Chris Cornell – Arms Around Your Love (Sure Tone)

I suspected something was going on when he got the James Bond gig. One of the grungefathers sound tracking a bunch of gyrating silhouetted nudes? Hardly ‘Jesus Christ Pose,’ is it? But I was willing to let it lie. It’s just a glitch, I thought.

I was wrong.

‘Arms Around Your Love’ is the second single to be released from Chris’s forthcoming solo album ‘Carry On’ – no Kenneth Williams, no Sid James, I’m afraid – and has been produced by Steve Lillywhite, previously linked with U2, Rolling Stones and Morrissey. Alarm bells are ringing for me already – I’m doubting the raucous factor here.

And my fears are confirmed. Acoustic guitars strum gently away like a certain Mr Big song while Chris takes his voice through the motions. “I’m just gonna have to take it,” he sings croakily. Sounds like it. Out go the minor key changes, in comes the hook from ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’ – okay in context, but this is not it. And the voice – what’s happened? It used to perform octave-defying leaps from earth to ionosphere in microseconds; now it bumbles around the mid-ranges like a regretful drunk in a bar. The middle eight hints at some kind of vocal and modular limbering, but nothing materialises. Instead, a nice warm harmony comes in and makes me shudder with disgust.

‘An illustrious career that defined a generation.’ I agree absolutely. So what’s he doing here? Shortly after listening to this, I listened to ‘Euphoria Morning’ again. Made eight years ago, I know, but comparing that to this… no comparison. I realise that some might say that this is a ‘coming of age’ song, or a ‘show of maturity,’ but I don’t want that. I want to live vicariously through my rock gods. The choice is simple: die, or grow old disgracefully; don’t fade away like this.