Cornell sounds pretty bad in this new Live from Artists Den release.

So what we're basically left with is a live album whose perverse main draw is the chance to hear a good portion of Soundgarden's most iconic tracks given the Lizard King treatment by someone whose vocal cords were clearly on the business end of way too many bottles of vodka. Let's not mince words-- Chris Cornell sounds terrible here, and he's pretty much all you can hear when he takes the mic. Granted, hearing him go all Tarzan on record provided some of Soundgarden's most visceral thrills, and oddly enough, he has no problem hitting the climactic high notes of "Spoonman" and "Rusty Cage". But nearly everything else just finds his vocals tattered and flailing in and out of tune like a flag in a torrential downpour, making you wonder just how bad things really got if these were truly the top-shelf recordings. Even the choice of covers here lack inspiration-- "Search and Destroy" and the even more ubiquitous "Helter Skelter" are given Blueshammer makeovers, no different from any number of bands doing the same thing at a sports bar near you.

"Live on I-5" is a piece of dog shit.

Possibly badly recorded and definitely very badly mixed.

I don't know anyone who enjoys listening to it.

I would imagine that a better approach would have yielded far more satisfying results, even with Cornell's voice in the state it was in.

"Live on I5" was a total blunder though I remember enjoying the soundcheck bonus disc quite a bit.

I kind of agree, though I only listened the first five tracks. After Jesus Christ Pose I went and put on the Live On I-5 version to hear how his voice has changed in 15 years. Besides the obvious change in his voice it seemd like he was singing more behind the beat in Live from The Artists Den. Like he was having trouble keeping up with the rest of the band.

It's a good document about the latter day Soundgarden but I think I would rather put on I-5 if I had to choose. Btw. this is what Pitchfork had to say about Chris' singing on Live On I-5:



I wonder if they'll review Artists Den...

Interesting quote and I've always thought he sounded weak in I-5 too. I don't think he's ever sounded consistently great live with Soundgarden TBH. The songs are incredibly demanding on his voice and I'm not surprised he struggled.

He sounded great on those TOTD shows a few years back and obviously he's phenomenal when he's on his own. But I can take or leave a live Soundgarden album because you know the vocals are going to be hit and miss. Even stuff like Motorvision and Lounder Than Live is rough.

Oh, yes! Because they didn't mix in fake crowd noise and massive reverb.

Well, im a huge SG fan. I still think in a very weird night those guys were up there with the best..I5 is a very cool document of the 96 tour, and specially Chris. He sounds like a madman, like a fucking wolf there. Nothing To Say is my favorite version ever.

This new release, i remember he wasnt as good as night 1 i think. He is hit or miss here, but overall the performance is top notch.

Damn, those King Animal songs were so good live.

I might be shooting in the dark and quickly corrected here, but I am not sure of another example of a band producing an album as good as King Animal after the length of the break between that album and Down on the Upside. It’s pretty remarkable.