Soundgarden/Audioslave frontman Chris Cornell's ill-received latest album Scream is finally getting a proper rock album treatment, thanks to a well-connected fan.
Scream, Cornell's most recent solo album that was produced by R&B hitmaker Timbaland didn’t go over well among critics, Cornell’s many longtime fans or even R&B listeners for that matter, who the project seemed geared towards. It was no surprise, given the stylistic shift from iron-throated Rock god to poppy crooner singing nonsense like "That bitch aint a part of me".
The original Timbaland-produced offering heavily featured club beats and pop production that was a polar shift from Cornell's grunge background, and many lamented on what could've been, had the singer not made such a terrible genre-jump. Jordan Zadorozny (of Canadian indie band Blinker the Star), on the other hand, decided to do something about it, reworking the songs so they have a more Rock-oriented sound. He joined with Cornell's friend Michael Friedman, who got his hands on the master tracks, to strip away the beats, re-record some of the guitars and tried to rewrite history on the abomination that was Scream, an album that was a disappointment even for Timbaland - at least compared to his 2007 album Shock Value.
Hear the Rock version of "Never Far Away" on Antiquiet.
A return to form? Not entirely - bad songs are bad songs. But the reworking has gotten us closer to some level of respectability. For now, that's all we can hope for. But I saw all of Soundgarden together backstage at Pearl Jam's October 6 show in Los Angeles, so there's a remote possibility that we may see Cornell's finest work onstage once more.
