Chris Cornell’s most recent solo album Scream, produced by R&B hitmaker Timbaland didn’t fare well critically, neither here, nor among the majority of Cornell’s many longtime fans.
Knee-jerk reactions to the ‘inappropriate’ pairing aside, and ignoring that Cornell fronted fucking Soundgarden, it wasn’t even a good Timbaland album, compared to his 2007 album Shock Value. And as we listened to Cornell sing the word bitch 22 times in one song, it was hard to say that it would have been any better had he simply shied away from the most broadly marketable production money can buy.
However, it seems that a well connected fan and friend of Cornell’s named Michael Friedman was not quite as cynical as we were, and listened so hard, he heard a proverbial who. He got his hands on the master tracks, called up Jordon Zadorozny of Blinker The Star, and together, they stripped away the beats, re-recorded at least some of the guitars, and produced at least one cut of the album that so far, only exists in our fantasies: Scream, The No-Timbaland Version. Here’s their version of Never Far Away, posted with Chris’ permission via ExploreMusic:
It’s still not quite Black Hole Sun, despite Friedman’s wishful listening. But it’s at least as good as most Audioslave songs. And that’s an improvement.
Thanks to Trina Green for the heads-up.
About Skwerl
Kevin "Skwerl" Cogill was taught his first computer programming language by his Mother's marijuana dealer at age ten. His first job involved hustling TicketMaster lines on behalf of a New Jersey concert ticket broker at age fourteen, followed by a job in graphic design shortly after graduating high school and trade school simultaneously in 1998. He built his first website in 1996 or so, and continues to do things the way they should be done, rather than the way everyone else does. He's a bit of an asshole, but he's fiercely loyal to fellow fans of good music.
Born and raised in Philadelphia, Skwerl now resides in Los Angeles.
October 29th, 2009 at 4:56 PM
Soundgarden was a long time ago.
October 29th, 2009 at 5:10 PM
Well, if The Beatles can take Phil Spector off of ‘Let It Be’, then why not this?
October 29th, 2009 at 7:02 PM
Nearly bought a tear to my eye, this did. Just as I wish U2 would re-record “Pop”, I’d take a take 2 on “Scream”. And now that you’ve reminded me, I’ve gotta rummage through my packed up stuff and find “Shock Value”.
Phil Spector/The Beatles is as Chris Cornell/Timbaland? The mind reels.
October 29th, 2009 at 9:53 PM
blinker the star is great. he needs to re-do the entire album.
October 30th, 2009 at 2:01 AM
That is so much better.
October 30th, 2009 at 5:54 AM
Definitely not Black Hole Sun but nothing can match the level of Superunknown, not even Soundgarden. Audioslave was a big disappointment for me but still better than most bands out there and this is on the level of most of their tunes. I like it but still wouldn’t buy it.
October 30th, 2009 at 12:04 PM
Timbaland obscured Cornell’s ability to write a melody by converting them to abusive hooks. This is much much better, but still a far cry from Screaming Life or, to go softer, Seasons. He’s a great songwriter. It’d be nice if someone could just get him to sit down and put together a stripped down, acoustic album. Show off his voice.
October 31st, 2009 at 8:35 PM
I would buy this album
November 1st, 2009 at 1:07 AM
This is so much better than Scream. Still mainstream pop though.
November 3rd, 2009 at 9:44 PM
[...] You can hear the new version of Scream highlight “Never Far Away” over at Antiquiet. Unsurprisingly, the people who liked or at least tolerated Scream are cool with this, while nearly [...]