Euphoria Morning
| Euphoria Morning | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by Chris Cornell | ||||
| Released | September 21, 1999 | |||
| Recorded | 1998–1999 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 50:55 | |||
| Label | Interscope | |||
| Producer | ||||
| Chris Cornell chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Euphoria Morning | ||||
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| Alternate Cover | ||||
 Re-released in 2015 as Euphoria Mourning |
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Euphoria Morning is the first solo studio album released by American musician Chris Cornell. It was released on September 21, 1999 through Interscope Records. Euphoria Morning sold over 75,000 copies in its first week of release and eventually sold 343,000 copies in the U.S. alone. While a large success critically, it did not sell nearly as well as Cornell's albums with Soundgarden. It is Cornell's only album between the split of Soundgarden until he formed Audioslave with members of Rage Against the Machine. The original working title of this album was to be "Euphoria Mourning" however, a typo changed the album name to "Euphoria Morning". This was confirmed by Chris Cornell at his Philadelphia show on the Songbook Tour.[1] In 2015 the album was re-released on CD and vinyl with the title Euphoria Mourning, with Chris Cornell stating in the press release that he had originally intended for the album to be called Eurphoria Mourning. In radio interviews at the time of the album's original release, Cornell noticed that the words "morning" and "mourning" sound identical when spoken. He decided that spelling it "mourning" was confusing, so he changed it to "morning". As soon as the album came out, he immediately regretted the decision.[2]
Production
Recording history
In 1998, Cornell began working on material for a solo album on which he collaborated with Alain Johannes and Natasha Shneider of the band Eleven. "Flutter Girl" was an outtake from Superunknown, the 1994 Soundgarden album.[3] During his 2007 solo tour, Cornell stated that "Wave Goodbye" was written as a tribute to Jeff Buckley, who drowned in 1997.[4]
Musical style
According to AllMusic's Euphoria Morning is " a shaded, textured rock album," lacking the "grinding sludge and furious rock" of Soundgarden.[5] Nevertheless, the album was described to be of a piece with Soundgarden's psychedelic-indebted 1994 album Superunknown[5] and delves back into ’60s psychedelic melodies and acoustic ditties."[6] Los Angeles Times' Mikael Wood described the album's style as "psychedelic folk-rock."[7]
Reception
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [5] |
| Alternative Press | [8] |
| Robert Christgau | (C+)[9] |
| Entertainment Weekly | (B+)[6] |
| NME | (4.0/10)[10] |
| Q | [11] |
| Rolling Stone |  [12] |
The album proved commercially unsuccessful although the album's single "Can't Change Me" was nominated for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance at the 2000 Grammy Awards.[13] He also contributed the song "Sunshower" (a bonus track on the Japanese release of Euphoria Morning) to the soundtrack of the 1998 film, Great Expectations, and a reworked version of the track "Mission", retitled "Mission 2000", was used on the soundtrack to the 2000 film, Mission: Impossible II. In 2000, Cornell embarked on a tour in support of the album.[14][14]
Track listing
All lyrics written by Chris Cornell.
| No. | Title | Music | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Can't Change Me" | Chris Cornell | 3:23 |
| 2. | "Flutter Girl" | Cornell, Alain Johannes, Natasha Shneider | 4:25 |
| 3. | "Preaching the End of the World" | Cornell | 4:41 |
| 4. | "Follow My Way" | Cornell, Johannes, Shneider | 5:10 |
| 5. | "When I'm Down" | Cornell | 4:20 |
| 6. | "Mission" | Cornell, Johannes, Shneider | 4:05 |
| 7. | "Wave Goodbye" | Cornell | 3:43 |
| 8. | "Moonchild" | Cornell | 4:02 |
| 9. | "Sweet Euphoria" | Cornell | 3:08 |
| 10. | "Disappearing One" | Cornell, Johannes, Shneider | 3:48 |
| 11. | "Pillow of Your Bones" | Cornell, Johannes, Shneider | 4:29 |
| 12. | "Steel Rain" | Cornell | 5:41 |
| Japanese bonus tracks | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Music | Length |
| 13. | "Sunshower" | Cornell | 5:52 |
| 14. | "Can't Change Me" (French version) | Cornell | 3:47 |
- "Can't Change Me" (French version) is also found on international versions
- "Can't Change Me" (French version) & another b-side "Nowhere But You" are also found on the "Can't Change Me" single.
Personnel
Personnel adapted from Euphoria Morning liner notes.[15]
- Main personnel
- Chris Cornell - lead vocals (all tracks), guitar (tracks 1-3 and 5-13), harmonica (track 1)
- Alain Johannes - guitar (tracks 1-6, 8, and 10-12), bass guitar (tracks 2-5, 10, and 11), backing vocals (tracks 1 and 13), theremin (track 4), mandolin (tracks 4 and 13), clarinet (track 10), tabla (track 12)
- Natasha Shneider - keyboards (tracks 1-4, 6-8, and 10-13), bass guitar (tracks 6 and 13), backing vocals (tracks 4-7, and 13), tambourine (tracks 1-4, 11, and 12), piano (track 5), organ (track 5), timpani (track 11)
- Ric Markmann - bass guitar (tracks 1, 7, 8, and 12)
- Josh Freese - drums (tracks 1-4, 6, 8, and 11)
- Additional musicians
- Jason Falkner - bass guitar (track 5)
- Greg Upchurch - drums (track 5)
- Victor Indrizzo - drums (track 7)
- Matt Cameron - drums (track 10)
- Bill Rieflin - drums (track 12)
- Misha Shneider - bayan (track 14)
- Technical personnel
- Chris Cornell - production, engineering, mixing
- Alain Johannes - production, engineering, mixing
- Natasha Shneider - production, engineering, mixing
- Dave Collins - mastering
Charts
| Chart (1999) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Billboard 200[16] | 18 |
| Canadian Albums (Billboard)[17] | 14 |
References
- ↑ Zaleski, Annie (July 8, 2015). "Chris Cornell Reissues His First Solo Album with a Bonus Letter". A. V. Club.
- ↑ Yates, Rod (September 17, 2015). "The Life & Times of Chris Cornell". Rolling Stone Australia.
- ↑ Henry, Dusty (2015-07-07). "Chris Cornell reissuing debut solo album with alternate title". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved 2015-08-25.
- ↑ Liberty, John (December 13, 2011). "The details behind Chris Cornell, Jeff Buckley and the mysterious red phone". MLive. Retrieved April 17, 2015.
- 1 2 3 Stephen Thomas Erlewine (1999-09-21). "Euphoria Morning - Chris Cornell | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 2015-08-25.
- 1 2 Farber, Jim (2008-02-02). "Euphoria Morning". EW.com. Retrieved 2015-08-25.
- ↑ Wood, Mikael (May 4, 2007). "Cornell's Soundgarden tunes rock the Avalon crowd". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 20, 2015.
- ↑ 10/99, p.77
- ↑ "CG: chris cornell". Robert Christgau. Retrieved 2015-08-25.
- ↑ Nme.Com (2005-09-12). "NME Reviews - Euphoria Morning". Nme.Com. Retrieved 2015-08-25.
- ↑ 10/99, p.117
- ↑ "Rolling Stone : Chris Cornell: Euphoria Morning : Music Reviews". Web.archive.org. 1999-09-30. Archived from the original on 2007-06-29. Retrieved 2015-08-25.
- ↑ "42nd Grammy Awards - 2000". Rockonthenet.com. Retrieved 2008-02-20.
- 1 2 James Christopher Monger (2006-05-09). "Mission: Impossible 3 [Original Movie Soundtrack] - Michael Giacchino | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 2015-08-25.
- ↑ "Chris Cornell - Euphoria Morning (CD, Album) at Discogs". Discogs.com. Retrieved 2015-08-25.
- ↑ "Chris Cornell – Chart history" Billboard 200 for Chris Cornell. Retrieved October 23, 2014.
- ↑ "Chris Cornell – Chart history" Billboard Canadian Albums Chart for Chris Cornell. Retrieved October 23, 2014.