(Universal)

Acoustic joints prove Cornell’s no slave to volume

Recorded across the American leg of his recent run of solo shows, Songbook is a collection of grunge rock survivor Chris Cornell belting out some very iconic rock songs and compiling them with liner notes curiously provided by actor Josh Brolin. With minimal instrumentation to confuse matters, Songbook captures Cornell’s powerful voice as the Soundgarden main man wails and croons his way through a set of songs that have defined not only his career, but songs like John Lennon’s Imagine and Led Zepplin’s Thank You, which helped shape an entire generation of rock music. Even during these cover numbers, the songs are indelibly stamped by Cornell and his distinctive booming voice, sounding something like a yodel hybridised with a croon, and on the CD the singer’s voice captivates as it does live. The collection is light on Cornell’s work with Soundgarden, even though cuts like the subdued, diminutive rendition of Black Hole Sun, where his acoustic guitar drops out and Cornell works through the verses almost a cappella, stand out as the album’s most enjoyable moments. Songbook focuses more on Cornell’s latter-day output, as his solo material is more suited to the stripped down format of the shows (the difference between the live material and new solo effort The Keeper, the one studio song recorded specifically for the album, is negligible), but the material that Cornell originally recorded with bands like Soundgarden and Temple Of The Dog, and to a lesser extent Audioslave, demonstrate Cornell when he was at the height of his creative prowess.

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TOM HERSEY

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