Carry On, Chris Cornell
It's not a stretch to say that Chris Cornell has one of the most incredible voices ever. I've recently gotten into Soundgarden, Temple of the Dog and Audioslave mainly on the strength of this guy's ridiculously good vocals.
Given all that, I rushed out to buy Cornell's latest album, the solo offering "Carry On." I heard prior to the release that it combined elements of hard rock, blues, and pop, with savvy/insightful lyrics breathed to life by Cornell's size 100 (out of 10) vocals. I got so excited by these advances (re)views that I've been advertising his summer concert tour to everyone I know even prior to listening to the album.
How do I feel about this recent offering? Let's just say I give this album a 5/10, where it gets 5 points on the strength of four songs and Cornell's voice. The opening tracks ("No Such Thing" and "Poison Eye") are quite good, building up the expectations for the next 12 tracks. Unfortunately, its pretty much downhill from there until track 6 ("Ghost") and track 14 (the Casino Royale theme). Alright, alright: there are some good moments in there, but these are few and far between.
When I take the morning shuttle to school, the driver always has this crappy adult contemporary station playing in the background. What is sad is that I could easily picture at least a third of the "Carry On" tracks being played on this station.
If you've read "The Alchemist" you'll remember that one of the main points made in the novel is that if someone has a dream or destiny, his/her friends and family should do their part and let the person go to fulfill their hearts desire. It is obvious that Cornell is excited about this new life as a mellower solo artist and this is the direction he has chosen for his music. Thus, as fans, perhaps we should let him go do his thing.
I can run with that. And while doing so, I'll load up on my doses of Soundgarden and Audioslave
Disturbia
I saw this movie on the plane. Somehow, I end up liking every movie I see on an airplane, probably because I hate air travel and any distraction is welcome. Seriously. I saw "Guess Who" starring Ashton Kutcher and Bernie Mac and thought it was the greatest movie ever.
Despite this huge advantage, Disturbia failed to capture my attention. One major positive: Shia LeBouf. That guy can flat out act.
It turns out LeBouf is going to play Harrison Ford's son in the fourth Indiana Jones movie. I only realized what a great move when I saw Disturbia: LeBouf does an incredible "Harrison Ford face." You know, the look he gives in every movie where he looks angry/frustrated and heavily exhales?
Like father, like son.
6 comments:
do you use a normal distribution when assiging album grades? also, i think you are too wishy-washy when it comes to carry on.
What up A-team, sounds like a solid conference indeed. As ever, cool to hear about the economics papers that translate readily into non-economic terms; definitely post some links to your favorites in the days to come.
Also, I will/would be interested to see what you think of Transformers. I'll refrain from biasing you with my opinion for the moment. (and ditto for Sicko)
When will the "Review: Josh McRoberts" be written?
You going to be online for the 23rd draft?
Josh McBobs the review...I bet it will be positive. I think Portland is a good spot for him. I know how much you love Duke, Eric. Hahaha
I'll be in South Africa during the draft...but I am going to give it my all to be there. I definitely want to stick it to Irishnation this year.
wow, I was cleaning my inbox and remembered you had a blog - so many entries since my last visit. nice!
how was your presentation?
I would also be interested in your comments on sicko. actually I would be interested in james' comments on sicko, too. even though I saw it with him, I don't recall him giving an opinion afterwards.
I'm listening to NPR as I write this and a professor from Yale is commenting on healthcare outcome measures to evaluate hospitals. what interesting coincidence.
best,
valli
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