After spending over a decade avoiding his past,
Chris Cornell reconnected with it in a big way during 2010. First, he reunited with
Soundgarden, their tour so successful it spilled over into a studio collaboration interrupted by
Cornell launching an acoustic tour where he revisited his catalog, quite definitively tying his solo career and time with
Audioslave to
Soundgarden.
Songbook is a live album culled from this tour and has
Cornell sampling from all phases of his career, often spinning harder-rocking songs into moody reflective territory. Unlike his solo debut,
Euphoria Morning, this never sounds solipsistic;
Cornell is engaged, looking outward to the audience, giving subtly forceful performances that often rescue overlooked tunes -- including selections from his electronica makeover Scream -- and freshen up familiar songs, including covers of
Led Zeppelin’s “Thank You” and
John Lennon’s “Imagine.” He sounds at peace with his past and comfortable with his present, and that casual assurance makes
Songbook his best solo offering to date. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine