From: Automatic digest processor To: Recipients of SOMMS digests Subject: SOMMS Digest - 1 Sep 1999 to 2 Sep 1999 Date: Thursday, September 02, 1999 2:02 AM There are 6 messages totalling 224 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. European tour (Paris, Zurich, Milan) 2. EM Cover Pic... 3. euphoric listening 4. L.A/San Diego/Orange Co Sommsters 5. Boston show/FORK 6. Q Review/Kerrang Interview To UNSUBSCRIBE from SOMMS, send email to LISTSERV@MITVMA.MIT.EDU with the following in the body of your message: SIGNOFF SOMMS ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 1 Sep 1999 10:45:53 +0800 From: dream sister Subject: European tour (Paris, Zurich, Milan) To anyone who's planning on attending the Paris or Zurich show: I'd go and buy my tickets *now*. Apparantly they've been on sale for over a week. I doubt they'll sell out this quickly, and like all the other Euro shows, there won't be pre-assigned seating; but it's better to be safe than sorry. And to the Italian sommster (sorry, I couldn't find your email). Chris' Milan concert will most likely be on either the 23rd or the 24th. Don't quote me on that, but since that's the only gap in his touring schedule, and all the other dates are already confirmed, it seems to be the only possibility. I'd go bug the ticketpeople if I were you :) The rest of the concert tickets are already on sale btw (except for Amsterdam). Unless a pre-sale date was given, nothing will be stopping ticket vendors from selling them already. One vendor told me tickets weren't on sale yet, but when I called the promotor directly, he was more than willing to get rid of them. If anyone needs further info concerning Paris, Zurich or whatever (websites, tel.#'s, ticket prices), email me privately. Thanks. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 1 Sep 1999 10:15:53 PDT From: Dave George-Cosh Subject: EM Cover Pic... Hey y'all, SonicNet has a little promo story on September's upcoming albums, and Chris' album is featured. The promo cover that we've all seen on eBay in shown, so I guess that this isn't a promo cover, that it is in fact, the real cover picture. Take it as you will. I think it looks ok.... Dave ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 1 Sep 1999 15:30:47 -0400 From: jenny grover Subject: euphoric listening I have now heard the entire album (thanks to a generous person!) over the past few days. As I'm just home from one trip and about to embark on another, I haven't had time to sit down and examine every detail, but I can give you my general impressions. I was pleasantly surprised to find that CCM and Flutter Girl truly are not representative of the overall mood or quality of this album. It is not pop top 40 fodder. I don't see it as Grammy material either. There is a rawness to it, not in terms of sound or production, but in the still experimental and unfinished or unresolved feel of a few of the songs. It's also a bit too complicated and complex for the masses. My favorite by far on here is Follow My Way, despite very obvious Plant/Page acoustic Zep influence. (What can I say? I'm a Plant/Page fan.) I'm also quite fond of Preaching the End of the World, despite its resemblance to Duran Duran's Ordinary World and latter day Tears for Fears (both things I also like). A pretty song, perhaps a bit sentimental. When I'm Down isn't a style I much care for, but he does it well, except he oversings it just a bit at the end. Mission is a bit cheesy self-important metal sounding to me. My least favorite. Wave Goodbye is lovely! I haven't thoroughly dissected the lyrics yet, but I think it could be as much for Andy Wood as for Jeff Buckley- for anyone you have lost or that you miss. Perhaps the best vocals of all the tracks on this one. A very pleasing song overall with some definite Hendrix overtones (in the vein of Little Wing). I'm very fond of Moonchild, though I think it's a song that may be trying to do too much, to be too many things. The bridge sounds like it belongs to some other song. But this song hooks me. Sweet Euphoria is interesting and beautifully sung. I think I would have placed this as the closing track as it leaves you quiet of mood and thinking deeply about it after it's closing. Then the next song makes you break that meditation and listen to something else. Disappearing One is an unresolved feeling song. It seems to try to do too much, and also borrows too much in its melodic turns from the other songs on the album, sounding almost more like a condensation than a song it its own right. I don't care much for this one. Pillow of Your Bones has that acoustic Zep feel to it too, in the first verse, and also a TOTD atmosphere. I keep waiting for Mike McCready to break into a solo toward the beginning of this one. I'm not sure the chorus fits so well with the verses. It seems almost like two songs spliced together and then it morphs into something different still. The vocals on this one are superb. Steel Rain has a nice depressed, unsettled, anguished mood to it. Sort of a bluesy Soundgarden feel. The melody has a tired feel to it which at once fits the song but also makes it a little tiring to listen to. This song sounds enough like depression to make me uncomfortable in its accuracy. I guess that's a good thing! The end is a bit too drawn out and the mood change with the antsy guitar is kind of annoying. It doesn't fit the rest of the song. And I still think Sweet Euphoria is a better one to end the album with. Much of the guitar playing is an interesting sort of mix of George Harrison and Eric Clapton. In most places it's pleasing. A bit too much wah here and there, and I'm not sure this album is mixed in as pleasing a way as it could be. Sometimes background elements seem to come to the fore and compete with the vocals a little too much. With few exceptions, the songs are a little too busy inside. Anyway, that's my little review. Jen ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 1 Sep 1999 18:39:20 -0700 From: Christi Subject: L.A/San Diego/Orange Co Sommsters Attention Sommsters, Any L.A/Orange Co./San Diego Sommsters attending the 22nd CC show in L.A? I'm in the process of trying to get a list together of all the Sommsters that did get tickets for that night. Anybody who is interested in a mini-cornell-fest, please email me! Hey Andrew...I read that you got tickets, but can't remember which night your going. Email me! Christi __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Bid and sell for free at http://auctions.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 1 Sep 1999 22:27:45 EDT From: James Connolly Subject: Boston show/FORK hey everyone, anyone who's going to the show the 13th in boston, if you see a kid who's about 5'7" and looks like he's a month from being 16 and looks like his name might be Jimmy Connolly, and he's with a lovely lass of about the same height wearing boots, introduce yourself to him, cuz it just may be me! does anyone have a picture of the chris fork?? i always heard about it but never fully understood and i would like to...the girl i'm going with rocks...she wears a fork bracelet! see ya jimmy "go into the candy store and ask them for directions: how to meet a thousand people without making one connection" ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 2 Sep 1999 06:44:12 +0100 From: Deborah Baker Subject: Q Review/Kerrang Interview Review from Q magazine, October 1999: "Los Angeles-recorded solo debut from ex-Soundgarden singer and alterna-hunk When he was in Soundgarden - third best band in grunge; split in 1997 - Chris Cornell used to write lyrics to fit the music. For this solo flight, the word bit came first, thus it's lower on radio-friendly riffs, but bigger on songwriterly grace. Building on a slow rock framework, these 12 songs have much to offer: Can't Change Me's humdinger chorus, Flutter Girl's killer guitar break and Follow My Way's scorching vocal performance (the boy can wail). Preaching The End Of The World suggests Cornell enjoys Radiohead, the aforementioned Follow My Way that he has Page & Plant's No Quarter Unledded at home, but references are not all predictable: When I'm Down is Elton John, and Wave Goodbye is Lenny Kravitz. The bid for adulthood occasionally spells acoustic dirge, but otherwise a good effort. *** " NB In Q's book *** equals "Good. Not for everyone, but fine within its field." There was a new interview in Kerrang! yesterday - it's on the fan page with pix (go to what's new for Sept 1st for the link) Deb ------------------------------ End of SOMMS Digest - 1 Sep 1999 to 2 Sep 1999 **********************************************