April 16, 1991 - Temple Of The Dog and Temple Of The Dog

Happy New Year! A long six months have passed since my last release but we finally kick off 1991 with a new band's only album they would ever release, the self-titled album "Temple Of The Dog" on April 16, 1991. But who are Temple Of The Dog? They are a grunge supergroup of sorts formed in Seattle, Washington by Soundgarden's lead singer Chris Cornell. The album is dedicated to Andrew Wood, the lead singer of Mother Love Bone and a close friend of Cornell's, who died of a heroin overdose in late 1990. Cornell wrote several songs after the death of his friend and he reached out to other Mother Love Bone members Jeff Ament (bass) and Stone Gossard (rhythm guitar) to help him record these new songs. Cornell's Soundgarden bandmate Matt Cameron plays the drums and rounding out the group is lead guitarist Mike McCready and Eddie Vedder adding backing vocals on a few songs. While these guys are straight out of the Seattle grunge scene, the style of music on this album is slower and more melodic; a stark contrast to "Louder Than Love"'s musical style. Let's check out some Temple Of The Dog!

The album kicks off with "Say Hello 2 Heaven" and the lyrics are all about Andrew Wood. McCready opens the song on his own with a slow guitar riff before Cameron plays everyone in with a drum fill and Cornell oohs nicely along to this slow but solid main riff. Things are much slower than what Chris is used to, but he sounds great singing anything and he does a wonderful job of leading the verse. He shows a bit of flare towards the end of the verse, going high like he loves to do with Soundgarden, but most of the verse and the chorus is sung in a quiet but very smooth voice. After they play another verse and chorus Cornell starts to get into it, yelling another chorus before McCready takes over for the solo. He does a good job soloing over this slow riff, playing some epic sounding stuff that isn't shredding by any means, but it fits the mood of the song very nicely and sounds good for sure. After a final verse and chorus Cornell really let's loose as he yells and wails the name of the song several times and he has such a great voice! For a sappy song, this one was pretty cool. The next song "Reach Down" is the longest on the album at over eleven minutes! It opens with Gossard and Ament syncing up for a slightly trippy and pretty cool slow main riff that drives this whole song. Cameron falls in with some solid drums and Cornell begins to sing a nice verse overtop the long droning guitars. They use layered vocals in the chorus and it sounds like a wave of Cornell's are washing over you as we hear his low voice, high voice and everything in between. The chorus flows perfectly into the first guitar solo and McCready once again does a nice job of making his slow solo sound very epic and perfectly fitted for the part. They smoothly roll back into another verse and chorus and before we get a lengthy instrumental section. You could call it a solo, McCready is playing some cool guitar throughout, but the bass and drums are too good to ignore with that label and Gossard's rhythm guitar is pretty cool at some points as well! McCready really turns it on towards the end as he plays some fast and great guitar overtop an excellent backdrop. After over three minutes Cornell finally returns and the music falls away and Cornell sounds great singing the chorus all by himself. They kick right into another McCready solo and this one is a pretty sweet way to close out the final two minutes of this pretty epic and amazing song! Track 3 is the lead single, "Hunger Strike" and it's driven by a light but cool guitar riff and Cornell, as always, sings very nicely overtop. After the first verse Ament, Gossard and Cameron finally join in for a more full main riff and Vedder is credited with co-lead vocals on this song as he sings the same verse that Cornell did. Vedder does a solid job with his very grunge-y voice and the chorus sounds nice with Cornell echoing Vedder, giving a cool low and high voice. There's a brief shift to a heavier riff that sounds good, but it's not long before they return to the chorus and let both Eddie and Chris sing out the rest of the song. Up next is "Pushin' Forward Back" and it's the most upbeat song yet as McCready leads the way with a nice guitar riff. Things simmer down a bit in the verse as Cornell sings another solid verse and the guitars get louder again for the chorus as Chris sings the name of the song loudly overtop. After another verse and chorus they move to a new riff with Ament and Gossard both playing some cool stuff in the background and it sets the stage nicely for the guitar solo. McCready plays some sweet guitar on this short solo and it moves right back into the chorus. After one chorus the guitars drop out and it's just Cameron and Cornell for a few bars before everyone nicely re-enters the mix to close out another solid song. Track 5 is titled "Call Me A Dog" and the producer Rick Parashar plays the piano that drives another slow moving song. This certainly doesn't sound like grunge, but I think the piano sounds good and Cornell's voice fits flawlessly in this style as well as he nicely sings the verse. Gossard plays some acoustic in the verse but it's mostly piano we hear until McCready finally shows up for the chorus. After another verse and chorus Cornell sings a short new part that he ends with sole nice yells and then McCrewdy fires off for a solo. His guitar is way faster than the pace of this song and he rips off a pretty cool solo to spice this song up before they slowly close it out. The next song is called "Times Of Trouble" and Parashar is very present once again with some more cool, slow piano. Ament and Gossard form a nice rhythm section around the piano and these guys all seem like experts at setting up a slow, groovy riff to jam along to. Cornell sings in a nice soft voice in the verse and he turns it up to some nice yelling vocals in the chorus. After another verse and chorus Cornell plays the album's only harmonica solo! It's not normally what I would choose for a solo, but Chris does a pretty great job actually as he plays some cool harmonica that fits the mood of the song really well. Then it's a final long chorus to finish things off. Track 7 is "Wooden Jesus" and Cameron opens it by himself, setting up a nice slow drum beat. Gossard and Ament come in with some light guitars and Cornell sings a nice soft verse to match the slightly sombre feel of the music. I like the closing line of the chorus: "wooden jesus I'll cut you in on 20% of my future sin". Cornell even adds some banjo to the next verse and after another chorus McCready plays a decent little guitar solo before they slowly close it out with a final verse and chorus. Up next is "Your Saviour" and Cameron once again begins it with a nice upbeat drum beat before a catchy guitar riff comes in to lead the way. Cornell sounds great as always singing overtop and both the rhythm and lead guitars are playing some cool stuff throughout the verse and chorus. They quiet things down briefly which I find takes away from things a bit, but it sets the stage for McCready to blow us away with a pretty sweet solo. After the solo Cornell yells and wails but he seems further away, purposely on the background as they just jam this song out to it's conclusion. Track 9 is "Four Walled World" and Cameron plays another nice slow drum beat and we also hear a slow but cool guitar riff. Ament's bass sounds nice as well when he comes in and Cornell continues to show that his voice sounds great over any style of rock. This near seven minute song just keeps slowly chugging along to the main riff for the whole song, but it gets better towards the end as Cornell's yells get louder and looser and McCready increasingly plays some fast and cool guitar. The album wraps up with "All Night Thing" and producer Parashar is back again, this time playing some old time organ that is, as most of this album is, very unlike the grunge-y style of rock Soundgarden is known for, but I don't mind a nod to the 70s rock of the past and that's what this closer sounds like. The song is very slow but the organ sounds good and I like it, despite it being another slow jam. It does get a bit repetitive as they don't really do anything else for the rest of the song.

That is the end of "Temple Of The Dog" and I thought it was a pretty good album. "Reach Down" was easily my favourite song, but even it was a pretty slow jam which is what most of this album was. I thought they did a solid job playing this style of rock, I just personally prefer Soundgarden's style over this much mellower rock. This would be their only album, but all these guys will be showing up again soon, just in different bands!