Chris Cornell Goes Acoustic on Songbook
Chris Cornell is probably best known as the vocalist and songwriter for Soundgarden, one of the seminal bands of the Seattle grunge movement. He fronted the rock supergroup Audioslave and the one-off tribute band Temple of the Dog, which he founded to honor his former roommate, the late Andrew Wood of Malfunkshun and Mother Love Bone. Cornell also embarked on a solo career that took him into pop and hip-hop territories. He's written for film, including the theme song to the 2006 James Bond movie, Casino Royale, and placed 4th on the list of "Heavy Metal's All-Time Top 100 Vocalists" by Hit Parader. And now he can add acoustic musician to his resume. Make that transcendent acoustic musician.
This past spring Chris Cornell hit the road on the first leg of his solo Songbook Tour, performing music from his storied career to sell-out crowds in intimate venues all across the US. A collection of those songs, and the stories behind them, were recorded during various stops along the tour and comprise Cornell's recently released live album, Songbook. The record also includes acoustic covers of Led Zeppelin's "Thank You" and John Lennon's "Imagine," as well "The Keeper," an original number written for the soundtrack of the 2011 film Machine Gun Preacher, and contender for Best Original Song at the upcoming Golden Globe Awards. The somber ballad and fan favorite "Cleaning My Gun," which Chris has been playing live for years but never had occasion to include on an album, is also here.
Chris had his first brush with acoustic work back in the early '90s after he'd written and recorded the song "Seasons," which was included on the soundtrack to the Cameron Crowe film Singles. The song did surprisingly well and received a lot of airplay and positive response from fans, which led to him doing an acoustic version of Soundgarden's "Like Suicide" for yet another film. In an interview with Spinner, Cornell says he that it was when he first set out on his solo career with the release of Euphoria Morning that fans began asking for an acoustic record.
Getting comfortable performing unplugged was a process for Cornell. After all, it can be awfully intimidating to face an audience armed with only a guitar and a set of vocal chords, albethey some of the finest in rock. During his years with Audioslave, Chris would insert an acoustic version of one of the band's songs into the set to break it up. Then it became two, and eventually, a medley. He did a one-hour show in Stockholm back in 2006 that was recorded without his knowledge and made available for download under the title Chris Cornell: Unplugged in Sweden. "When I got home," he says, "people were playing it on the radio. And at the point I was like, 'People like this, and I've got 20-plus years of material that I can play in the context of acoustic songs. Maybe it's time to finally go out and explore that."
That's not to say things went smoothly when he initially set out on the Songbook Tour. "It took about five shows before it kind of revealed itself," says Cornell. And then the Songbook shows took on a life of their own as fans began to interact with the singer, who ditched his set list to play requests, making each show unique. "I'm playing songs as they're called out," he says. "It has turned into something amazing, which is why I wanted to release the record."
Chris claims the stripped down performances are more emotional than anything he's ever done. Without the distraction of a backup band, fans are able to hear the lyrics and experience his music in a way they perhaps didn't, or couldn't, in the context of a Soundgarden or Audioslave show, where his vocals were competing to be heard over music that was loud and aggressive. "I noticed that when Johnny Cash did a [simple] version of "Rusty Cage" (from Soundgarden's 1991 album Badmotorfinger), I was getting phone messages about how great the lyrics were. I've never gotten those messages before."
Cornell had a similar experience with his acoustic interpretation of Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean." What started out as a joke on the other members of Audioslave during his solo turn onstage has yielded one of Cornell's most requested numbers. Where Jackson's was very much a rhythmic dance track with a big, memorable bass line, Chris's version made people hear it differently. "I changed [the song] to a 3/4 gospel time signature, slowed it way down, added a chord where there wasn't one before, and started singing it," he says. Suddenly, it wasn't funny anymore. "I realized the lyrics were very serious. There was a vivid story and it was very good storytelling. It's a song that's well written and timeless."
The second leg of Cornell's Songbook Tour is wrapping as I write this. I caught back-to-back shows a few weeks ago when Chris played the historic Carnegie Music Hall here in Pittsburgh, and then a high school auditorium in Lakewood, Ohio, the following night. For nearly three hours we sat listening to his stories and re-imaginings of covers and his own classic songs, like "Black Hole Sun," "Be Yourself," "Hunger Strike," and an arresting version of The Beatles' magnificent "A Day in the Life." There was a synergy between Chris and his fans that went far beyond the cozy "sitting-around-the-living-room-entertaining-friends" feel. Cornell's brilliant voice, soaring and reverberating throughout the century-old concert hall, coupled with the warm, dulcet tones of his guitar were chill inducing, tear provoking. In the pitch-dark theater, I had to remind myself to breathe. That I was still bolted to this earth and not suspended, weightless in some heaven.
Chris Cornell will reunite with members of Soundgarden at the conclusion of the Songbook Tour to complete the band's upcoming album, which he says is 3/4 of the way done. He expects the record, Soundgarden's first in nearly 16 years, to be released sometime in the spring. Cornell adds that Soundgarden will support the release with a tour.
As for the sound of the highly anticipated album? "I think it's just a natural progression," Cornell says. "It's certainly not nostalgic or retro. I don't see it at all as Soundgarden going back to their roots. I don't even know what that would be. Soundgarden has always been so eclectic. To me, it's a continuation or in a sense it's almost like picking up where we left off."
