My current music listenings seem to be ranging in two categories: Soundgarden and Soundgarden-related.

I'm not entirely sure what's happened over the last couple of months. It started when I suddenly had this urge to listen to Soundgarden's "Superunknown" (the song). I kinda liked the song in years past, but for some reason, I fell in love with the thing in late March. That got me listening to Superunknown (the album) all over again, leading me into the stretch at the end of the CD that I always detested. That led me to discover "Fresh Tendrils", which many people seem to dislike, but for which I've suddenly found a new affinity.

I started thinking about the video version of "Fell on Black Days", and how great it would be to finally have that version on CD. (Rather than lip-sync to the album version, the band was filmed performing live in a studio. The music was mixed by Brendan O'Brien [Pearl Jam, Rage], and the performance became the video.) So I ordered the Songs from the Superunknown EP that came out in 1995, which included it. On that disc came a few new surprises - a b-side called "She Likes Surprises", and a shockingly amazing acoustic version of "Like Suicide". (The other song on the EP, "Jerry Garcia's Finger", is a piece of crap. But everything else is worth a purchase.)

Not long after, MTV decided to run their little "Most Controversial Videos" special. Too bad they didn't consider the "Jesus Christ Pose" video controversial enough to actually air the whole thing, but spotting the few seconds they showed on the special intruiged me enough to finally give the song a try. Years ago, a friend of mine commented that it was his favorite Soundgarden song, and played it for me. At the time, I hated it. I thought it went nowhere. Now, five years later, I like the thing. Go figure.

Okay, scrape that gunk off your eyeballs. So far, I haven't really said anything, right? (Whoever said these "musings" would actually go somewhere?)

Anyway, that put me knee deep in Soundgarden for the first time in years. I was never really a huge fan by any stretch of the imagination. I caught them at Lollapalooza '92, and, apart from their cover of Body Count's "Cop Killer", I thought they were just okay. I caught them again during the Superunknown tour, and Chris Cornell had this Space Cadet look on his face for the entire show. Truthfully, Superunknown and A-Sides had been sufficient for me until now.

Then came the whammy. (And I ain't talking "Big Bucks" whammy.)

Music news had been littered for about a year with stories about Rage Against the Machine (now Zach-free) jamming with Chris Cornell. The first stories left claims that the music they were working on might never be heard by the public. Eventually, they said that the band was recording an album. Then came the announcement that the new band, dubbed Civilian, was going to play Ozzfest. So far, so good.

Next thing we know, there's already a band called Civilian, and they don't want to cough up the name. Oh, and Chris has left the band, and they're not playing Ozzfest. Fun. People start assuming that we really will never hear this music.

The night of May 15th, word gets out that someone has their hands on the Cornell/Rage demos. People laugh it off, assuming it's simply the songs from Temple of the Dog (for the uninitiated - essentially Pearl Jam / Soundgarden) that have been passed around as the aforementioned demos for months. But, the next night, they pop up on a Pearl Jam fansite, 100% legit. (I connect to the Internet at 28.8 kbps, and, believe me, I made sure to find a way to download all thirteen tracks before they got pulled.)

The result? It sounds exactly like you think it would.

I like Rage's music. But I've never been a big fan of Zach's screaming. So this represents exactly what I've always wanted - someone to sing over their music. That it's someone as talented as Chris Cornell is just the icing.

Okay, you can tell from the get-go that these are demos, not final studio tracks. Some of the lyrics are just flat out retarded, which, for demos, is to be expected. (In the third verse of "If You're Free" [title approximate], Chris sings about seeing a man with a face that looked like his. He shoots him. Guess who he's really shot?) But, truthfully, that doesn't bother me, granted that Chris had to realize it at this stage as well.

Some people have complained that this music isn't anywhere near what they expected. And it "sucks". They read Tom Morello (of Rage) describe the songs as "some of the best stuff they've ever written" and translated that to mean that it would be a groundbreaking departure. But, truthfully, it's neither "groundbreaking" nor a departure. Who cares if it's groundbreaking or not? It's just good. (And it really doesn't sound like anything on radio right now.)

Them: "It sounds like old Rage tunes with Chris Cornell singing."

My response: "Well, duh."

There are some seriously amazing songs on here. And to hear them sounding this good in demo stage bodes well. "In Your House", "I Am the Highway", "Gasoline", and "The Last Remaining Light" (again, titles approximate) have appealed to me the most thus far. The music is definitely moodier and, in some cases, less "rocking" than I'd have expected. But, again, it doesn't bother me.

I think the last record that I actively looked forward to buying was Jimmy Eat World's Bleed American. And that was almost a year ago. Damn, I'd completely forgotten what it felt like.

(Oh, in all fairness, my enjoyment of the demos might be aided the fact that I mastered the songs and put them in a more sensible order than how they were distributed. So I'm hearing them more like a real CD than as a collection of demos.)

Naturally, the problem with this album is whether or not it will actually be released. Initially, it was a definite summer release. After the demos were distributed, it was reported that the "break-up" put the album back on the shelf, possibly never to see the light of day. Now, I hear that Epic may push the album up to July to cash in on the early leak (like the recent Eminem release). Truthfully, who can say for sure? I really hope this does see the light of day, and I think it would be a real shame if it didn't.

And, after all of this, I sit here asking myself, "Why did I have a Spring of Soundgarden?" I like Fate and all, but damn. This one escapes me.

The sad part is that I'm probably a bigger Soundgarden fan now than I was when the band was actually a band. Yeesh.