Chris Cornell smashes his rock star image in favor of a shot at the Top 40.

Play it by Ear - Timbaland helps rock star Cornell 'Scream' into the pop scene

By: Jesus Butler

Posted: 3/16/09

An iconic rock legend and a multi-platinum?Hip-Hop/R&B producer walk into a bar …

It sounds like the perfect setup to a joke.

But rest assured, grunge-era head banger Chris Cornell and modern day hit-maker Timbaland are hoping their collaboration on Scream, Cornell's most recent solo record, is anything but a laughing matter.

Fans and critics alike were taken aback when the duo announced they would be joining forces for Cornell's third attempt at jumpstarting a solo career (after 1999's criminally overlooked Euphoria Morning and 2007's criminally mediocre Carry On).

But in reality it seems to be a rather logical step for each of them: Timbaland, who has worked with artists ranging from Rihanna to OneRepublic, clearly sees Cornell as a new challenge, while Cornell, never afraid to reinvent himself, sees Timbaland as the key to regaining the success he had with his last collaborative project, Audioslave (former Soundgarden singer + former Rage Against the Machine members = sold out stadiums).

So the plan makes sense; now the question is, did it work?

The answer: not as well as it could have.

The whole thing starts off rather hyperbolically, as an opening theme reminiscent of something from a late '90s videogame gives way to Timbaland's vocoder-cloaked introduction.

"Some of you know him, some of you don't," Timbaland warbles like an electric specter. "But after this, you'll get to know him: Chris Cornell."

But the Cornell we're getting to know has been repackaged, maybe even completely re-imagined, by Timbaland.

The result is an artist who has shed his rocker pedigree to play the part of a synth-pop crooner.

Cornell's voice, which has earned him a top spot on almost every list of greatest rock singers of all time, has been necessarily subdued in order to give Timbaland's beats some headroom in which to operate.

If you can forgive the producer for restraining Cornell's legendary vocal cords so he can share in the limelight, you will find the tradeoff isn't quite as offensive as it may at first seem.

Whether it's the groovy "Time," the sitar-infused, Indian-music-inspired "Take Me Alive" or the ballad-esque "Long Gone," every track is slickly produced.

As if to throw a bone to Cornell fans of old, a crunchy guitar riff appears from time to time, but most of the songs rely heavily on sweeping synthetic arrangements that dance over phat beats and never let up, as each song segues into the next without pause.

The effect has its moments, but more often serves to emphasize the sameness of all the songs.

And it is that sameness, along with the shocking absence of any truly unforgettable hooks, which marks the album's greatest weakness.

With the exception of the stripped down "Ground Zero" (which utilizes Cornell vocalizations as part of the background rhythm to great effect) and possibly the spaciously arranged, ironically tranquil title track, the songs struggle to stand out.

The hooks are there, but they stick in your mind somewhat like a balloon caught in a tree branch: they linger for a while, but it's only a matter of time before they break free and float into the ozone, only to be forgotten.

For two men responsible for as many memorable, even timeless songs as Cornell and Timbaland are, this alone could be enough to call the album a failure.

But if you're mindful of the fact that Scream is really an album about redefining an artist's image and shattering preconceived boundaries, you can at least applaud Cornell for being willing to stretch himself to get out of the artistic slump that Carry On embodied.

While tracks like "Never Far Away," "Long Gone," "Scream" and "Enemy" resemble most closely Cornell's previous work, "Part of Me," "Sweet Revenge," "Take Me Alive" and "Other Side of Town" most fully embrace the new image the artist/producer team have crafted.

This new image comes at a price, however, as it seems the quality of Cornell's lyrics has suffered.

The man who was at one time celebrated for addressing the issues of life, love, pain and death by painting word-pictures listeners could step inside of and meditate on is now singing the same generic lyrics about regrettable hookups, revenge trips and drugged up Hollywood vixens that the pop artists he aims to be identified with have been covering for years.

"She was so friendly / I had one too many / And I let her tempt me / She was rubbing up against me," Cornell sings in "Part of Me."

As he goes on to reassure his woman that this fling "never meant a thing," you can't help but wonder if he recognizes the irony that, grand experiment that it is, Scream will most likely end up just that for most listeners: a fling they'll enjoy for a while before moving on to deeper, more meaningful musical material.

Final score: 6.5 out of 10.

jbutler@unews.com