Personally i think musicians should make the music THEY want to make not want the fans want. I would hate it if PJ didn't try something like 'Riot Act' again just because it wasn't 'popular' with their fans.
I love Riot Act. I also agree that artists should do what they feel they want to, lots of bands/artists have...Robert Plants first 3 solo efforts were pretty much the oppositte to anything Zeppelin had done.....he got it out of his system, then realised he loved rock an roll music and made some more. Hopefully Chris will do the same, but as for now, this moment, this time in place, I can't help but hear this CC stuff and cringe
heres what i had to share in case its not around too long:
"I'll do my best to respectfully share my opinion here... but from what i hear from my PJ friends over at the PJ message board theres a whole lot of unnecessary censorship going on here... ill begin by saying im not angry about the album and dont wish any failure for chris since hes a family man and since he seems passionate about the project... with that being said however i am incredibly disappointed... nearly to the point of tears when i first heard the new material... i gave timbaland the benefit of the doubt for the longest time, standing up to friends, thinking that he may have the ability to move between genres like rick rubin proved by producing audioslave... clearly however that is not the case
he took chris (with his voice sounding better than it has in a decade) and turned it into the worst kind of pop rubbish... and i like quite a bit of pop rubbish when its done right... not even the beats timbaland uses are anything unique... i remember chris saying he wanted to go solo to have control over the entirety of his music and then he seems to have turned over complete musical control here... the man that wrote "sunshower", "seasons", "outshined", "spoonman", etc etc etc is now asking "is this mic on?" and having gangster spoken word bridges like a bone thugz song??? i dont get it!
i dont know whats worse... to think that its sincere and he really has lost all artistic integrity or to think he would make an insincere album for all the wrong reasons... he has one of the most loyal and loving fanbases made up of fans i know of other stellar 90's bands and yet he seems to be pandering and dumbing down his abilities to get a new fan base all together... i cant help but ask why? my loyalty only goes so far... if i get the feeling chris doesnt appreciate or need my support and would rather adopt the linkin park fanbase then ill step away with the extensive chris collection i already have and be content... nothing could ever tarnish what he and his music meant to me in my past... but i was hoping to enjoy his music in the future too as i do with mark lanegan's (who btw has been far more open to new projects and genres and does so without selling out his principles)
im sincerely hoping this is a phase chris is going to like neil young "lucky 13" and he'll have a triumphant return to form with his next album... but my thought is that if people all run out and buy this album strictly because of our past loyalties to chris, then he'll get mixed signal and may think we actually prefer this to what he has done in the past... and can anyone honestly say that? look for the good in it all your want and be as "openminded" as possible, but who wouldnt prefer he use a real drummer as opposed to a drum track... this is the guy that played with matt FUCKIN cameron for christs sake!
ok... thats all i have to share... might get removed... but hopefully not... i love chris... im worried about him and the path hes choosing... hope im not alone in that... maybe the people in charge should pass on the concern of his fans (which ive encountered overwhelmingly) instead of making it disappear... sometimes ignorance is just ignorance and not bliss"
Excellent post - clear, concise and all points well reasoned and made. Was this deleted off the CC message boards? Fair enough to delete mindless hate posts, but there's no reason for that type of post to go. People are entitled to their opinions!
"...though my problems are meaningless....that don't make them go away...."
So far I've heard 5 new songs and bits of a 6th. I must say, I like it all. It certainly is different and took a few listens to get into some of the tracks, but all in all I think this is going to be a good album. My fav so far (by far) is Ground Zero.
I got the opportunity to see him twice on the Projekt Revolution tour and the 2 new songs he played (Long Gone and Watch Out) both sounded even better live. He added another guy to the band to reproduce some of the "Timbaland-like essense" of the music. Still, these new songs certainly didn't sound out of place at a rock concert at all. Even the Linkin Park crowd really seemed to dig the new stuff.
why must every fan boy accuse people of not giving this stuff a fair chance! i think most of us have... what reason do we have not to give one of our favorite singers the benefit of the doubt here?? you think i didnt try to like this instead of abruptly ending a 7 year bromance?? i have a lot of guilty pleasures in this genre of music too ("i kissed a girl", alot of rihanna songs, maroon 5, etc) and this isnt even good when compared to those... if he did this transition right there would still be an uproar but nothing of this caliber... theres no one to blame but chris himself
The reason I say "fair chance" is because most people (myself included) wretched when they heard Timbaland would be producing it. For me, some of the songs needed a few listens to appreciate. Example, I hated the song "Scream" upon first listen, but now it is among my favourites. That's all I'm saying.
I'd hate to see your bromance end because of one producer. I am a hopeless bromantic at heart
The reason I say "fair chance" is because most people (myself included) wretched when they heard Timbaland would be producing it. For me, some of the songs needed a few listens to appreciate. Example, I hated the song "Scream" upon first listen, but now it is among my favourites. That's all I'm saying.
I'd hate to see your bromance end because of one producer. I am a hopeless bromantic at heart
well i was one of the ones cautiously optimistic when we first got the timbaland news so that certainly hasnt been a deciding factor in my feelings for the album... i just assumed timbaland and chris wouldve met somewhere in the middle of their respective genres instead of chris just accepting tims terms and conditions... i guess i was thinking there would be more agressive drum tracks like NIN and not generic shit that came from an 80's drum machine
be sure to check out "cultofsoundgarden"'s posts over at the CC board... he takes insanity to a whole new level... he actually compared standing up for chris to standing up for your girlfriend when someone talks shit about her... he THINKS HES DATING CHRIS CORNELL... and has referred to him multiple times as his god... i totally thought he was kidding at first as a satire of all the people actually behaving similarly... but hes not...
Could still probably find creepier people on the porch.
I challenge you to find someone as utterly mental as this kid! Not even in the 'pictures of Ed looking hot' thread would you find someone so fucking la la!
So far I've heard 5 new songs and bits of a 6th. I must say, I like it all. It certainly is different and took a few listens to get into some of the tracks, but all in all I think this is going to be a good album. My fav so far (by far) is Ground Zero.
I got the opportunity to see him twice on the Projekt Revolution tour and the 2 new songs he played (Long Gone and Watch Out) both sounded even better live. He added another guy to the band to reproduce some of the "Timbaland-like essense" of the music. Still, these new songs certainly didn't sound out of place at a rock concert at all. Even the Linkin Park crowd really seemed to dig the new stuff.
Give it a chance. A fair chance.
I had a completely open mind about the project, I didn't become outraged at the thought of this Timbaland fella working with Chris, I'm old enough to know better than to shoot stuff down for silly reasons like credibility....it's upon hearing the stuff I became so suddenly deflated. I'm sorry, but what I've heard of it is so substandard, so appallingly below average that it's completely abhorent to think Chris Cornell is actually taking it seriously. It is without doubt the worst kind of bland, passive, background modern r&b music I have ever had the misfortune to encounter.
Who the hell Chris thinks is going to be into this is quite beyond me, he may have a handfull of diehard/defend to the last breath fans, but ultimately 90% are going to feel the way I do. And as for young kids who usually go for this stuff.....don't you forsee them all going "who the hell is this old guy ? He's not nearly as good as Justin Timberlake"...or something like that :rolleyes:
It is quite frankly beyond my comprehension, beyond a joke, and beyond belief, and it saddens me because Cornell has such a great talent....
I had a completely open mind about the project, I didn't become outraged at the thought of this Timbaland fella working with Chris, I'm old enough to know better than to shoot stuff down for silly reasons like credibility....it's upon hearing the stuff I became so suddenly deflated. I'm sorry, but what I've heard of it is so substandard, so appallingly below average that it's completely abhorent to think Chris Cornell is actually taking it seriously. It is without doubt the worst kind of bland, passive, background modern r&b music I have ever had the misfortune to encounter.
Who the hell Chris thinks is going to be into this is quite beyond me, he may have a handfull of diehard/defend to the last breath fans, but ultimately 90% are going to feel the way I do. And as for young kids who usually go for this stuff.....don't you forsee them all going "who the hell is this old guy ? He's not nearly as good as Justin Timberlake"...or something like that :rolleyes:
It is quite frankly beyond my comprehension, beyond a joke, and beyond belief, and it saddens me because Cornell has such a great talent....
I was admittedly worried when I first heard about who was producing. But I tried to keep an open mind. When that first snippet of "Part of Me" came out I thought it was the worst fucking thing I'd ever heard. Frankly it still is. I've given the five posted songs quite a few listens, trying to find something redeeming. Although I am still very disappointed and think this is a huge waste of talent, esp. considering how great his voice is sounding again...I kinda don't mind the song "Never Far Away" for some reason. Everything else is still horrible, particularly the "up-tempo" stuff like Watch Out and Ground Zero. And yeah I think the record as a whole will flop. At 44 its probably a little late to gain cred with the normal audience for this type of music.
It's career suicide, and it's too late to change it. Even if he does go back to what he does best, he can't regain all the professional dignity he's lost and people will still be bringing up the Timbaland era for the rest of his life... it's a massive big black mark on the career of Chris Cornell, and this is coming from a huge life-long fan.
It's career suicide, and it's too late to change it. Even if he does go back to what he does best, he can't regain all the professional dignity he's lost and people will still be bringing up the Timbaland era for the rest of his life... it's a massive big black mark on the career of Chris Cornell, and this is coming from a huge life-long fan.
Exactly - he could've released an album full of mediocre-to-terrible rock songs about how much he loves baked potato skins, and we all would've forgiven him, cos it's just Cornell losing his touch, not losing his dignity. This is embarrassing for reasons beyond the quality (or lack thereof) of the songs themselves. He'll probably spend all the proceeds on penis pumps, just to really stave off that mid-life crisis.
Smokey Robinson constantly looks like he's trying to act natural after being accused of farting.
Exactly - he could've released an album full of mediocre-to-terrible rock songs about how much he loves baked potato skins, and we all would've forgiven him, cos it's just Cornell losing his touch, not losing his dignity. This is embarrassing for reasons beyond the quality (or lack thereof) of the songs themselves. He'll probably spend all the proceeds on penis pumps, just to really stave off that mid-life crisis.
I would argue that allowing himself to settle for mediocrity would be even less dignified than making a clean break and releasing a woefully misjudged pile of unbridled shite that is at least boldly different to the last woefully misjudged pile of shite he inflicted upon those who still hope he'll return to the heights of Superunknown. It's NOT going to happen guys. Let him be.
"I remember one night at Muzdalifa with nothing but the sky overhead, I lay awake amid sleeping Muslim brothers and I learned that pilgrims from every land — every colour, and class, and rank; high officials and the beggar alike — all snored in the same language"
I would argue that allowing himself to settle for mediocrity would be even less dignified than making a clean break and releasing a woefully misjudged pile of unbridled shite that is at least boldly different to the last woefully misjudged pile of shite he inflicted upon those who still hope he'll return to the heights of Superunknown. It's NOT going to happen guys. Let him be.
Oh, I don't mean he should settle for mediocrity. But if he released rock songs of the same comparative quality as these... abortions of songs... and it was the best he could do, it'd at least just be him trying his best to write some good songs, and failing. This is him failing to write good songs, while dancing to Timbaland's synthesized drumbeat and trying to be cool with the "Kidz", while comparing it to Dark Side of the Moon, with a straight face. I'm not expecting Superunknown... I am expecting a little integrity.
Also, I really just wanted to make the penis pump joke.
Smokey Robinson constantly looks like he's trying to act natural after being accused of farting.
Haven't posted on this board for a long time..
Found this thread after listening to a few snippets of CC's new "music"..
Ok.. I love CC's music about as much as I love PJ's and Eddies music. Euphoria Morning is in my mind a modern classic. And CC's acoustic gig in Sweden 2007 was probably the best live performance I have seen...ever (sorry PJ).
CC's last album "Carry On" was a dissapointment to me.. I wanted another EM.. When I heard that he was doing another album that was going to be produced by Timbaland I was a bit worried but I still had faith that he could pull it of.
After hearing the songs that are out, my thought are this.. The songs aren't bad at all...if Justin or Furtado would do them. Timbaland is obviously a good producer and anything he touches sells.. But for CC this is doing 2 things.. He pisses on his loyal fanbase. And by fanbase I mean ppl that listened to Soundgarden, TOTD and Euphoria Morning..NOT the 14-year-old girl that saw James Bond last night.. Second thing he is doing is making sure he recruits alot of new fans...fans of Timbaland, fans of Justin and Nelly and such, radio listeners...
I wish Cornell all the success in the world with this project, and I hope to see him do alot more music in the future.. but for now I'll keep listening to Eddie if I want good solo stuff.. The drum-machines and screaming 14-year-old's just isn't my thing.
I know I harp on about him a lot, but a 'dance' song done right, whilst still keeping loyal to your rock roots, is Dancing In The Dark by Bruce Springsteen. It's pretty dated now and the video is horrendous but I don't see why Cornell feels the need to completely abandon the trademarks of his music career.
Haven't posted on this board for a long time..
Found this thread after listening to a few snippets of CC's new "music"..
Ok.. I love CC's music about as much as I love PJ's and Eddies music. Euphoria Morning is in my mind a modern classic. And CC's acoustic gig in Sweden 2007 was probably the best live performance I have seen...ever (sorry PJ).
CC's last album "Carry On" was a dissapointment to me.. I wanted another EM.. When I heard that he was doing another album that was going to be produced by Timbaland I was a bit worried but I still had faith that he could pull it of.
After hearing the songs that are out, my thought are this.. The songs aren't bad at all...if Justin or Furtado would do them. Timbaland is obviously a good producer and anything he touches sells.. But for CC this is doing 2 things.. He pisses on his loyal fanbase. And by fanbase I mean ppl that listened to Soundgarden, TOTD and Euphoria Morning..NOT the 14-year-old girl that saw James Bond last night.. Second thing he is doing is making sure he recruits alot of new fans...fans of Timbaland, fans of Justin and Nelly and such, radio listeners...
I wish Cornell all the success in the world with this project, and I hope to see him do alot more music in the future.. but for now I'll keep listening to Eddie if I want good solo stuff.. The drum-machines and screaming 14-year-old's just isn't my thing.
Nice post, I agreed with most of what you said, he does sing these new songs well but the music is still awful and he usually has some great lyrics but these seem to be a watered down version of that. I don't even think these songs are going to do well in the charts. I'm going to be a stubborn chris fan (and even though carry on wasn't amazing I enjoy some of its songs) and hope he does come back from this new "direction", at least PJ are still going strong and will maybe do a european tour.
Oh, I don't mean he should settle for mediocrity. But if he released rock songs of the same comparative quality as these... abortions of songs... and it was the best he could do, it'd at least just be him trying his best to write some good songs, and failing. This is him failing to write good songs, while dancing to Timbaland's synthesized drumbeat and trying to be cool with the "Kidz", while comparing it to Dark Side of the Moon, with a straight face. I'm not expecting Superunknown... I am expecting a little integrity.
Also, I really just wanted to make the penis pump joke.
I don't really see why making a crap song with Timbaland is any worse than making a crap song with a guitar to be honest. I praise Cornell for not making another record like Carry On. Yes, this new direction does not work for him but really, that's nothing to do with the new style, it's to do with that fact that everything he puts out these days is poor. It's quite sad when a producer who can make Rihanna sound good can't do the same for Cornell. It's not the fact that they are made by Timbaland that makes these songs crap, it's Cornell's poor songwriting and general lack of artistic focus. That would the case against any stylistic backdrop.
"I remember one night at Muzdalifa with nothing but the sky overhead, I lay awake amid sleeping Muslim brothers and I learned that pilgrims from every land — every colour, and class, and rank; high officials and the beggar alike — all snored in the same language"
I don't really see why making a crap song with Timbaland is any worse than making a crap song with a guitar to be honest. I praise Cornell for not making another record like Carry On. Yes, this new direction does not work for him but really, that's nothing to do with the new style, it's to do with that fact that everything he puts out these days is poor. It's quite sad when a producer who can make Rihanna sound good can't do the same for Cornell. It's not the fact that they are made by Timbaland that makes these songs crap, it's Cornell's poor songwriting and general lack of artistic focus. That would the case against any stylistic backdrop.
I know I'm probably not phrasing it right... what I'm trying to say is, if they were just bad songs, I wouldn't make such a big fuss. I'd say they were bad songs, probably make a few angry posts/bitter jokes, but I'd move on. It's the fact that he's just blatantly trying to stay in the mainstream... "Who's popular today? Oooh, I hear that Timbaland fellow has some fans - even Madonna's working with him!"
As for the songwriting... you're right, Cornell has been slipping. Badly. But when I listen to these songs, I don't hear much Cornell outside of some lyrics, and even the lyrics have been co-written. Music- and arrangement-wise, I hear a lot of Timbaland, very little Cornell. If they had met in the middle, worked to break down genre boundaries, made something as revolutionary as they both claimed they were making, or even just made something that sounded fresh, I'd say kudos for trying. But this is just Cornell singing songs that coulda been sung by anyone on the Timbaland roster, and most pop singers in general.
Smokey Robinson constantly looks like he's trying to act natural after being accused of farting.
I don't really see why making a crap song with Timbaland is any worse than making a crap song with a guitar to be honest. I praise Cornell for not making another record like Carry On. Yes, this new direction does not work for him but really, that's nothing to do with the new style, it's to do with that fact that everything he puts out these days is poor. It's quite sad when a producer who can make Rihanna sound good can't do the same for Cornell. It's not the fact that they are made by Timbaland that makes these songs crap, it's Cornell's poor songwriting and general lack of artistic focus. That would the case against any stylistic backdrop.
I think it's the contrived nature of this project than grates the most. Cornell appears to have totally taken a back seat to Timberland as far as the music is concerned - you can tell that from all the hideous "is this mic on", "sing that second verse Chris" shit. I totally agree it was time for him to try something new, and before I actually heard the songs I wasn't bothered in the least that Timberland was producing it, because I thought it was going to result in a really unusual and interesting album. Instead we have what all the cynical people feared; Timberland reinventing Cornell as an 'edgy' pop singer in exactly the same way he did with Timberlake, Furtado and One Republic.
Considering the genre, I don't think the songs are particularly awful, they fit the cookie-cutter niche market that Timberland sells to, and Cornell's unique voice had been so fucking compressed that it doesn't sound out of place at all.
You really do have to wonder what's going through this guy's head. You watch recent live videos of him on youtube and he's delivering some insanely good performances, and he's performing the new songs as full band versions, begging the question why didn't he just do that on the record? It would have given Timberlake the opportunity to prove that he could produce a rock album just as well as he could a pop album; and it could have possibly been the genre-defying magnum opus we were promised.
I love this thread. Someone should send a link to Chris' management or something...
“Life is life everywhere. Life is in ourselves and not outside us. There will be men beside me, and the important thing is to be a man among men and to remain a man always, whatever the misfortunes, not to despair and not to fall - that is the aim of life, that is its purpose.”
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
I love this thread. Someone should send a link to Chris' management or something...
Better still, print it out and hand it to him at one of his meet and greets! I've read before in interviews that he checks this board to see what fans' responses are, since he thinks this is a better representation than the sycophants that clog up his own board. I'm sure he must have had an inkling that this might be the response anyway. I mean seriously, how many of his fans did he think would be into One Republic and Justin Timberlake?
Better still, print it out and hand it to him at one of his meet and greets! I've read before in interviews that he checks this board to see what fans' responses are, since he thinks this is a better representation than the sycophants that clog up his own board. I'm sure he must have had an inkling that this might be the response anyway. I mean seriously, how many of his fans did he think would be into One Republic and Justin Timberlake?
Apparently, all of them, judging by the comments he's made in interviews. "Oh, yeah, I've had 100% positive reaction from my fans." Right...
Then again, when you give someone a kick in the jacksons to get them back to their senses, that could be seen as a positive thing... maybe that's how he's taking all our grumblings?
Smokey Robinson constantly looks like he's trying to act natural after being accused of farting.
I try posting at the CC forum, but it's a total waste of time. Some of the more delusional people in the universe post there. A few of which are only surpassed in their delusion by their creepyness.
I think some of these people would support Chris if he gained 150 pounds, grew out a 2 foot beard and did an album of sea shanties.
But, they have no point of reference. How old do you think most of these people are? Down on the Upside came out in 1996. I don't think they bought that when they were 10 or younger, and you can forget anything that came before. Maybe for these nutcases, their point of reference is so new (Audioslave) that this seems somewhat reasonable or something?
The best part is when they say you should broaden their musical horizons, but they didn't even know who fricken Timbaland was! Um, yeah. A few people, including me, tried to warn them, but they wouldn't listen, and now they're polishing this turd like it's the greatest thing that ever happened, and coming to Timbaland's defense, to boot.
Whatever. I think this has a chance of selling on Timbaland's name alone.
I also don't think Cornell gives two about what his old fans think, he's written
as much quite a few times in a couple of songs. BUT, I don't think his peers
are 1) going to be able to keep their mouth shuts, or 2) keep from laughing out loud to some reporter somewhere. And that's where he's gonna get shamed.
I remember going way back to Euphoria Morning, Matt said he wasn't a big fan of the overproduction. Well, Matt ain't seen nothing yet, he's gonna be screamin out da top of his head.
Yeah, that's the other thing. The grammar. Wow. Pander much? Also amazing that a writer who had turned into a control freak not once, but twice, suddenly gives it all up for Timbaland. Wonder what in the world his motivation is. It can't be money. Maybe he just likes taking bad advice from his new family, like Fredo, the guy who spins records in Paris.
“Life is life everywhere. Life is in ourselves and not outside us. There will be men beside me, and the important thing is to be a man among men and to remain a man always, whatever the misfortunes, not to despair and not to fall - that is the aim of life, that is its purpose.”
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Yeah, that's the other thing. The grammar. Wow. Pander much? Also amazing that a writer who had turned into a control freak not once, but twice, suddenly gives it all up for Timbaland. Wonder what in the world his motivation is. It can't be money. Maybe he just likes taking bad advice from his new family, like Fredo, the guy who spins records in Paris.
Facepollution said it earlier in this thread, and it seems to be the case. Attention. It makes sense... Soundgarden ends, and he tries to make an album on his own merits. Critical acclaim, low buys. Audioslave happens - suddenly he's right back in the public eye. Audioslave ends, he tries to make an album on his own merits. It falters, both creatively and publically. And now he throws his lot in with Timbaland, maybe the hottest ticket of the last two, three years. I sense a pattern.
Welcome to PJ forums, though. Cuss all you like.
Smokey Robinson constantly looks like he's trying to act natural after being accused of farting.
Comments
I love Riot Act. I also agree that artists should do what they feel they want to, lots of bands/artists have...Robert Plants first 3 solo efforts were pretty much the oppositte to anything Zeppelin had done.....he got it out of his system, then realised he loved rock an roll music and made some more. Hopefully Chris will do the same, but as for now, this moment, this time in place, I can't help but hear this CC stuff and cringe
Excellent post - clear, concise and all points well reasoned and made. Was this deleted off the CC message boards? Fair enough to delete mindless hate posts, but there's no reason for that type of post to go. People are entitled to their opinions!
You made Hands All Over. Gun. Wooden Jesus. Jesus Christ Pose.
And now its come to this?
sad, sad, sad
I got the opportunity to see him twice on the Projekt Revolution tour and the 2 new songs he played (Long Gone and Watch Out) both sounded even better live. He added another guy to the band to reproduce some of the "Timbaland-like essense" of the music. Still, these new songs certainly didn't sound out of place at a rock concert at all. Even the Linkin Park crowd really seemed to dig the new stuff.
Give it a chance. A fair chance.
Three crooked hearts, swirls all around
You can't spell Gossard without G-O-D
http://seanbriceart.com/
I'd hate to see your bromance end because of one producer. I am a hopeless bromantic at heart
Three crooked hearts, swirls all around
You can't spell Gossard without G-O-D
http://seanbriceart.com/
http://seanbriceart.com/
Could still probably find creepier people on the porch.
I challenge you to find someone as utterly mental as this kid! Not even in the 'pictures of Ed looking hot' thread would you find someone so fucking la la!
I had a completely open mind about the project, I didn't become outraged at the thought of this Timbaland fella working with Chris, I'm old enough to know better than to shoot stuff down for silly reasons like credibility....it's upon hearing the stuff I became so suddenly deflated. I'm sorry, but what I've heard of it is so substandard, so appallingly below average that it's completely abhorent to think Chris Cornell is actually taking it seriously. It is without doubt the worst kind of bland, passive, background modern r&b music I have ever had the misfortune to encounter.
Who the hell Chris thinks is going to be into this is quite beyond me, he may have a handfull of diehard/defend to the last breath fans, but ultimately 90% are going to feel the way I do. And as for young kids who usually go for this stuff.....don't you forsee them all going "who the hell is this old guy ? He's not nearly as good as Justin Timberlake"...or something like that :rolleyes:
It is quite frankly beyond my comprehension, beyond a joke, and beyond belief, and it saddens me because Cornell has such a great talent....
I was admittedly worried when I first heard about who was producing. But I tried to keep an open mind. When that first snippet of "Part of Me" came out I thought it was the worst fucking thing I'd ever heard. Frankly it still is. I've given the five posted songs quite a few listens, trying to find something redeeming. Although I am still very disappointed and think this is a huge waste of talent, esp. considering how great his voice is sounding again...I kinda don't mind the song "Never Far Away" for some reason. Everything else is still horrible, particularly the "up-tempo" stuff like Watch Out and Ground Zero. And yeah I think the record as a whole will flop. At 44 its probably a little late to gain cred with the normal audience for this type of music.
8/25/92, 10/4/96, 10/5/96, 9/1/98, 9/4/98, 8/4/00, 8/6/00, 4/15/03, 4/16/03, 10/6/04, 6/16/08
Also, I really just wanted to make the penis pump joke.
Found this thread after listening to a few snippets of CC's new "music"..
Ok.. I love CC's music about as much as I love PJ's and Eddies music. Euphoria Morning is in my mind a modern classic. And CC's acoustic gig in Sweden 2007 was probably the best live performance I have seen...ever (sorry PJ).
CC's last album "Carry On" was a dissapointment to me.. I wanted another EM.. When I heard that he was doing another album that was going to be produced by Timbaland I was a bit worried but I still had faith that he could pull it of.
After hearing the songs that are out, my thought are this.. The songs aren't bad at all...if Justin or Furtado would do them. Timbaland is obviously a good producer and anything he touches sells.. But for CC this is doing 2 things.. He pisses on his loyal fanbase. And by fanbase I mean ppl that listened to Soundgarden, TOTD and Euphoria Morning..NOT the 14-year-old girl that saw James Bond last night.. Second thing he is doing is making sure he recruits alot of new fans...fans of Timbaland, fans of Justin and Nelly and such, radio listeners...
I wish Cornell all the success in the world with this project, and I hope to see him do alot more music in the future.. but for now I'll keep listening to Eddie if I want good solo stuff.. The drum-machines and screaming 14-year-old's just isn't my thing.
Nice post, I agreed with most of what you said, he does sing these new songs well but the music is still awful and he usually has some great lyrics but these seem to be a watered down version of that. I don't even think these songs are going to do well in the charts. I'm going to be a stubborn chris fan (and even though carry on wasn't amazing I enjoy some of its songs) and hope he does come back from this new "direction", at least PJ are still going strong and will maybe do a european tour.
As for the songwriting... you're right, Cornell has been slipping. Badly. But when I listen to these songs, I don't hear much Cornell outside of some lyrics, and even the lyrics have been co-written. Music- and arrangement-wise, I hear a lot of Timbaland, very little Cornell. If they had met in the middle, worked to break down genre boundaries, made something as revolutionary as they both claimed they were making, or even just made something that sounded fresh, I'd say kudos for trying. But this is just Cornell singing songs that coulda been sung by anyone on the Timbaland roster, and most pop singers in general.
I think it's the contrived nature of this project than grates the most. Cornell appears to have totally taken a back seat to Timberland as far as the music is concerned - you can tell that from all the hideous "is this mic on", "sing that second verse Chris" shit. I totally agree it was time for him to try something new, and before I actually heard the songs I wasn't bothered in the least that Timberland was producing it, because I thought it was going to result in a really unusual and interesting album. Instead we have what all the cynical people feared; Timberland reinventing Cornell as an 'edgy' pop singer in exactly the same way he did with Timberlake, Furtado and One Republic.
Considering the genre, I don't think the songs are particularly awful, they fit the cookie-cutter niche market that Timberland sells to, and Cornell's unique voice had been so fucking compressed that it doesn't sound out of place at all.
You really do have to wonder what's going through this guy's head. You watch recent live videos of him on youtube and he's delivering some insanely good performances, and he's performing the new songs as full band versions, begging the question why didn't he just do that on the record? It would have given Timberlake the opportunity to prove that he could produce a rock album just as well as he could a pop album; and it could have possibly been the genre-defying magnum opus we were promised.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Better still, print it out and hand it to him at one of his meet and greets! I've read before in interviews that he checks this board to see what fans' responses are, since he thinks this is a better representation than the sycophants that clog up his own board. I'm sure he must have had an inkling that this might be the response anyway. I mean seriously, how many of his fans did he think would be into One Republic and Justin Timberlake?
Then again, when you give someone a kick in the jacksons to get them back to their senses, that could be seen as a positive thing... maybe that's how he's taking all our grumblings?
I think some of these people would support Chris if he gained 150 pounds, grew out a 2 foot beard and did an album of sea shanties.
But, they have no point of reference. How old do you think most of these people are? Down on the Upside came out in 1996. I don't think they bought that when they were 10 or younger, and you can forget anything that came before. Maybe for these nutcases, their point of reference is so new (Audioslave) that this seems somewhat reasonable or something?
The best part is when they say you should broaden their musical horizons, but they didn't even know who fricken Timbaland was! Um, yeah. A few people, including me, tried to warn them, but they wouldn't listen, and now they're polishing this turd like it's the greatest thing that ever happened, and coming to Timbaland's defense, to boot.
Whatever. I think this has a chance of selling on Timbaland's name alone.
I also don't think Cornell gives two about what his old fans think, he's written
as much quite a few times in a couple of songs. BUT, I don't think his peers
are 1) going to be able to keep their mouth shuts, or 2) keep from laughing out loud to some reporter somewhere. And that's where he's gonna get shamed.
I remember going way back to Euphoria Morning, Matt said he wasn't a big fan of the overproduction. Well, Matt ain't seen nothing yet, he's gonna be screamin out da top of his head.
Yeah, that's the other thing. The grammar. Wow. Pander much? Also amazing that a writer who had turned into a control freak not once, but twice, suddenly gives it all up for Timbaland. Wonder what in the world his motivation is. It can't be money. Maybe he just likes taking bad advice from his new family, like Fredo, the guy who spins records in Paris.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Welcome to PJ forums, though.