First it steals your mind and then it steals your... your POLL: SUPERUNKNOWN

This album is so well sequenced.

Choosing a favourite track on this is difficult, today I would have chosen 'My Wave'... could be different if you asked me tomorrow, though.

My Wave is a rhythmic delight. they should use it in high school music classes.

Absolutely! Not just the 5/4 verses, but that little breakdown section after the first chorus. Wonderful stuff.

yeah, it's kind of fun remembering this was a 'hit' on modern rock radio (at least in my town) for a while in the early 90s. granted, nowhere near played as much as Spoonman or Black Hole Sun, but it was cool hearing a song this off-kilter on the radio.

yes!! fresh fucking tendrils!!

― forkshighwaytopoopon (some dude), Tuesday, August 16, 2011 11:01 PM (1 year ago) Bookmark

― i wanna be a gabbneb baby (Hungry4Ass), Sunday, June 30, 2013 5:58 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark

The first dude I ever crushed on could play "Fell On Black Days" perfectly. Sigh.

that and Spoonman were some of the earliest songs I learned on guitar

honestly that album is a helluva lotta fun for a home rhythm guitarist.

oh god there's a cankles post from another thread that i am so tempted to post right now xp

hah just caught this thread and immediately played 4th of July on Spotify

"just caught this thread revive ahem...."

otm, perfect timing for another listen, been a couple months.

I love the licks in the title track.

Deluxe edition!

when the main riff returns in the middle of "Fresh Tendrils" I can practically hear the arena crowds cheering.

looking forward to combing through the bonus tracks and seeing if there's anything interesting or fun in there. wish i could catch one of the shows where they're playing the album.

It's crazy when you think about how much music changed between 1974 and 1994. Music hasn't really changed too much in the last 20 years, other than technologies and distribution.

well Cornell's hair

It's crazy when you think about how much music changed between 1974 and 1994 but Soundgarden made an amazing album that was basically grunge Zep.

yes!! fresh fucking tendrils!!

― forkshighwaytopoopon (some dude), Tuesday, August 16, 2011 11:01 PM (1 year ago) Bookmark

― i wanna be a gabbneb baby (Hungry4Ass), Sunday, June 30, 2013 5:58 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark

― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Tuesday, July 2, 2013 9:29 AM (11 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

It's crazy when you think about how much music changed between 1974 and 1994 but Soundgarden made an amazing album that was basically grunge Zep.
--some dude

by 1994 the Beatles influence is starting to creep in

fresh tendrils you might say

i still find it so hard to hear this as music, like it short-circuits and i just hear 1994+ on endless repeat. for thayil's riff monster reputation a lot of the guitar parts are surprisingly thin! but the writing and the giant space-filling drums and vox make it so you don't even really focus on exactly what the guitars are doing.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/soundgarden-dive-back-into-superunknown-with-aggressive-new-york-gig-20140603

someone tell me if the bonus tracks on this are worth the investment - it is hells of expensive!

i think head down is my favourite track on this now - that fusion of androgyny and heaviness is just heaven

yeah "Head Down" is amazing. Ben Shepherd-written songs always showed a really interesting side of the band.

The vocal production on Head Down is extremely inventive, the way you don't get a hint of the Cornell roar till it comes in as backing vox in the last verse.

Actually I misremembered, it comes in during the first 'head high' part. Still supremely cool.

It always reminds me of this Cave In tune, similar blend of the deft and the heavy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoSoTV81p0A

I'm still somewhat amazed that an album like this blew up so big. everyone in my school loved Soundgarden and had Soundgarden shirts - granted I don't know how many of them went beyond the singles, but even the singles were quirky themselves.

def need to get this reissue.

It's crazy when you think about how much music changed between 1974 and 1994 but Soundgarden made an amazing album that was basically grunge Zep.

― some dude, Wednesday, June 4, 2014 2:40 AM (13 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Absolutely! Definitely Sabbath in its guitar tones, but Zep in the alternate tunings, time sig changes and obviously the vocals too. This is quite possibly their most 'psychedelic' LP too, for want of a better term.

i haven't A/B'ed the remaster properly but i think what i read is right, shepherd's bass sounds way more present

fuck even black hole sun is still good, that fuckin song

v excited to hear this remaster. i love the sound of the OG but interested to see how they can or did improve it.

http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/dc9/2011/10/soundgardens_kim_thayil_talks.php

With the 20th anniversary of Nevermind, Ten, and Badmotorfinger all happening this year it seems like there is a renewed interest in grunge music in the media. Do you feel like there is going to be a resurgence of people making this kind of music as well?

It's bound to happen anyways. There's something cyclical about those influential musics. They seem to always stay in the public eye because they're influencing musicians. That's one thing about our band in particular; we've influenced a lot of guitar players, drummers and singers. We influence many experimental and arty bands and outsider music as well as more mainstream popular rock bands. That is one of the greatest achievements of our legacy -- to meet guys in young bands and girls that are guitarists because they are inspired by us, to meet teenagers who are getting into high school band or jazz band because they're picking up bass or guitar and Soundgarden is one of their favorite bands. That's great. To have that sort of influence and encouragement amongst musicians and songwriters is very important. I personally don't understand why most musicians or artists don't see that as an important goal of what they're doing. That's always been important to what we were doing. We would like to be like that band that had influence on us -- like the MC5 or The Stooges, The Ramones or Aerosmith. We would like to be that band for up-and-coming musicians as well as our contemporaries. And we have been. It's as if we have met many of our goals and to have achieved this particular aspect of being in a creative and original band.

While it sounds very 1994, I think of the three big Seattle bands Soundgarden easily sounds the most contemporary considering all the stoner metal and doom that has followed, it still fits in with that stuff. They had a pretty wide sound.

I'd like to hear a rawer more room mix of Badmotorfinger, if such a thing existed. You would think there would be some well recorded multi-track live stuff from the 90s out somewhere in the vaults considering the stature of the band.

It sounds great to me!

A different dude on Amazon wrote this, though:

--------------------------------------------------------

A major label announces two surround titles within a couple weeks of each other, a first in a very long time in North America where the majors have given up on surround sound since around 2005/2006 when they withdrew from the Super Audio CD/DVD-Audio format war. Could this be the push some of us have been hoping for finally starting? Soundgarden and Bob Marley both getting brand new 5.1 mixes?

Well after 8 weeks of asking we finally got the details of this release a few days ago in terms of the technical specs, they did go back to the original analogue multitracks to create the 5.1 mix and they did go back to the original analogue stereo master to create the vinyl, although they archived it to 24/192 and then mastered in the digital domain. Adam Kasper who produced Down on the Upside and King Animal was going to do the 5.1 mix, he has no 5.1 credits to his name so that was a bit concerning but at least he was using the multitracks so we knew we could hope for a fully discrete mix.

Now as we begin to listen we realize it was all for nought, despite all the care taken or seemingly being taken to go back to the original source material we have a release that's been slammed in true loudness wars fashion. One might have expected the regular CDs and lossy digital download files to be victims, but this is also available on Blu-ray Audio in 24-bit/96kHz stereo AND on another audiophile website (name removed in case it's against review policies) as a 24-bit/192kHz download. These are both equally as dynamically challenged as the CD! It makes no sense. People buy 24-bit to listen to on superior equipment. Dynamically lifeless music is only bearable on the cheapest in ear buds while busy commuting or working out when you're not really paying attention to the music.

Why Soundgarden? Why? Why doesn't the sonic integrity of your music mean more to you? Why Adam Kasper? Why? You're listening to this on studio monitors, you know what the original tape sounds like! We have gotten close to it with the original CD. This is so frustrating it's hard to put into words. Please, let the tipping point be nigh. Let's push this review to the top so people know not to waste their hard-earned money supporting mediocre releases.

Here's the dynamic range log of the 24/192 download.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Analyzed: Soundgarden / Superunknown (Deluxe Edition)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DR Peak RMS Duration Track
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DR5 0.00 dB -6.46 dB 3:53 01-Let Me Drown
DR6 0.00 dB -7.69 dB 5:13 02-My Wave
DR7 0.00 dB -8.02 dB 4:43 03-Fell On Black Days
DR6 0.00 dB -6.45 dB 4:26 04-Mailman
DR6 0.00 dB -6.62 dB 5:07 05-Superunknown
DR6 0.00 dB -7.76 dB 6:10 06-Head Down
DR6 0.00 dB -8.12 dB 5:19 07-Black Hole Sun
DR6 0.00 dB -6.68 dB 4:07 08-Spoonman
DR6 0.00 dB -7.23 dB 5:48 09-Limo Wreck
DR7 0.00 dB -8.25 dB 5:20 10-The Day I Tried To Live
DR6 0.00 dB -6.90 dB 1:34 11-Kickstand
DR7 0.00 dB -7.88 dB 4:17 12-Fresh Tendrils
DR6 0.00 dB -7.05 dB 5:09 13-4th Of July
DR8 0.00 dB -10.42 dB 2:15 14-Half
DR6 0.00 dB -7.86 dB 7:04 15-Like Suicide
DR6 -0.24 dB -7.55 dB 3:18 16-She Likes Surprises
DR6 -0.54 dB -8.05 dB 5:27 30-The Day I Tried To Live (Alternate Mix)
DR6 -0.20 dB -8.12 dB 5:13 31-4th Of July (Instrumental)
DR6 -0.20 dB -7.55 dB 5:09 32-Superunknown (Instrumental)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Number of tracks: 19
Official DR value: DR6

Samplerate: 192000 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 24
Bitrate: 7813 kbps
Codec: FLAC

Stop the madness. Vote with your wallet. When these guys stop selling records they will ask why, they will read social media, they will see that people are tired of being fooled by the "loudness is better" approach that idiots in suits at record labels are telling you we want. We don't want that. We have NEVER signed petitions begging for more loudness wars releases. We have never pined for dynamically lifeless music.

Dear Lord PLEASE let them not muck up the Bob Marley release.

Adam Kasper, executives at Universal responsible for this release, Soundgarden; please all give yourselves a good kick in the backside for ruining this incredible album.

Good people out there who love music, stick to your original 1994 CDs of Superunknown, the experience is much, much better. And if you are looking for the superior analogue experience then save up your coin (you won't need a lot more than the list price of this Super Deluxe set anyway) and find the German pressing that Willem Makee cut around 2004. It was from a tape copy of the analogue stereo master and is the only all analogue cut of Superunknown available. The new vinyl may be pressed very well at QRP but the mastering is the same as the CD if the downloadable vinyl rip files are any indication.

Link to original superior 1994 CD release on Amazon is right here - Superunknown

What a shame this project wasn't done with someone like Barry Diament from Soundkeeper Recordings. I just came across a great interview (search for "Audiostream Barry Diament" for the url) with Barry Diament talking about his illustrious career path and this bit really made me smile:

"By the mid-1990's I realized that many clients were starting to evaluate my work using the level meters instead of the loudspeakers. At this point, I had to stop and ask myself just what I sought to accomplish as an audio engineer. Now, I enjoy loudness when it is appropriate but in my experience, if you want to shake the walls with AC/DC (or with Mahler), the best way to achieve this is with the playback volume control. Any other way, such as arbitrarily increasing the level on the recording itself involves a host of sonic trade-offs. First among them, is the sense of Life that comes from musical dynamics. Since my goals as an engineer are sourced in my love of music, I didn't want to participate in the ongoing Loudness Wars. All the truly great sounding records and CDs in my collection had much lower average levels than what the majors were releasing. I wanted to preserve all the musical Life in every source I mastered too and never used compression myself. While some say it increases "punch", the sonic evidence tells a quite different story. Besides, how does one increase punch by reducing dynamics, where the punch "lives"? So, I started accepting only those jobs where the client's prime interest was the musical presentation and the preservation of musical dynamics."

lol can't stand loudness wars ppl and that's a great example of why right there

Wait, is he talking about the standard reissue version or specifically the 5.1 mix that was only in the super expenseive box set version? Wasn't sure.

whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

i listened to the remaster five times yesterday

i only skipped spoonman once

i sometimes mix up Matt Cameron and Matt Chamberlain, and it doesn't help that Matt Chamberlain is filling in for Matt Cameron in Soundgarden while he (Matt Cameron) is on tour with Pearl Jam.

oh shit really? i wondered how matt would juggle those two responsibilities. also, would not want to see soundgarden w/out matt cameron. also, matt cameron is such a good fit with pearl jam now.

It's crazy when you think about how much music changed between 1974 and 1994 but Soundgarden made an amazing album that was basically grunge Zep.

― some dude, Wednesday, June 4, 2014 2:40 AM (13 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

gonna take this opportunity, what with Zepmania at full swing on ILM, to say that Soundgarden >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Led Zeppelin, and I don't care who FPs me

noone even cares enough to FP, son, you boring

i did one just for kicks

but be realistic son

Do you like the other Soundgarden albums besides SU and Upside?

(xp to imago)