“Rock
icon Chris Cornell, having
established himself as the lead singer
of Soundgarden, released his terrific
first solo album Euphoria Morning
in 1999 and is thrilled with its reissue,
now remastered and given his original
chosen title of Euphoria Mourning...”
WHEN IT COMES TO SONG AND ALBUM TITLES, Chris Cornell knows a thing or two
about getting it right.
Having given the title Euphoria Mourning to his first solo album in 1999
on Interscope / A&M / Geffen Records, he was persuaded not to go with it and
instead he reluctantly settled on Euphoria Morning.
That was sixteen years ago; and a lot can happen in sixteen years. Universal
Music Group has now happily corrected that perceived and admitted misjudgement
and as Euphoria Mourning Chris's album will be pressed on 180gram vinyl
and will include a download card featuring 320kbps MP4 audio ripped directly
from the vinyl.
“Euphoria Mourning
is a compilation of
flowing musical concepts
designed to give
Chris Cornell free rein
to showcase his
vocal talents”
The
way Chris sees it is: "The title of the record has been restored to its original
spelling, which was changed before release after I listened to some bad advice."
A collaboration with Alain Johannes and Natasha Shneider (Natasha sadly died
of cancer in 2008) of the band Eleven — who are featured on the album,
co-wrote five of the tracks and were credited as co-producers, engineers and
mixers with Chris Cornell — the album formerly known as Euphoria Morning
was Chris's first solo release, having already established himself as the
lead singer with Soundgarden.
Understandably nominated for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance at the 2000 Grammy
Awards, the album's first single Can't Change Me is a melodic, interesting
track that peaked at number 5 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart
and number 7 on the Modern Rock Tracks Tally. It has a similar noteworthy arrangement
to Flutter Girl, reportedly an outtake from Soundgarden's 1994 album
Superunknown.
During a 2007 solo tour, Chris revealed that Wave Goodbye was written
as a tribute to young American singer-songwriter and guitarist Jeff Buckley,
who tragically drowned in Memphis in 1997 aged 30 in a freak accident. [Jeff's
father Tim was also a singer-songwriter who, at the age of 28, died of a drug
overdose in Los Angeles in 1975.] Wave Goodbye is a fitting tribute to
Jeff.
Preaching The End Of The World is an enjoyable ballad-style track and
Follow My Way has a lovely undulating sound; a more unusual approach.
We also like Mission and Sweet Euphoria, which is a fine track
that suits Chris's voice. Euphoria Mourning is a compilation of flowing
musical concepts designed to give Chris Cornell free rein to showcase his vocal
talents.
With four solo studio albums under his belt — including the 2007 Carry
On, produced by Steve Lillywhite, 2009 Timbaland-produced Scream
and 2011 live acoustic Songbook (Higher Scream, the fourth, is
due in September) — Chris has continued to redefine his sound and vision
to encompass new music, new collaborations and new activities.
Indeed, Chris has a lot to be proud of. Not just of Euphoria Mourning
but he was the first American male artiste to write and perform the theme song
for a James Bond movie, Casino Royale's You Know My Name; he wrote and
performed with Soundgarden the end credit song for The Avengers, Live to
Rise; and wrote Misery Chain, performed with Joy Williams, for the
Oscar-winning movie 12 Year A Slave.
Chris's performance of his song The Keeper, which appeared in the Marc
Forster-directed Machine Gun Preacher, earned him a Golden Globe nomination
and this became the springboard to help raise awareness and funds for Sam Childers'
Angels Of East Africa children's charity.
Chris Cornell and his wife Vicky created the Chris and Vicky Cornell Foundation
in 2012. The Foundation is at the forefront of the fight to protect the most
vulnerable children, developing projects and programmes working with leading
charitable organisations and partners to raise awareness and mobilise support
for children facing tough challenges, including homelessness, poverty, abuse
and neglect.
With his charitable Foundation and his life in the studio, Chris has his work
cut out for him. There's no stopping this gifted musician…
• Grammy-winning, Golden Globe-nominated singer/songwriter
and rock icon Chris Cornell has finally seen his original work remastered, re-released
digitally and on CD on August 14, 2015, and on vinyl for the first time on September
25, 2015, with his desired title, Euphoria Mourning.
Euphoria Mourning Tracklisting: 1 Can't Change Me | 2 Flutter
Girl | 3 Preaching The End Of The World | 4 Follow My Way
| 5 When I'm Down | 6 Mission | 7 Wave Goodbye | 8 Moonchild
| 9 Sweet Euphoria | 10 Disappearing One | 11 Pillow Of Your
Bones | 12 Steel Rain.
"Euphoria Mourning is a compilation of flowing musical concepts designed
to give Chris Cornell free rein to showcase his vocal talents" — Maggie
Woods, MotorBar
“Rock
icon Chris Cornell, having