Soundgarden's reunion has been a slow one. When they announced it on New Year's day a year and a half ago I was very excited. I'd long been a fan and figured I'd never get to see them (Chris Cornell playing a few Soundgarden songs during Audioslave's set at Roskilde didn't quite cut it). But nothing happened. For ages. Then they finally announced a UK show at Hard Rock Calling in Hyde Park in July. I wanted to go, but somehow not quite £55-wanted-to-go. However, it looks like sales have been poor and they're now going for £20, so I bought some and have been mostly listening to Soundgarden since. A week and a half to go!
(I realise how it sounds - not wanting to pay £55 after claiming to be a "big fan", but there are many other factors to play: I'd like to see them in a smaller venue than Hyde Park, the rest of the line up looked a bit rubbish (except The Mars Volta), and £55 is a lot of money.)
Anyway, the Screaming Life EP is a classic bit of Soundgarden. Their first few releases always sound much less grunge to me than the later stuff, but it's all good really. The very first time I heard Soundgarden was a 30-second clip of Nothing to Say on Encarta when my parents bought our second-ever PC. Encarta was Wikipedia on a dvd before Wikipedia made it redundant, and the Grunge article told me about all these great bands and played me one of my favourite Soundgarden songs. Someone working for them must have been a fan of Nothing to Say for it to be chosen over all the other possibilities. Thank you Encarta employee, Pearl Jam or Nirvana may not have led me to such great music. Sometime later I remember Mary Ann Hobbs playing Black Hole Sun and I gradually bought all their albums.
I had Screaming Life/Fopp on cd but found this in Replay Records in Bristol, a shop I probably wouldn't be able to find again (I always get lost in Bristol) and have no idea if it still exists. I'm guessing it's a reissue since it was cheap, in mint condition, but most of all because it has "subpop.com" printed on the back, which I'm pretty sure didn't exist in 1987.
It really is a great EP. Hunted Down, Entering and Nothing to Say are some of my favourite Soundgarden songs, especially of the early era. Chris Cornell's voice has always been one of the best in rock music (his solo career has been embarrassing at times, but that Bond theme was pretty good). I'm also a fan cool live photos for album sleeves and this one has a good one back and front. All in all, a record I'm very pleased to have in my collection.
Format: 12"
Tracks: 6
Cost: £8 new
Bought: Replay Records, Bristol
When: 10/12/04
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no
