Article By: Pat ‘Riot’ Whitaker ‡ Edited By: Leanne Ridgeway
After weeks of rumors about a posthumously issued collection of music from Chris Cornell, we now have solid facts about the intended release.
Set to arrive on November 14th, ‘Chris Cornell: An Artist’s Legacy’ is a career-spanning collection of music from the much-beloved musician. It will be offered in a 17-track single-disc format, 2xLP vinyl, and a limited-edition Super Deluxe package that includes 4 CDs, 1 DVD, and 180-gram 7 LPs.
Cornell’s widow, Vicky Cornell, comments:
“Since Chris’ sudden passing I have put all my efforts and energy into sharing his music and legacy with his fans from all over the world. I felt we needed to create a special collection to represent all of him – the friend, husband and father, the risk taker and innovator, the poet and artist. His soaring vocals found their way into the hearts and souls of so many. His voice was his vision and his words were his peace. This album is for his fans.”
The single disc contains a 32-page booklet featuring unreleased photos and liner notes from Kim Thayil, Matt Cameron, Tom Morello, Mike McCready, and Brendan O’Brien. A 12-page booklet will accompany the 2LP vinyl edition, while the box set booklet is expanded to 54 pages.
The Super Deluxe edition holds 88 tracks — 64 songs, plus 24 videos, with 13 entries (11 audio + 2 video) previously unreleased overall. Also included in the Super Deluxe box is a 66-page hardcover photo book wrapped in linen with a red foil signature cover, three artist lithos, three photochromatic lithos inspired by Cornell’s lyrical fascination about the sun (images are brought to life by holding under direct sunlight), a turntable mat, a microfiber vinyl cleaning cloth, and a 36×48-inch wall poster.
The 17-track single-disc collection features some of the most well-known songs Chris Cornell was associated with, from Soundgarden’s “Black Hole Sun” to Audioslave’s “Like A Stone” to Temple Of The Dog’s “Hunger Strike”, as well as his James Bond theme “You Know My Name” and two previously unreleased recordings — his cover of Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2 U” and “When Bad Does Good“.
The new lyric video for “When Bad Does Good” can be seen below. The song was produced, recorded, and mixed by Cornell prior to his death.
Among the myriad highlights compiled for the extensive box set is Cornell’s recording of “Wild World” with Yusuf (aka Cat Stevens), the singer’s duet with his daughter Toni on Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song“, live performances of Temple Of The Dog’s “Reach Down” and Temple Of The Dog’s cover of Mother Love Bone’s “Stargazer“, Cornell’s mashup of Metallica’s “One” and U2’s “One“, and Audioslave’s performance of “Show Me How To Live” in Cuba. There’s also a cover of The Beatles’ “A Day In The Life” performed at London’s Royal Albert Hall, live performances that sparked his solo Songbook tour, and a pair of unreleased music videos for “Scream” and a version of “Live To Rise” sans Avengers.
See the full tracklist for the single disc and box set HERE, you can find pre-order active now at this LINK.
