is Mike McCready taken? yes? no?....he is....hmm ok then I will marry you hahah

 

you know, Ed wouldnt do that, he would play Hard To Imagine for you, he wouldnt let you down! haha

You mean, he'll play Hard To Imagine for us! muhahahahha

Getting back on track though

 

Temple Of The Dog is awesome!

yeah they totally are.....if we can agree on this, you can just tell the marriage is going to be a sucess! hahah

So, if Temple of the Dog (the album) was composed of material written in the wake of Andrew Wood's untimely death. What do you think the stem would be from which a 2nd album would bloom today?

hmm good question. It's hard to say, it could depend on who the primary songwriter is as well, since last time Chris Cornell wrote all the songs, would the other members contribute this time?

thats for you to hypothesize damnit! hahaha

well if Ed took charge of the songwriting process, it wouldnt be suprising if they were politically motivated, unless he feels like he should keep that out of TOTD,.. but somehow I dont think so, anyway to get a message across, I think he would use it. However, do we know what Cornell's views on that subject these days? he might not want to go into that, considering Audioslave didnt have much of a political focus, and they had members of Rage Against the Machine!! and I doubt Cornell would let vedder write all the songs anyway. who knows, my head hurts, I'll think about this later haha

hm, thats true. Cornell isn't the political type when it comes to lyrics at all. The closest to political that Cornell gets is in songs like Hands All Over where he is expressing environmental concerns and criticizing the pwers that be fuckin up the environment.

 

I think that Eddie and Cornell would find some sort of middle-ground where they would write introspective material, while simultaneously acting as a sign of the times. Sort of like in songs like Gone where Eddie is commenting on the horrors of reality in and outside America, and how he yearns to make a new start and "get out of this town". Also, the same sort of thing found in songs like "Safe and Sound" by Chris Cornell. As well seen in Preaching The End Of The World.

 

Either that or they could do the whole Springsteen thing where they act basically as narrators, like on Pearl Jam's song Unemployable, or Chris Cornell's Ghosts.

Although on Revelations, you could start to see political themes arise in Cornell's writing, shown by the songs Wide Awake and Sound of a Gun, which you could say both have a liberal political focus, but were these only written to please the other members,..you know Morello (aka Jacob's favourite person) haha....or indeed issues Cornell personally felt he needed to write about., and may want to continue writing about in the future......?

 

I think that Eddie and Cornell would find some sort of middle-ground where they would write introspective material

 

 

I think this line basically sums up how the songwriting process will most likely go though, this is probably more likely than doing the 'Springsteen' thing.

 

and just a random thought, probably going off track but when you mentioned songwriters acting as narrators I immediately thought of Vedder and his many narrative songs about women, and how he does it so well. sounds lame but its rare to find a band that makes us think "fuck, they get it!" haha. But I dont just mean he writes about women well because he can write from their persepctive, but also by the way women are potrayed in his songs, you can tell he respects women and his lyrics reflect that, but without putting women on an unnecessary pedestal. another reason why I think there should be more female fans than there is!! haha. but aside from that, I think Mr. Vedder has mastered the art of story telling.

Very true. Looking back at Ten though, the strong majority of Vedder's lyrics are presented as 1st person interior monologues from various people. Once is about a man on the verge of a mental breakdown. Evenflow seems to be ablout the same person, but now from an external perspective. And so on.

 

Vedder has always shined when writing songs about women. Why Go, which tells the story of female child who is neglected by her doctors at the mental ward where she resides. Daughter is a similar story of a girl who is neglected, but this time by her parents who seem to be embarassed by her mental deficiencies. Of course, Betterman, the story of Vedder's mom.

 

Something really interesting I found is that Vedder comes back to his mentally disturbed and deficient characters throughout his entire career. In chronological order: Why Go, Daughter, Immortality, I'm Open, Nothing as it Seems, etc... It seems that Vedder always seems to be relating lyrics of a person caught in some kind of internal crisis, always feeling that the odds are against him. This can perhaps best be summed up in the opening lines of Sometimes

 

"Large fingers pushing paint, you're god and you've got big hands, the colours blend, the challenges you give man..."

 

It seems though with The Avacado/Zombie Album though, that Vedder has reached a turning point, as expressed in opening track Life Wasted "Yes, comfort is an energy, but why let the sad song play" and then he proceeds to laugh off his old self it seems. And then of course rumbles through the chorus that "I've faced it, a life wasted, I'm never going back again".

yep very true, it seems ed writes about stories that progress through different songs, one example is the mamasan trilogy (Alive/Once/Footsteps). Alive, (jacob you would already know this, this is for people who read this dont know haha) the character deals with learning who his father really is, and that he had already died by the time he found out. there's also some issues there with the mother that seem quite disturbing if you delve into the meaning of the lyrics. Ed later on in fact reveals this song is semi-autobiographical. Then it goes to Once, a song about how the character deals with these issues,..he becomes a serial killer. and it finally ends with Footsteps, takes place in a jail cell, probably leading up to his execution....I think I may have read an article where Ed basically said this is what the story was, but he would also probably say interpret it the way you want to. and is rearviewmirror continuing on from Daughter? the 'shades go down'...to 'finally the shades are raised' hmm

 

Something really interesting I found is that Vedder comes back to his mentally disturbed and deficient characters throughout his entire career

 

yeah this is very true, but then you find on Avocado (which has great artwork by the way haha) his characters are not like this at all (unemployable, army reserve), sure they have problems and issues they have to deal with, but this isnt caused by 'mental breakdowns' as such and internal conflicts, but it is moreso concentrating on how living in a country like America is effecting people

 

I like the way you mentioned Jacob, that Ed has seemed to have reached a turning point, as shown by the Avocado album. thats why when people compare it to their early work, it doesnt seem right, cos the content is totally different. They are not the band they once were when they first started, so when they say they are getting back to them 'old selves' it doesnt make sense. when the band made an appearance on Vh1 storytellers, ed told the story about Alive, and he revealed the character was indeed himself, and how at the time "I'm still alive" was in fact a negative thing, to live with such burden. But now Ed see's how people have responded to his song over the years and this has changed the meaning of the song, and now see's that line as being more of a celebration of being alive...and like he said 'it lifted the curse'....showing he has moved on (why the let the sad song play?) by the way i watched this a while ago so sorry if i got the story wrong haha

 

 

ok, so since it is apparent Ed has moved onto a different place, like you said shown by the lyrics of Life Wasted, maybe he wouldnt go into these type of characters and themes if he ever was to write material for a temple of the dog album.....

ahha, yea, I knew about that trilogy of songs. You bring up very good points. Well, now that I think of it, we should try and consider what Ed isn't doing as a songwriter in Pearl Jam, and perhaps consider what he'd want to do when not as part of Pearl Jam.

 

For example, Maynard James Keenan of Tool writes songs specifically about spiritual matters and extremely meditative inner journeys in the hopes finding some sort of transcendental truth or revelation. The entire album Lateralus is a prime example of that. Though Tool started out in the same vein as Rage Against the Machine (with that hack Morello haha), witnessed in the extremely angry lyrics and songwriting of Opiate and Undertow. The band, however. moved away from pure metal and into progressive-rock/heavy metal. AEnima, though still being pretty fucking disturbing and angry, attacks politics, relgiion, genetics, certain fans haha, and etc.... The song AEnema relates a belief of Maynard's that a flood is needed to purify Los Angeles. The final track Third Eye takes the listener through an inner journey to some sort of revelation to be found in the midst of all thats wrong in the modern world.

 

With A Perfect Circle however, Maynard is almost like a totally different person. I mean, jesus, Maynard wrote an introspective song about a failed relationship with the song 3 Libras. And as well A Perfect Circle released a terrible album of covers of political songs called Emotive. Though there are two original, and one very disturbing song to be found on it.

 

In my opinion, I think that different bands bring out different qualities in the songwriter, as seen with Maynard from Tool/A Perfect Circle. I think the best thing to do would be to look to Ed's solo material for Sean Penn's new movie, as well as previous projects. I haven't heard his new solo stuff yet, so I wouldn't be able to go into detail about it.

 

Also, one has to consider Chris Cornell, and the input he'd give.

Well I havent heard any of Ed's solo songs myself, except for No More (War), content is pretty self explanatory, written for the purpose of the new documentary Body of War. I dont really know much about the movie 'Into The Wild' though, I've never read the book, but I have a vague idea what the movie is about, so it would be interesting to see what direction ed takes with these songs, relating to the themes of the movie. I do know however, there will actually be a single from the soundtrack, so good news there. Still think its pretty cool we're getting a whole soundtracks worth of material, considering we wont be getting any Pearl Jam stuff for a while.

 

 

yeah you raise a really good point there Jacob, I only know a few Tool songs myself, but yeah when a songwriter is removed from their existing band, and put into a different environment, they can explore different avenues of songwriting that may not have been touched on before.

An entire soundtrack of new material? Or is just like, two songs and then the rest of it is a score? haha. Yes, even within the band too, sometimes the artist really explore stuff that usually doesn't work out. For example , the Smashing Pumpkins and Adore. And for Pearl Jam (although their move was self-conscious) No Code.

dont say that!!!! it will be all new songs damnit! *cries* haha, yeah who knows maybe some will be just instrumental. but I did read he has recorded a 'whole albums worth of material for the soundtrack'. There is a tracklisting out, but no other information besides that, cant really gather much from just song titles haha. either way it doesnt matter, I cant wait to hear it. I wonder if it will be the same kinda style as the Dead Man Walking soundtrack haha

 

ok so what could we expect from Chris Cornell, he has been a two high profile bands, gone solo (twice), what would he bring to a new Temple of the Dog album?

jesus.......god only knows what Chris Cornell would put into a new Temple of the Dog album at this point. I'm thinking that he will dig up something that'll serve as a sign of the times, kinda like the song Safe and Sound off his excellent solo album Carry On (hahaha). What I think will happen, is that it'll be like Pearl Jam where on albums like everything since No Code, individual members contribute songs. Like Stone's awesome Mankind haha, and let us not forget, Don't Gimme No Lip. hahahah. So, I think we can suspect songs from all over the spectrum. Songs from Cameron, McCready, Ament, Gossard, Vedder, and Cornell.

 

And if this soundtrack is basically going to be a Vedder solo album......I'm fuckin psyched. haha. Release date dear?

of course my love, september 18 is the release date from what I can recall hahah. yeah a true collaborative effort would be good (and Don't Gimme No Lip is awesome!!! i'd kill to see Stone sing that live!)

 

I'd really like to hear some more songs written by Jeff, so this album might be a good opportunity for him

I find that a lot with collaborative efforts, its gets really easy to tell who wrote what. Like, throughout the Pearl Jam discography, you can really tell who wrote which songs.

 

Matt Cameron writes really complex songs, and following his time in Soundgarden, his writing in Pearl Jam is really reminiscent of Soundgarden style songs. Listening to Evacuation, for example, when compared to the song Mailman, gives rise to real similarities.

 

Jeff Ament's songs really are defined by their riffs. Think of the song God's Dice, and the riff is what comes to mind.

 

Mike McCready is really bluesy in his song-writing, as can be seen with Yellow Ledbetter, Come Back, all of his early guitar leads on Ten, his live cover of Little Wing, and etc...

 

Stone Gossard is really punky with his songwriting, as can be witnessed by Mankind, Don't Gimme No Lip (DON'T GIMMME NONE! hahah, and his riff work on Vs.

 

Eddie is by far the most George Harrisonesque member of the group. When Ed writes, he is usually really introspective, or is introspective while reflecting on the state of the world. Ed's songs are very cryptic (everything on Vitalogy, and No Code), as well, Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town, Parting Ways (one of my favorites), and Gone. As well, his solo work really shows an Eastern influence (his collaborations with Indian musicians for the version of Long Road found on Dead Man Walking). As well, the song Dead Man reflects middle-eastern style reminiscent melodies.

yeah good stuff Jacob, it is very much like that. I really love the bluesy nature of Mike's music.....ah fuck it, lets all hail Mike McCready! I really do love this man haha, he's a legend. I just remembered then actually something I read a while back I'll try and find it....

 

..and here it is

 

CORNELL: I had written "Say Hello to Heaven" and "Reach Down" and I had recorded them by myself at home. My initial thought was I could record them with the ex members of Mother Love Bone as a tribute single to Andy [Wood]. And I got a phone call from Jeff, saying he just thought the songs were amazing and let's make a whole record. When we started rehearsing the songs, I had pulled out "Hunger Strike" and I had this feeling it was just kind of gonna be filler, it didn't feel like a real song. Eddie was sitting there kind of waiting for a [Mookie Blaylock] rehearsal and I was singing parts, and he kind of humbly—but with some balls—walked up to the mic and started singing the low parts for me because he saw it was kind of hard. We got through a couple choruses of him doing that and suddenly the light bulb came on in my head, this guy's voice is amazing for these low parts. History wrote itself after that, that became the single. I think Temple was the first full-length album that McCready ever recorded. You almost kind of had to yell at him to get him to realize that in the five-and-a-half minute solo of "Reach Down," that was his time and that he wasn't going to be stepping on anybody else. He started recording what was eventually the solo, halfway through it he got so into it that his headphones flew off, and he played half that solo without even hearing the song

 

http://www.fivehorizons.com/archive/articles/spin801.shtml

 

 

 

fuck yes haha. If this album ever happens, expect more McCready solos. Sounds good to me!

Yes, guitar solos are good, in moderation of course. haha

 

And yes, I'm afraid Michael McCready has been chained down. The day I saw them last, May 9th, was apparently his 1st year anniversary, or so Eddie mumbled to us.

haha gotta love Eddie's rants at concerts, very funny man. I saw the trailer for the new dvd actually, it looks good!!! But I'm so biased, they could probably release any piece of shit dvd and I'd think it's great haha

 

also when was the last time Cornell and Vedder sang together? I can't remember

Yea, thats true, Eddie is such a jokester in concert. He has some memorable quotes.

 

Not sure about this duet business, I'd say a few years ago, perhaps more now. I know because I found a video of it on YouTube. Oh yes, thats right. haha

 

My favorite Eddie moment from my experience would be this "I was looking out my hotel window today and I saw this giant tower you guys have. Back in Seatltle we have one of those two, and it made me feel a little homesick. Its good to know that both our cities sport rather large erections." haha

 

And then Vedder in the middle of Do The Evolution "Admire me, admire my clone, admire my son, admire Stone!"

from my experience my fav eddie comment was from my first concert in 2003

 

after better man ed said 'speaking of abusive relationships, I got a call from John Howard today (Australia's prime minister), he was charming, warm and charismatic on the phone, I found out what he wanted, well he made his intentions known, that he uh had a deep desire to perform oral sex on myself......it seems he has a thing for American men these days'

 

 

something like that, actually its pretty sad i remembered that much of it haha, and yeah at the time it was SO appropriate haha, actually he could come back and say the same thing cos not much has changed

 

 

(hey are we allowed to say stuff like erections and oral sex on coldplaying?? i bet shit like this doesnt get said in the Mika thread,... or does it? hmmm hahaha)

"Admire me, admire my clone, admire my son, admire Stone!"

 

 

aww admire Stone! thats so cute haha