Red Mosquito

Out of Exile

When you watch your child transition from a baby to a toddler and then to a little boy or girl, one of the most striking transitions is seeing them develop from “playing with their friends” (really playing next to them with each of them doing their own thing) to actually engaging and playing with their friends. Such is, to a lesser extent, the difference between Audioslave and Out of Exile. With a few years now behind them, Chris Cornell and the band sound less like they are feeling out meshing their sounds and now creating a cohesive entity all its own. Here, everyone has space to shine, and Tom Morello in particular finds a lot more natural space. His contributions with Cornell’s vocals and the band’s natural feel lend themselves to The Worm and #1 Zero perfectly, and even a song like Doesn’t Remind Me, where Chris is doing a lighter delivery on the verses (which in a strange sort of way reminds me of Kurt Cobain’s delivery on Sliver), paired with the big chorus and then absolute shred by Tom Morello, it just kind of feels them in a good way. There is again not a single bad song on this album for me, but what separates this from the debut is that even the slower songs feel naturally in their wheelhouse on this one.

I agree with you in terms of them doing more of a straightforward and simple songwriting here. Be Yourself is marvelous, Your Time Has Come, The Curse, #1 Zero, are all great songs....never quite liked Doesnt Remind Me that much, not sure why...

I did missed the bombastic approach of the debut, but i liked the direction they were headed...and in terms of growing up as a band its a good step forward.

Cornell lost his edge after the first Audioslave record. Probably a combination of getting sober and starting a new family (which I don't begrudge him for).

There's a smattering of good stuff in the other Audioslave albums. Carry On and Scream are awful. King Animal was ok I guess.

he clearly changed his songwriting for a more accesible sound and lyrics thats for sure.

But there is plenty of great stuff in Revelations (my second favorite from Audioslave). Carry On is a weird one for me...i loved it when it came out, felt like it was a super new path, more soul and pop, and these days i cant listen to it.

Still ahead of ourselves. Revelations is next (haven’t started it yet). I might have heard that album once back when it came out so like new territory. I never listened to Carry On, Scream, or Higher Truth so all that will be new. I am pretty familiar with King Animal though. Can’t wait to get to all this (and make another attempt to listen to the Artist Den show that Chris sounds at the beginning like a wounded animal but perhaps this time it will click).

VinylGuy wrote:he clearly changed his songwriting for a more accesible sound and lyrics thats for sure.

But there is plenty of great stuff in Revelations (my second favorite from Audioslave). Carry On is a weird one for me...i loved it when it came out, felt like it was a super new path, more soul and pop, and these days i cant listen to it.

Yeah there's some gems. Broken City is a banger.

Carry On is his worst IMO. It's so bland and middle of the road. Scream is bad but at least it was a departure for him.

Interestingly I find as his albums got worse his live performances got better, culminating in those amazing Songbook shows. I seriously thought his voice was gone for good after hearing some of those awful Audioslave shows.

Im one of the few people that actually like Scream. I dont like Timbaland´s production, but i like the songs and i think they would have been even better with another producer.

still, such a departure from his music, it was a respectable move anyway or the other.

Carry On...yeah, the production is also pretty awful..so clean, so boring. The arrangements, not good. Its super bland.

VinylGuy wrote:....never quite liked Doesnt Remind Me that much, not sure why...

'cause it doesn't remind you of........ anything?

Bazinga!

VinylGuy wrote:I agree with you in terms of them doing more of a straightforward and simple songwriting here. Be Yourself is marvelous, Your Time Has Come, The Curse, #1 Zero, are all great songs....never quite liked Doesnt Remind Me that much, not sure why...

I did missed the bombastic approach of the debut, but i liked the direction they were headed...and in terms of growing up as a band its a good step forward.

Snap! After criticising the 2 latter AS albums here yesterday, I revisited 'Out of Exile' last night and felt pretty much the same as you about it! 'Doesn't Remind Me' is not bad, just misses the mark for some reason. Agreed with the other songs you mentioned - they're the only songs, along with Heaven's Dead, which stand out as above average.

the band loved Chris...and they were super happy with the process of making music...remember these guys used to take so fucking time in making an album, and Zack was super difficult with it that i guess going into this band was easier.

Number 1 Zero is an amazing performance by Chris.

bada wrote:Number 1 Zero is an amazing performance by Chris.

Listening right now, and its great. I love the building up and then the band kicks off and fuuuck Morello rules there

I always really dug dandelion and wanted them to do a super over the top and obvious video for it in a field of flowers.

Just going to note that I haven’t given up on this, just away for a few days so haven’t listened. The journey will continue…

Revelations

I try to walk into each of these albums with no expectations. I am pretty sure I heard this album once quite a few years ago, maybe when it came out, and never bothered with it again, so my expectations were low. I do, however, love a good surprise and this album is just that. Taken in direct contrast to the first two albums, this album feels again like progress. If the Audioslave debut was a feeling out of Chris and the band, and Out of Exile the more comfortable interplay in their approaches, this is the full melding of the band into a single unit, where they feel like they are serving the song rather than the song serving as a template for what everyone does best. I like all 3 albums quite a bit after these listens, but for me this is the best of the bunch because I am not focusing on what each is bringing to the plate but just existing in each song. There are no weak links here, but the comfort to add what feels like a lighter touch in Until We Fall, Original Fire, Broken City and Somedays just naturally became my favorite run of songs in the album. This is also very consistent and cohesive - I never quite left the vibe I felt in Revelations, and yet I didn’t get bored or feel like I was ready to move on. Truly end up getting an about face on Audioslave, where before I thought they were fine and now feel a deeper appreciation for this era in Chris Cornell’s career - it’s why I do these things.

Great writeup! I need to listen to that album again.

I'm intrigued to know what really went down between Out of Exile and Revelations. They were all pumped about the new record and it came in just over a year after the previous one...then they didn't tour it and broke up soon after.

IIRC there were session musicians that played on Revelations which suggests things got quite bad.

yeah, the Revelations era remains a mystery...they were super pumped with Out Of Exile and went right there into doing another album, and this one is different and special. Super groovy, super hard hitting, R&B, funky...new territory for them. And they didnt even toured....Chris quickly went to do Carry On and the bond song ( that it was actuallt released before Revelations came out which could have been one of the focus of the breakup) and the Rage guys reformed with Zach for touring...it was super weird.

Who are those sessions guys? it seems they were brought to finish some stuff...super weird times.

I seem to remember Chris being on Stern and mentioned the royalty split was the issue with Audioslave. Chris wanted a bigger cut they said no he took his ball and went home.