TEMPLE OF THE DOG - ORIGINAL 1991 GRUNGE LP Soundgarden

	£		38
	$		50

ORIGINAL 1991 UK PRESSING ON A&M CAT# 395 350-1

Condition of vinyl:- EXCELLENT

Condition of sleeve:- EXCELLENT

Temple of the Dog was started by Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell. After the death of his former roommate, Mother Love Bone singer Andrew Wood, Cornell wrote two songs in tribute: "Say Hello 2 Heaven" and "Reach Down". Cornell approached Wood's former bandmates, Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament, with the intention of releasing the songs as a single. The band's lineup was completed by the addition of Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron and future Pearl Jam lead guitarist Mike McCready. The band started rehearsing the songs, as well as re-working some existing material from demos written by Gossard, Ament, and Cameron. One such demo became a song for two bands, recorded as "Footsteps" for Pearl Jam and as "Times of Trouble" for Temple of the Dog. These rehearsals soon led to several new songs, and the planned single soon became a full album. The album and group became known as Temple of the Dog, after a lyric in the Mother Love Bone song, "Man of Golden Words".

Eddie Vedder, who had flown to Seattle to audition to be Pearl Jam's singer, ended up providing backing vocals. "Hunger Strike" became a duet between Cornell and Vedder. Cornell was having trouble with the vocals at practice, when Vedder stepped in. Cornell later said that "he sang half of that song not even knowing that I'd wanted the part to be there and he sang it exactly the way I was thinking about doing it, just instinctively."[citation needed]

In the summer of 1992, the album received new attention. Though the album had been released more than a year earlier, A&M Records realized that they had in their catalog what was essentially a collaboration between Soundgarden and Pearl Jam, who had both risen to mainstream attention in the months since the album's release. A&M decided to re-issue the album and promote "Hunger Strike" as a single, with the video subsequently entering heavy rotation on MTV. The attention allowed both the album and single to chart on Billboard.

While rehearsing and writing the material for the album, the band played a full show in Seattle at the Off Ramp Café on November 13, 1990. In the time since the album's release, the band reformed for short live performances on two occasions where both Soundgarden and Pearl Jam were performing. In October 1991, the band performed "Hunger Strike" at the Foundations Forum showcase. In September 1992, the band performed "Hunger Strike" and "Reach Down" at the last show of that year's Lollapalooza festival in Fairfax, Virginia.

"All Night Thing" (as well as Soundgarden's "Loud Love") appeared in the 1992 film Wayne's World, though not on the soundtrack album.

At a Pearl Jam show on October 28, 2003, Chris Cornell joined them on-stage effectively re-uniting the band (Matt Cameron had been the drummer of Pearl Jam since 2000) for renditions of "Hunger Strike" and "Reach Down". The version of "Reach Down" recorded that night later appeared on Pearl Jam's annual Ten Club Christmas Single that year. Pearl Jam has also been known to perform "Hunger Strike" live without Cornell on rare occasion.

Cornell's post-Soundgarden band, Audioslave, added "Call Me A Dog", "All Night Thing", and "Hunger Strike" to their live set in 2005. Additionally, Cornell added "Say Hello 2 Heaven" to his live set in 2007.

Track listing

1. "Say Hello 2 Heaven" (Cornell) – 6:22
2. "Reach Down" (Cornell) – 11:11
3. "Hunger Strike" (Cornell) – 4:03
4. "Pushin Forward Back" (Ament/Cornell/Gossard) – 3:44
5. "Call Me a Dog" (Cornell) – 5:02
6. "Times of Trouble" (Cornell/Gossard) – 5:41
7. "Wooden Jesus" (Cornell) – 4:09
8. "Your Saviour" (Cornell) – 4:02
9. "Four Walled World" (Cornell/Gossard) – 6:53
10. "All Night Thing" (Cornell) – 3:52

RECORD GRADING ABBREVIATIONS BELOW

MINT                         The record itself is in brand new condition with no surface marks or deterioration in sound quality.  The cover and any extra items such as lyric sheet, booklet or poster are in perfect condition. 

EXCELLENT             The record shows some signs of having been played, possibly with light surface marks but there will be very little lessening in sound quality. The cover and packaging might have slight wear and/or creasing.

VERY GOOD +         The record may have scuff marks and signs of some wear but will still play almost perfectly throughout, with only barely detectable crackles or pops.  A slight noise at the beginning is allowable, but the remainder must be nearly flawless.  Definitely no scratches or gouges that a touch with a dry finger can feel. The cover may only have the slightest signs of normal wear.

VERY GOOD            The record has obviously been played many times, but displays no major deterioration in sound quality, despite noticeable surface marks and the occasional light scratch. Normal wear and tear on the cover or extra items, without any major defects, is acceptable.

GOOD                        The record has been played so much that the sound quality has noticeably deteriorated, perhaps with some distortion and mild scratches.  The cover and contents suffer from folding, scuffing of edges, spine splits, discoloration, etc.

                                    Sometimes + or - will be used  to denote slightly higher or lower grades

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