Soundgarden Telephantasm

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by Derric Miller
Staff Writer

If for no other reason than to own a copy of the obscenely hilarious track “Big Dumb Sex,” you have to purchase a copy of Soundgarden’s era-spanning compilation Telephantasm. Approximately 99 percent of these kinds of compilations — especially when coming from bands like Motley Crue or KISS or Bon Jovi — are purely marketing gimmicks. There is absolutely nothing to gain from owning them. Conversely, Telephantasm brings you back to the days when Soundgarden was at their most unpolished and rawest yet flaunted the most potential out of any band on the “Seattle scene,” and listening to an older song like “Hands All Over” next to a hit like “Black Hole Sun” proves evolution actually exists, no matter what Tea Party pundits argue.

Disc 1 is the better of the duo on this two CD-set, mostly because it houses the lesser known tracks. Disc 2 is riddled with classic compositions like “Birth Ritual,” “Spoonman,” “Black Hole Sun,” “Fell on Black Days,” “Pretty Noose,” and “Blow Up the Outside World,” but that won’t teach you anything new. Hearing where they came from into the legend they are today is the draw of this compilation.

You get a simplistic punk vibe from the opener, “All Your Lies,” and the male version of the banshee — Chris Cornell — opens his maw and you hear talent just discovering itself. Repetition was the name of the game for Soundgarden early on, especially when the recurring “All your fears are lies,” line, and they do it to comical levels on the aforementioned “Big Dumb Sex.” There is a palpable corrosion to this composition, something they wrote specifically to be jagged and unfriendly, but it’s somehow still catchy.

“Hands All Over” is the perfect example of Soundgarden milling around in that radio-friendly gray area between mainstream acceptance and sticking to their roots. The sexual drive of the song, from the churning bass of Ben Shepherd to the quirky guitar riff from Kim Thayil shows musical growth, but the lyrics step up into a darker poetic and visual onslaught, and Cornell wails on lines like, “Got my arms around baby brother; put your hands away, you’re going to kill your mother!” The less repetitive the band became, the more creative songwriters they discovered within themselves.

Of course, Soundgarden is a live animal, and you will get plenty of chances to feel their venom live. “Get on the Snake” is the first one, sort of a wailing, plodding song that is mostly effective as a “sign of the times,” although Cornell’s vocals show a vaster flexibility than their ilk like Nirvana, obviously Pearl Jam, Mudhoney, Screaming Trees, and basically every other band from that era. Layne Staley was the only singer even close to meeting Cornell’s talent, but didn’t stick around long enough for the end game.

“Black Rain” is the unreleased song Telephantasm brags about. It’s a demo version, and rides that weird, chugging rhythm Soundgarden trademarked back in the day. Soundgarden’s earlier songs, like “Full on Kevin’s Mom” (not found on this compilation) was pure chaos, and the vocal rhythms on “Black Rain” are shrieking and nearly un-rhythmic; you don’t know when they are cutting in for sure. That’s not a negative by any stretch; Soundgarden is relevant because of their ability to be musical innovators, and “Black Rain” is one of those songs that if you never heard, you’d know it was Soundgarden after just a few introductory notes.

With 24 songs, some buried treasures and a bevy of hits, Telephantasm is more than worth your time. If the band can still funnel this freakishly sexual, ominous yet melodic concoction of Hard Rock into new music today, they should do it. Only the entire planet would be better off for it.

Band:
Chris Cornell-vocals
Kim Thayil-guitars
Matt Cameron-drums
Ben Shepherd-bass

Label: A&M/UMe

Online: www.soundgardenworld.com  

Track listing:
Disc 1:
1. All Your Lies
2. Hunted Down
3. Fopp
4. Beyond The Wheel
5. Flower (BBC Session)
6. Hands All Over
7. Big Dumb Sex
8. Get On The Snake (Live)
9. Room A Thousand Years Wide (Single Version)
10. Rusty Cage
11. Outshined
12. Slaves & Bulldozers

Disc 2:
1. Jesus Christ Pose (Live)
2. Birth Ritual
3. My Wave
4. Superunknown
5. Spoonman
6. Black Hole Sun
7. Fell On Black Days (Video Version)
8. Burden In My Hand
9. Dusty
10. Pretty Noose (Live on SNL)
11. Blow Up The Outside World (MTV Live `N’ Loud)
12. Black Rain

Genre: Alternative/Grunge/Hard Rock/Metal

Hardrock Haven rating: 8.2/10