Temple of the Dog by Temple of the Dog (CD, Apr-1991, A&M (USA))

Temple of the Dog, is a superb album but a superb collaboration - the band features the musical talents of what went on to become Pearl Jam - Eddie Vedder, Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard - and two members of Soundgarden - Chris Cornell and Matt Cameron; extremely talented musicians and vocalists who pull together to bring about a breathtaking sound!
This is the one and only release from this collaboration - brought about as a tribute to Andrew Wood - Mother Love Bone's lead singer who died untimely of a drug overdose. The lyrics were primarily the work of Cornell and reflect his place at this time - his head and his feelings having lost a close friend!
I had to purchase this just to own a copy of the powerful Hunger Strike....this is an intense deep song which not only strives to highlight the musical talents of this group...but the powerful vocal ability of both Eddie Vedder and Cornell - both have unique powerful voices which send chills donw my spine; I would go as far as to say their voices are perhaps among the best in the rock world!
There are a lot of deeply personal lyrics in these tracks - look at Say Hello 2 heaven and Times of Trouble. Each track is deep, rich in the sound that is unmistakeable grunge and aside from being wonderful to listen to, these tracks simply serve to highlight the talent in this group!!
This album is deeply powerful and helped spread the roots of the Grunge scene, and for that, as well as the incredible tracks,I will be thankful!

A great early 90's rockin album by the Dog !


Track listing
1. Say Hello 2 Heaven
2. Reach Down
3. Hunger Strike
4. Pushin Forward Back
5. Call Me A Dog
6. Times Of Trouble
7. Wooden Jesus
8. Your Savior
9. Four Walled World
10. All Night Thing

When a song that clocks in at eleven minutes plus simply flies by, you know that the music is good. That's what "Reach Down" does...along with reminding you how emotional and powerful and compelling music truly can be. This one off album was a labor of love and, yes, if you are a lover of the music born of the 90's, this album should be in your collection. But don't let that be a limit; I think if you're a music lover PERIOD, regardless of genre this album should be in your collection.

Most of us know where this album came from and what it's about: it's death and loss and longing and hopes and fears. It's a collaboration in honor of a loved and lost brother. It's future Pearl Jammers locked into a groove from that one moment in time. It's Chris Cornell writing as if his life depended on it and singing like he'd never sung before. It's some of the best that the grunge world had to offer before it became exposed and probably overexposed by the rest of the world.

So read all of the reviews here, nod your head in agreement and then purchase the album. Yes, there's "Hunger Strike", but you've got to go through "Say Hello To Heaven" to get to it and that's a necessary journey to take. Nothing says "tribute" quite like this song and, I swear, at certain points Cornell is hitting notes that truly do reach Heaven.

Chris Cornell wrote some songs for his friend Andrew Wood, former frontman of Mother Love Bone, after Andrew died. Then Chris got with the remaining members and made this. I love Chris's vocal range and the songs are beautiful. Had the cassette, got the cd so I could listen to it again. Oh yeah Eddie Vedder is also on this, it's awesome.

The songs in this collection are fairly lackluster and somewhat cliche. Maybe it seemed better in '91, but Chris Cornell sure has come a long way since this endeavor both in songwriting and performance. It states on the album it was done sort of spontaneously as a tribute, unfortunately, I think it shows. Before I bought this CD, everyone advertised vocals by Eddie Vedder but other than the song "Hunger Strike" (written by Cornell), he's not a noticeable contributor. Nice to hear some early Chris Cornell, but nothing worth leaving in the CD carousel in my opinion.