Audioslave - Audioslave
List Price:
Our Price: $6.95
You Save: $2.00 (22%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $1.14 (click here)
Category: Music CD
See more new music releases
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
Music CD Cover
Artist: AudioslaveEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2002-11-19
Music Label: Sony
Soundtracks:
- Cochise
- Show Me How To Live
- Gasoline
- What You Are
- Like A Stone
- Set It Off
- Shadow Of The Sun
- I Am The Highway
- Exploder
- Hypnotize
- Bring Em Back Alive
- Light My Way
- Getaway Car
- The Last Remaining Light
Free Music Notes for Audioslave
Free Music Review: Shadow on the Sun
Hit: 5 Stars
I've had this CD for ages, but never really thought to write a review... if you like Rage Against The Machine and Soundgarden, you'll like this because it's the "best" of both. If you don't like this album, the chances are pretty good that's because the glory days of Soundgarden and Rage Against The Machine as separate entities are gone and passed, and this CD belongs to neither camp and so may feel like a cop-out.
Outside of the opinions, there are some pretty solid facts. There's no denying Chris Cornell's voice has never been better, managing to keep the richness of the vocals on his solo "Euphoria Morning", and yet getting back to the gutteral throaty screaming that made his name. The musical half of the group have some brilliant moments too, not quite as anthemic as the songs on the Rage Against The Machine debut, more laidback so the lyrics can be sung rather than spat. Then again, that's hardly suprising -- Chris Cornell's no rap artist.
Don't expect to be riled up against the "Machine" on hearing this. There's barely anything remotely political to this album. Instead you've got the Rage musicians settling into something more melodic (well, more than usual), without that ground-stomping edge. That rousing edge is more or less left up to Cornell's vocals. And don't expect to be over awed by naval-gazing stream-of-consciousness lyrics. Even though Cornell has his moments (I Am The Highway, Light My Way, The Last Remaining Light), for the most part the lyrical imagery is quite simple.
Song by song:
COCHISE ~ It's a perfect album opener, it couldn't have been placed anywhere else. It's a stomp-your-feet, crank-the-volume gut-buster.
SHOW ME HOW TO LIVE ~ This song sticks in the mind, and the chrous is catchy. Probably one of the more commercially appealing songs on the album, but it's still got a hefty pair of cajones on it.
GASOLINE ~ Not as rebel-rousing as the previous two songs, but it sticks in the head for longer the more you listen. Like a lot of Cornell's lyrics, there's a story hidden here somewhere waiting to be excavated... something about being driven insane by ghosts in a house you can't escape from, until your only option is to burn it and yourself to the ground. It's a grower.
WHAT YOU ARE ~ Similar to Set It Off in its rousing, stomping chorus, perhaps a simpler story. A good song, but one I rarely take great pains to pay attention to.
LIKE A STONE ~ Obvious classic. Tom Morello's solo is a thing of beauty, and even my mother likes this song. It's not the love song it appears to be (another Chris Cornell motif?, I'm thinking of Can't Change Me on Euphoria Morning). You can't really say anything bad about it, except that perhaps too many other people seem to feel the same way. That kind of rubs people up the wrong way, as if we think popularity equals commercial drivel... Get over it, it's just a magnificent song.
SET IT OFF ~ Anthemic, loud, foot-stomping... it's a war march kind of song, apparently inspired by witnessing a riot and Cornell wondering what could possibly have started it.
SHADOW ON THE SUN ~ At last! This is my favourite on the album, even ahead of Like A Stone, but it's not an immediate grabber. This one slowly creeps up on you from behind, lulling you into writing it off as simply another depression song... Then you get the incredible ending! I'm not a great fan of death metal screaming, but this is just brilliant. Cornell goes from a sluggish, bluesy singing style, just dripping with boredom and complacency, before exploding with pent up rage. Give this one a chance - I found myself moved by it whereas before I'd skip straight to I Am The Highway.
I AM THE HIGHWAY ~ The placing of this song is part of why it's so great. After the shock and emotional-beating of Shadow On The Sun, this slower and more thoughful song has a kind of calming, soothing, healing affect. No, it's never going to cure cancer, but it settles your ears, and the more you listen it tugs at something inside you, where you want to shrug off past upsets and float above it.
EXPLODER ~ Probably as political as this album gets, if you take the opening lyrics ("Met a man locked away for things he hadn't done...") to mean an icon of innocence like, say, Nelson Mandela. The chrous is great, a heavier and more insistent way of getting to the sentiment of I Am The Highway ~ rising above and moving on, ignoring the naysayers.
HYPNOTIZE ~ This one although not a favourite of mine stands out in that it's nothing like the rest of the album. It's the most rap-like song in an album of mostly storming rock. Lyrically it's a selfless, self-help sort of song, like the downloads Give and Guilded Dreams I heard that didn't make the album (which itself is a tragedy, they're pretty good and could have saved some weaker moments).
BRING EM BACK ALIVE ~ Brilliant. It reminds me very much of Head Down on Soundgarden's Superunknown, with some very hallucinogenic lyrical images, and some great guitar work and thumping bass lines.
LIGHT MY WAY ~ This song falls into the same camp as What You Are for me... a good song, some really nifty more Rage-like guitar work, but not as good as the over all body of songs.
GETAWAY CAR ~ I love the opening to this slower blues-like ballad. "The first time I saw you, you were chasing down a cyclone all alone in a field with railyards and clovers, I kept rolling on, I never thought you'd wind up chasing me." How can you not love that?
THE LAST REMAINING LIGHT ~ Again, not really a bad song, just perhaps a little too effective with it's depressing imagery and slow pace that even the more rock-like ending couldn't save. Probably this would have been better as a Euphoria Morning song; it would have fit perfectly. Here, like with Hynotize, it seems to not quite fit and derails the album a little, which seems worse since it's the album's closer.
Overall, it's just a damn good rock record... Groundbreaking? No. How much ground do you need to break? Soundgarden did it, Rage Against The Machine did it... is there anything left? What you have is a band of solid and original musicians with one of the best and most versatile modern vocalists, and in truth, there aren't many bands around that can claim that.
Perhaps overall Audioslave the album is more worthy of a four-star rating, but with standouts like Cochise, Show Me How To Live, Like A Stone, Bring Em Back Alive, and the awesome Shadow On The Sun, to not give them five stars would be a crime.
Audioslave Poster
(EK86968)Alternative Rock Music CDs
Music Genres
Top music charts in Alternative Rock Music CDs
Bouncing Souls - Maniacal LaughterRelease date: 1996-01-26; Music CD
Best price: $30.00
Blondie - Parallel LinesRelease date: 1994-07-29; Music CD
Best price: $397.77
Doors - L.A. WomanRelease date: 1993-04-09; Music CD
Best price: $199.99
Amon Duul - Phallus DeiRelease date: 1997-04-08; Music CD
Price in other shops:
Tangerine Dream - MelroseRelease date: 1990-10-02; Music CD
Best price: $74.98
Tangerine Dream - Private Music of Tangerine DreamRelease date: 1992-11-10; Music CD
Best price: $8.00
Price in other shops:
![Ska Explosion [VHS] Image](/images/Ska-Explosion-VHS-6303381014-X.jpg){kind=small}
Ska Explosion [VHS]Cleopatra; Release date: 1995-02-28; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $14.99
Price in other shops:
![Little Earthquakes [VHS] Image](/images/Little-Earthquakes-VHS-6302488664-X.jpg){kind=small}
Little Earthquakes [VHS]Atlantic / Wea; Release date: 1992-11-10; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $7.00
Price in other shops:
Exileby Geoffrey Oryema
Music CD
Best price: $4.95
![Louder Than Live [VHS] Image](/images/Louder-Than-Live-VHS-6301627865-X.jpg){kind=small}
Soundgarden - Louder Than Live [VHS]A&M Video; Release date: 1991-07-01; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops:
Top Rated Albums
Soundgarden - Down on the UpsideRelease date: 1996-05-21; Music CD
Best price: $5.23
Price in other shops:
System of a Down - System of a DownSYSTEM OF A DOWN; Release date: 1998-06-30; Music CD
Best price: $4.56
Price in other shops:
Soundgarden - BadmotorfingerSOUNDGARDEN; Release date: 1991-10-08; Music CD
Best price: $2.30
Price in other shops:
Alice in Chains - DirtAlice; Release date: 1992-09-29; Music CD
Best price: $4.19
Price in other shops:
Rage Against the Machine - Rage Against the MachineRAGE AGAINST THE MAC; Release date: 1992-11-10; Music CD
Best price: $5.97
Price in other shops:
Alice in Chains - Jar of FliesAlice; Release date: 1994-01-25; Music CD
Best price: $4.49
Price in other shops:
Soundgarden - SuperunknownRelease date: 1994-03-08; Music CD
Best price: $5.58
Price in other shops:
Audioslave - RevelationsColumbia; Release date: 2006-09-05; Published: 2006-08-31; Music CD
Best price: $3.80
Price in other shops:
Audioslave - Out of ExileBaker & Taylor; Release date: 2005-05-24; Music CD
Best price: $4.84
Price in other shops:
Alice in Chains - Alice in Chains - Greatest HitsRelease date: 2001-08-28; Music CD
Best price: $4.74
Price in other shops: