Carry On

facepollution

mole1985 wrote:

It seems a lot of people forget that Euphoria Morning had a lot of songs co-written by the band 'eleven' and it heaves full of eleven's style. Not too take anything away from it's magnificience of course.

Totally, but I think their guidance and unique style helped give the album its identity.

Pearl Jam and toast

facepollution wrote:

I think that consensus comes from comparing it to his previous work. It pains me to say it, but a fair few of the songs are totally unremarkable. Wow I never thought I would be making negative remarks about Cornell's music.....I do agree there are SOME good songs on it, but it's nowhere near as consistent as Euphoria Morning, in my opinion.

I think when I finally hear the whole thing this will be my opinion.

Cornell's lost a lot.. he seems to be writing very un-challenging pop rock nowadays.

I'll still go see him when he tours Carry On because the man's voice is unbelievable.

clarefromscotland

I agree with facepollution that it's all over the place genre-wise but I think that's probably intentional, or if not intentional, exactly, it's just what happened when he was writing the songs. I think he needed to stretch out after four years of having his head in a vice writing for Audioslave's abilities. Which is not to say they were a bad band - I don't think they were, but their capabilities as players and imagineers (if you know what I mean) were limited. Now he's a bit freer he's just splurging creatively and seeing where it takes him.

Here's my review....

http://www.subba-cultcha.com/article_album.php?id=5161

I do have some sympathy with whoever said they wanted a "Nebraska" from him though. I'd love that too. Maybe one day. He's certainly in a prolific phase right now. In the meantime, there's the Stockholm solo live set....

searchlightsoul

What I don't get is why he feels the need to write pop songs wirth dumbed down lyrics that like facepollution said could have been written in his sleep. It is almost as if perhaps he has reached that point in his career where no one feels able to say to him that "hey that direction sucks' or something like that. But I guess thats the thing about being solo. There is no doubt however that this album is a considerable step up both creatively and vocally from Revelations but I agree that it remains short of the mark .

dharma69

Carry On has the touch of Adult Contemporary w/ power chords all over it...which surprised me.

Chances are we would've been expecting way too much from him for an album that resembled/equaled Euphora Morning...different time, different moment, different man. Carry On is good....just not quite great.

With every listen I'm completely won over by Safe and Sound which sounded like a really good love sond when I heard it live but now that I can hear the lyrics I know that it's a lot more than that and that song's impressed the hell out of me.

Poison Eye...not so much. One song I find myself strangely attracted to is Killing Birds...and I say strangely attracted to because of the rhythm and the singing style. But that's what drew me in on Euphoria Morning; the unusual-ness of the songs. This album is softer, less challenging...like a guy musically at ease, unlike EM which sounded like a guy musically searching to express and expand.

It's not a bad record and I'm enjoying the songs...but surely he could've done, by my subjective ears, better.

But that's just me.

off_the_record

Ms. Haiku wrote:

When I saw the thread title I immediately thought of Kansas' Carry On. That was my first favorite song EVER. Ahhh, the memories.

except that song is "carry on wayward son"

wavescamecrashing

also hoping that he does more soul/bluesy stuff as well, but i think it will happen in time...

all points taken , will type more tomorrow when im not half asleep

dharma69

facepollution wrote:

Like what is No Such Thing even doing on the album? Is it there to draw in the Audioslave fans, despite the fact nothing else on the album sounds anything like it?

Thanks for saying that because, in the context of the album as a whole, No Such Thing seems terribly out of place. It bugged me a bit when I listened to the album through and I just thought that I was being hypocritical as the song was okay to me before I heard the album.

You worded it well for me.

facepollution

dharma69 wrote:

Thanks for saying that because, in the context of the album as a whole, No Such Thing seems terribly out of place. It bugged me a bit when I listened to the album through and I just thought that I was being hypocritical as the song was okay to me before I heard the album.

You worded it well for me.

Yeah it's weird cause I do like the song, and when I saw him do it live last week his singing was awesome on it, but it is still just meat and potatoes rock.

Pearl Jam and toast

dharma69 wrote:

This album is softer, less challenging...like a guy musically at ease, unlike EM which sounded like a guy musically searching to express and expand.

well said.

reversedarwinism

intodeep wrote:

so he is putting the billie jean cover on the album?


that may be all i need to know in order to not buy this album.

I think it can be a little lame for bands to put covers on their albums. Unless it is a particularly obscure cover or it is on a live album.

this seems like a way to have a sure fire radio hit.

Yeah, covers suck, right? Who would put a cover tune of a well known song on an album? ........ Well there is Jimi Hendrix, Neil Young, Robert Plant, David Bowie off the top of my head. But those guys all suck, right? I'm just glad that I don't have mental barriers that needlessly don't allow me to enjoy music or anything else for that matter.

Pearl Jam and toast

reversedarwinism wrote:

Yeah, covers suck, right? Who would put a cover tune of a well known song on an album? ........ Well there is Jimi Hendrix, Neil Young, Robert Plant, David Bowie off the top of my head. But those guys all suck, right? I'm just glad that I don't have mental barriers that needlessly don't allow me to enjoy music or anything else for that matter.

His Billie Jean is quite good too. (though I haven't heard the album version).

mole1985

The Billie Jean cover is great and i'm glad he put this on the album. The more i listen to carry on the more songs seem to grow on me. Defo buying it.

LedZepFan

I have heard roughly half the songs on the album now:

Safe and Sound-I like but the chorus is eh

Arms Around Your Love-very poppy...it doesnt offend me but I dont know if I like it yet

Scar on the Sky-Sounds like itll be good, though the acoustic live version is different than the studio version apparently

No Such Thing-not too mindblowing a song from Cornell...not to say it isnt bad, but why he released this as the single as if it was a standout track is beyond me

You Know My Name-Havent heard this one too much but remember thinking it was pretty good

She'll Never Be Your Man-I don't remember much from this song besides that I really liked it, or at least more so than the other songs

Your Soul Today-Now this song I dig. Catchy without being too poppy and just a really well written tune. I hope some of the ones I haven't heard are on par with this.

clarefromscotland

Maybe it's just novelty but all my favourites are songs I hadn't heard until I got the full album for review. Disappearing Act is one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard from Chris or anyone, sort of has a Rufus Wainwright-ish feel. And I love Killing Birds (which he's just added to the setlists I think) and Ghosts. Silence the Voices is a deeply weird thing. A touch of Rush there. And one of the UK bonus tracks, Today, is all a bit Prince and wold be a huge hit if it was a single I think.

facepollution

Clare all those songs you mentioned are my favourites too, particularly Disappearing Act and Ghosts - amazing songs.

On a side note, I know you are waiting to get your interview with Chris published before you share it with us, but could you tell us what the whole experience was like?! Have you ever met him before? I would probably be shitting myself if I was sitting there face to face with him, lol!

redrock

facepollution wrote:

I would probably be shitting myself if I was sitting there face to face with him, lol!

You'd probably be having a laugh with him!

facepollution

redrock wrote:

You'd probably be having a laugh with him!

lol, who knows?! don't they always say you should never meet your idols? seems like you got on ok with him though!! he better be there on the 18th!