this would be a really disappointing record if i were one of those people who clung to the 90s hopelessly— thankfully that makes it only partially disappointing… when the first song on chris cornell’s scream has a chorus that proclaims “that bitch ain’t a part of me!,” you’d think that he was trying to make it achingly clear that this album is a pop album and nothing but. unfortunately, while cornell’s new album might be a departure (to say the least), he’s not as pop as you might think.
as scream is also a timbaland vehicle, i was surprised to see the lack of “feat.” ’s that are so prevalent in rap and r&b these days. even on his most-recent ’solo’ album, timbaland was joined by at least one guest on virtually every song. so what i don’t understand is, why didn’t he do the same with cornell? that would’ve made cornell’s move toward pop much more believable and honest. i’m not kidding when i say that he really should have just went for broke and had the pussycat dolls guest on a song or two, or maybe even fellow timbaland collaborators fall out boy. i would’ve loved to have heard an album that ignored the kinds of barriers that usually exist between the “credible” rock genre, and all-out pop.maybe have eddie vedder and lil wayne join forces! what a colossal mindfuck that would be.
instead, there seems to be an unspoken distance between the kind of pop cornell is making, and the kind of pop that his own producer is regularly involved with. it’s as though cornell wants to be pop without losing what credibility he has left. by not committing to pop fully, cornell sounds like he’s simultaneously trying to erase his past while keeping those who he is ultimately trying to become at arms length. having a few guests here and there would at least legitimize what he’s doing, rather than scream seeming even more like a midlife-crisis. just look at that cover art, for fuck’s sakes. frankly, cornell can buy all the designer beats he likes, it won’t make his career any more buoyant, or his music any more relevant.
that’s the short version of this review. read on, dear reader, if you so choose. it gets a bit nerdy from here on in.
well, it’s been awhile since i’ve done one of these… i’m going to try something different here by posting youtube videos of the songs in question rather than mp3s. this should work so long as the videos stay up…
chris cornell feat. timbaland – “scream”
well, where to begin? initially, the idea of this duo working together seemed quite promising, but after having heard two of the songs from the upcoming album scream, i think it’s fair to say that this record will be a disappointment (not that it still won’t be a vast improvement over cornell’s second solo release, carry on).
i had the utmost faith that timbaland’s production abilities would be able to do something interesting for cornell, who has always not-so-secretly wanted to be a r&b/soul singer in the first place. just listen to temple of the dog’s song from 1991, “all night thing:”
(ignore the shitty karaoke-ness to this video. i’m just posting it so you can hear the song)
i had tonnes of faith in timbaland because i respected him, despite the recent trend of disliking him simply because of the ubiquity of his beats in the r&b world. i’ll admit that he really does whore himself around a bit much, but if he could get chris cornell his “sexyback,” then all the more power to him. as for cornell, after his last record, i had far less faith in him to produce something worthwhile. i had come to the conclusion after carry on that cornell and many of his seattle contemporaries (mainly pearl jam and alice in chains) were simply cock-rock bands who smartened up a bit towards the end of the 80s and started to make music that wasn’t as superficial. the real “seattle-sound” was based around the individuals who actually had a sound that could be traced back to earlier seattle bands like the sonics (pearl jam’s mike mccready is an exception, as he is thoroughly indebted to jimi hendrix)… but i digress.
the issue i have with this song is that the performances are lacklustre. i was hoping for some gritty, grating keyboards (ala “sexyback”), but instead got some soaring synths that don’t lead anywhere. cornell’s vocals sound like what i’ve come to expect from him since his later days in audioslave, but for a song called “scream,” you’d at least expect him to break from his jaw-wired-shut-mumble. nope. the lyrics don’t help much either, as they’re trite and completely uninspired. while “black hole sun” was cornell’s writing at its most mediocre, the airplay it has gotten in the following years has certainly been well-deserved compared to these flimsy lines: “heeeeey/ why keep screamin’ at the top o’ your heaaad?” jesus christ. the number of times he says “head” and “brain” in this song makes it a little more tolerable for hilarity’s sake, but only a little bit.
what’s most confusing about the song is its length. assuming they want this to be played like the dickens on top 40 radio, why do they then proceed to ride that terrible chorus for an intolerable six minutes? i really don’t get it.
the killers – “human”
brandon flowers’ lyrics are so awful that it’s becoming offensive. now i realize that lyrics aren’t the sole characteristic of a song, and i certainly don’t hide the fact that i pay very little attention to lyrics at all when i listen to music, but time and time again the killers have posited themselves as band whose lyrics are important, and yet the lyrics here are so jarringly bad that i can’t help but draw attention to them. i think the debate as to whether he’s saying “dancer” or “denser” is awesomely hilarious. whether it’s one or the other is irrelevant. either way, it’s a weak lyric to base an entire song around.
as far as the music is concerned, it sounds alright, although it seems the killers are going through their “ray of light” period a little early if you ask me. if i were to hear just the instrumental, i’d be hard-pressed to tell you that what i was hearing was in fact the killers, which is both a good and bad thing: good insofar as they’re obviously feeling creative and are now headed in a “new direction,” although as we’ve seen in their career so far, these “directions” seem to last as long as the albums they’re needed for. which leads me to the bad: we all know that this aesthetic is tacked-on, and i can’t help but feel as though this is just a kind of genre tourism that’s meaningless so long as flowers can pretend to be an introspective frontman. “growth” and “new directions” are words meant for press releases and the stickers that some underpaid person puts on the CD cover before it hits stores, and have no real relevance outside of the glow of commerce. furthermore, i can barely hear the rest of the band what with flowers’ keyboard being so loud and sparkly. how am i supposed to know that the other-dude-with-the-shitty-fucking-facial-hair was even present in the studio while this took place? do they play their instruments? i need proof.
i will point out that what’s nice about this song is flowers’ earnest and affecting delivery. usually he sounds like he’s falling asleep or in some sort of unecessary pain (or both) so to hear him emote and not sound overwrought is great.
so that’s that. thanks to idolator for breaking the news of these songs coming out.
