Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Live Review: Chris Cornell @ Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Toronto, April 20, 2011

Photograph: Alison Lo
It didn’t take long to notice I was clearly amongst a mostly 30+ crowd looking for a shot of nostalgia and to relive some stripped down anthems that once defined their youth of yesteryear, as I stepped foot into the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on Wednesday night.

With the smell of incense filling the air, a very jovial Chris Cornell outfitted casually in a v-neck sweater and jeans took the stage to a standing ovation, bowing and appearing genuinely flattered by the adoration as he propped himself on what looked to be a barstool centre stage. He was surrounded by the typical acoustic and electric tools of the trade and a few unusual stage props such as an old fashioned telephone plunked atop a stool beside the singer throughout the evening. A first time sighting of its kind for this reviewer.

Arguably having one of the best rock voices of all-time, there was a bit of skepticism going in to this show for the condition of Cornell’s pipes after having to call in sick, just one night prior in Poughkeepsie, NY. If he hadn’t openly admitted he wasn’t exactly feeling 100%, even comparing it to the coming down feeling of his drug days, the one or two minor blips went practically undetected. “I love Toronto very much” were just a few words of gratitude Cornell expressed throughout the evening. He spanned his entire career, offering up acoustic renditions of his classics Soundgarden/Audioslave/solo anthems, deep album cuts, and even a number of covers including a highlight rendition of Led Zeppelin’s “Thank You”. Early on he mentioned he had a list of roughly 25 songs he was going to play throughout the evening, but welcomed requests from the audience if there was anything in particular anyone wanted to hear. I then welcomed this opportunity to bellow out a personal Soundgarden favourite “Like Suicide!”, in which he actually obliged.

The biggest treat of witnessing an intimate acoustic performance of this nature is not only hearing the classics peeled back to their barebones infancy, but the stories that go along with the songs and how they were originally conceived. Painting a clear picture while telling a story is a quality Cornell is extremely good at. He even put down the guitars entirely for “When I’m Down”, singing only to a vinyl recording of a piano on a record player setting the stage for a complete living room feel.

Some of the more interesting moments of the evening were the acoustic portrayals of tracks from Cornell’s failed Timbaland produced 2009 electro-pop album, Scream. Knowing how these songs could have originally sounded had Cornell stuck to the guitar-driven course opposed to taking a perplexing R&B direction, it was enough to ponder ‘what could have been’ and temporarily forget the blunder he made just 2 years ago.

Evening highlights included “Fell on Black Days”, “Seasons” originally found on the 1992 Singles soundtrack, a dramatic cover of Springsteen’s “State Trooper” in which Cornell himself deemed “F**king cheating” as he sampled himself playing back-up as a second guitar part, and most definitely “Hunger Strike”, a flawless solo effort after admitting he was nervous attempting of what is originally a two-man duet with Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder.

The evening ended with Cornell inviting the crowd up as close to the stage as they possibly could to take part in a lovefest sing along before setting off for the night, only to return for a three song encore.
If you missed the opportunity to be apart of this extremely rare occasion, fear not as Cornell will be back in town on July 2 in full band mode with a reunited Soundgarden at the Molson Amphitheatre. Much larger scale mind you, but after a 15 year absence since we last saw the foursome play in these parts, it’ll undoubtedly be the must see show of this coming summer concert season.


Scar On The Sky
Be Yourself
Can’t Change Me
As Hope and Promise Fade
Ground Zero
Call Me A Dog
Fell on Black Days
Dandelion
Thank You (Led Zeppelin)
I Am the Highway
Sunshower
Hunger Strike
State Trooper (Bruce Springsteen)
When I’m Down
Seasons
All Night Thing
Man of Golden Words (Mother Love Bone cover)
Comfortably Numb (Pink Floyd teaser)/Say Hello 2 Heaven
Mind Riot
Like Suicide
Like A Stone
Doesn't Remind Me

Encore:
Sweet Euphoria
Black Hole Sun
Imagine (John Lennon)

Monday, April 4, 2011

Album Review:
The Strokes - Angles

There’s not very many bands that can take a 5 year hiatus in-between albums (alas The Stone Roses - The Second Coming) and still have their core fan base intact awaiting their return. With the constant demand for new music and the easy accessibility to it in this day and age, most musicphiles just simply move on.

Since the release of First Impressions of Earth [2006], we saw a handful of solo albums from three fifths of The Strokes, none of which having any real lasting power that all pretty much came and went. With the new release of the band’s long-awaited 4th album, Angles displays an obvious slew of new influences, most certainly due to this album being a democratic effort opposed to Julian Casablancas solely taking the lead this time out.

Angles is a very scattered record and it completely stands out from anything we’ve ever seen from The Strokes. From track to track, the flow of songs jump back and forth from a very, new-to-The Strokes, 80’s New Wave synth to the post-punk garage clang that originally made the world take notice of this NYC outfit. To classify Angles in a single definition: It’s the love child of The Cars and Talking Heads with Thin Lizzy as a distant cousin.
Right from the first few bars of lead off track "Machu Picchu", you can totally anticipate Cars vocalist Ric Ocasek’s pipes to kick in, while second track and first single, "Undercover of Darkness", is where we’re hit with the familiar, hyper-bouncy-upbeat Strokes that wouldn’t sound out of place on 2001 debut, Is This It. From this point forward, the tone has been set.

For a band that’s been in the game as long as The Strokes have, and arguably making one of the top 10 best albums from the decade prior, you can’t help but admire a band that changes pace and experiments to alleviate any kind of repetitious monotony. But the longevity between albums that left the Strokes faithful pining for something new, Angles may be a little hard to grasp for anyone longing for vintage Strokes. It’s there, but not by much. Key tracks include "Taken For A Fool", "Gratisfaction", "Life Is Simple In The Moonlight", and the aforementioned, "Undercover of Darkness".

Allegedly the band has already started work o
n a follow-up to Angles as perhaps a half-decade apart has intensely kick-started creative juices. With Angles clocking in at just under 35 minutes, it wouldn’t be surprising to learn if this album was actually written in the studio or hammered out in just over a weekend. There’s nothing here that screams out they’ve had this one pent up for 5 years.
The album has already been called a masterpiece by some critics and the band’s best achievement since their spectacular debut from others. It’s possible this one’s a grower and takes multiple listens before branding it with excellence. As for this reviewer, and most definitely a Strokes fan, I’m still waiting.
Here’s hoping this collection is just a warm-up of what’s really to come.

2 out of 5