| CD REVIEW Soundgarden |
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Band : Soundgarden Since their dissolution in the mid-1990s, they've achieved a near-legendary reputation. The band’s last output was 1996's Down On The Upside and 14 years later Soundgarden is back on the track and releases their first career-spanning retrospective album which includes a never before heard unreleased track “Black rain” taken from the legendary Badmotorfingerrecording session. Since, the band broke up (after five full-length albums - all good to very good to essential), other spin-off bands have formed... but not as good as Soundgarden. The songs on the ‘best of’-compilation Telephantasm included here are no-brainers, for the most part--if they aren't huge hits like "Spoonman" ,“Pretty noose”, “Outshined” or “Black hole sun” they're long-standing fan favorites such as "Beyond the wheel”, “Hunted down”, “Hands all over”, “Slaves and bulldozers” and “Big dumb sex”. As for some of the live cuts "Jesus Christ Pose”, “Get on the snake” or “Blow up the outside world” , they are decent and enjoyable at first, but plagued by the inevitable poor recording. If you're a real Soundgarden fan, I highly recommend the deluxe edition that comes with the double cd. For just a few euros more you can have the band's music video collection. The third disc DVD contains twenty video clips from Soundgarden’s five albums, Ultramega OK up to their last Down on the Upside. And what about “Black rain” - it’s a fine piece and encompasses everything one could want from Soundgarden and furthermore : Sab-rock - big riffs, fuzzy tones, banshee vocals and an amazing rhythm section. I would recommend this album for any fan, for it spans the ferocious career of Soundgarden with all of the different line-ups and their greatest most effective tracks. Call them what you will, whether it be grunge, metal, indie, alternative, whatever the tag - the bottom line is that Soundgarden rock. Cosmicmasseur. |
