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Originally, I first purchased Soundgarden's Down On The Upside on Double Orange Vinyl, and played it several times before personally seeing Soundgarden perform live 17 times on Lollapalooza 1996... Now, 14 years later, after selling my Vinyl copy of this great album, I found a CD version at a reasonable price from a great seller... I dig each and every song on this last release before Soundgarden broke up in 1997... Now that Soundgarden is back together and touring, I hope that an album of all new material is in the works... If you have never heard Soundgarden before, I can highly recommend this album as a starting point for your listening experience with one of the Founders of "Grunge" or the "Seattle Sound" of the late 1980's to early 1990's... Along with Nirvana, The Melvins, Screaming Trees and Pearl Jam, Soundgarden changed the sound of Rock N Roll forever...Read full review
At the time of this review, I haven't listened to Soundgarden's last group album, 'Down on the Upside' a great deal, but here are my first impressions. I'd consider myself a pretty big fan of the band, owning a number of their other albums. How does this album stack up against the fan-favorite album 'Superunknown'? - I'd say pretty well, but in a much different way: I would say for the band's effort at exploring their reach and range that will always have us guessing how the band would have evolved if they were still recording today. Some things don't change: Cornell's powerful, chilling vocals make for some memorable songs, as do some of Thayil's guitar riffs. Many songs on this album follow the hard-hitting formula that the band is so well-known for ('Blow Up the Outside World', 'Pretty Noose') but you'll be surprised by the number of more melancholy, slower paced tracks here 'Overfloater', for example. Then there's the fast-paced ones that you may have never heard: 'Ty Cobb', 'Applebite' and 'No Attention' that don't sound anything like other tracks on previous albums (that I've heard, anyways). From my point of view, these tracks don't really do justice to Cornell's vocal range and talent, so they come off as about average on their first listen. The album in its entirety seems like a grab-bag of hard rocking tracks, preceded by slower ones that constantly have you switching gears. Not to say it's a bad thing, but it's definitely not in the flow of 'Superunknown'. Some of my personal favorites at this point: 'Blow Up The Outside World', 'Tighter & Tighter', 'Overfloater' and 'No Attention'. For those that seem a little weak at first, I guess I'll just keep listening...Read full review
With enough edge to it, but still lacking in some VERY slight way. Overall, an excellent album. Compared to other albums in their catalog, it seems maybe they mellowed out a tad, but that's OK by me. Cornell has his golden vocals and Thayil's wah laden riffs penetrate to your core on tracks like "zero chance", "tighter and tighter", and Thayil's "never the machine forever". I personally think it's great that everyone was involved in both lyrics and music writing on this LP. I think it shows their maturity as a band for their final effort. I will miss them, but at least I have Cornell as a solo artist and Cameron with Pearl Jam.
As of now this is Soundgardens last full album of original material. They've reunited and released a few singles and bonus tracks on a best of album. This album showed that they continued to find their signature sound all while mixing in a bit of the album that brought them to popularity. If you like Ultra Mega OK, there's something for you. If you like Bad Motorfinger, there's something for you. And if you enjoyed Super Unknown then ... you guessed it there's something for you. This requires multiple listens. Some songs require an 11 setting on your stereo. Give this a listen you'll love it.
The days of MUCH better music, the 1990's! Compared to the homogenized, radio-friendly garbage passed off as "music" today; unique, not overly processed/produced, and genuine!
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
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