Live", and "Gasoline") are flat out rockers. There is no one thing about them that makes them stand out; it's just an all out group effort with excellence at every level. "Cochise" in particular is a brilliant combination of the stripped down grunge we would have heard Cornell recording a decade ago, and the flourishes that are Morello's hallmark.
The fourth track, "What You Are" foreshadows some of the difficulties found later in the album. Morello, gets stuck in a pretty dull chord progression for most of the song, and when he finally breaks out with a truly remarkable riff (sort of a melodic, electronic version of a catfight, if that makes any sense) it seems oddly disconnected from the rest of the song.
"Like A Stone" is the first single off the album, and rightfully so as it represents the best fusion of Soundgarden and Rage on the album. Cornell's voice is in fine form soaring to ear-piercing shrieks only to dip down to a steady rumble and then back again. In addition, Morello's guitar work is nothing short of breathtaking; I don't even know how to begin to describe it other than that it is the perfect counterpoint to Cornell's voice and some of the most original and creative stuff I have heard in a long time.
"Set It Off" seems to be Cornell's nod to Rage's political base, and while it's not a bad song (in fact it's a pretty good tune) it seems oddly out of context on the album. Moreover, Cornell, a multimillionaire pushing forty singing "...set it off now children..." is more than a little amusing.
If "Like A Stone" is a perfect fusion of what was, then track seven, "Shadow of the Sun" is the best example of what may be to come. This track goes beyond fusing elements successfully, and creates something new. Morello's guitar swoops and soars, never settling in one place for long. In the hands of a less talented musician it would be pretentious and tedious, but with Morello it's just sheer brilliance. At the same time, Cornell's singing reveals a more contemplative side, a certain maturity, which only adds to the power of his voice.
It's followed up by another excellent cut in "I Am The Highway" which contains some of my favorite lyrics. Cornell explores relativity as he stays the same as friends and lovers come and go.
Track nine, "Exploder" is a pretty good tune, but there's nothing about it that one takes notice of.
The next track, "Hypnotize" is a funny little song that I rather like; but I'm not sure that it's the right direction for Cornell. Specifically, he has a delivery that borders on the spoken word, and while there's nothing wrong with that per se, I'm not sure he has the right kind of voice for it. An Ed Vedder, for example, would be better suited to the kind of delivery he's going for. Nonetheless, I really like this one, and it features perhaps the best drum work on the album.
Tracks 11 and 12 are far and away my least favorite on the album. Both "Bring Em Back Alive" and in particular, "Light My Way" offer performances that are more reminiscent of a cookie cutter heavy metal track than anything one would expect from artists of this caliber. The one exception here is the superb guitar solo (one of the few extended solos on the album) that is completely wasted on "Bring Em Back Alive"; Morello really gets experimental on that one, and the drums are excellent, but the song just doesn't live up to the effort.
Next is "Getaway Car", which has an interesting, bluesy sort of beat, and vocal arrangements that vaguely remind me of Gospel/Soul (believe it or not).
Finally, the album wraps up with the rather forgettable "The Last Remaining Light". Frankly, the whole band seems a little bored with this one, and while it's not awful, I can't imagine ever skipping ahead to get to it.
In the end that's eight good-to-great songs, three good ones, and three I could have lived without. Generally speaking, I would be ecstatic to get eleven solid tracks off an album, and in this instance that's certainly true. While Audioslave's first effort doesn't quite live up to all the expectations and hype (could any album have?) it is still well above average, and is a great listen. If you want to hear why there may yet be hope for rock in this age of borderline psychotic rock-rap a la Limp Bizkit and the derivative drudgery of Creed or Nickelback, the self-titled "Audioslave" is more than worth checking out.
Jake MohlmanAudioslave Overview

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