Track Listing

1. Say Hello 2 Heaven
2. Reach Down
3. Hunger Strike
4. Pushin' Forward Back
5. Call Me A Dog
6. Times Of Trouble
7. Wooden Jesus
8. Your Savior
9. Four Walled World
10. All Night Thing

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4527 in Music
• Released on: 1991-04-30
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 55 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
This 1991 Seattle supergroup brought together Chris Cornell and Matt Cameron of Soundgarden with the surviving members of Mother Love Bone (Jeff Ament, Stone Gossard) and Eddie Vedder, later of Pearl Jam. The experiment worked. Cornell shines, seeming more comfortable here on this tribute to his former roommate and deceased MLB lead singer Andrew Wood than with his own band. "Hunger Strike" and "Say Hello 2 Heaven" combine glam and grunge better than anything in Love Bone's catalogue, while "Wooden Jesus" is less didactic than anything in Pearl Jam's oeuvre. Most of the songs may be about loss and addiction but this is compelling music for dark days. --Charles R. Cross

CD Description
On the eve of up-and-coming Seattle rockers Mother Love Bone's full-length major label debut (1990's APPLE), singer Andrew Wood succumbed to a drug overdose. Longtime friend ChrisCornell, the singer of Soundgarden, wrote several songs in Wood's memory. These were rooted more in classic rock than his full-time band's metallic sound. Cornell recorded them with ex-members of Mother Love Bone guitarist Stone Gossard and bassist Jeff Ament, Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron, and then-unknowns Mike McCready and Eddie Vedder, in a project called Temple Of The Dog.
The project's self-titled 1991 debut fell on deaf ears. While such songs as the sullen albumopener "Say Hello 2 Heaven" and the epic jamfest "Reach Down" have lyrics that deal with Wood's passing, most of the tracks deal with other topics, such as the album's high point "Hunger Strike", as well as the organic-sounding "Wooden Jesus", the hard rocker "Your Saviour", and the drowsy album closer "All Night Thing". A year after its initial release, the Seattle rock scene exploded and the massive success of themembers of Temple Of The Dog prompted A&M to re-release both the album and the video for "Hunger Strike". Both were immediate hits the second time around.

Customer Reviews

A fitting tribute
This album came about as a result of the death of Mother Love Bone lead singer, Andrew Wood. He shared a house with Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell and this album is basically his tribute to Andrew. The first two songs that he wrote following Andrew's death were the albums opening tracks, "Say Hello 2 Heaven" and "Reach Down". "Say Hello.." in particular is just beautiful - a sincerely and emotionally written song that is amazingly powerful in it's content and general feel.
Later songs were written when Stone Gossard, Jeff Ament, Eddie Vedder and Mike McCready, who all went on the form Pearl Jam, were drafted in. Tracks such as Hunger Strike, Call Me A Dog and Four Walled World again strike an emotional chord, whilst songs like Reach Down and Pushin' Forward Back provide the rock. This is an excellently crafted, powerful album, which was a perfectly fitting tribute to a man who should have become a rock legend. If you love Pearl Jam, Soundgarden or Mother Love Bone you will find this album a very welcome addition to your collection. Full marks!

One of the best rock albums ever!!!
This album is probably one of my all time favourites. Chris Cornell's voice has never sounded better, if you want proof listen to the songs 'call me a dog'or 'say hello 2 heaven'. I've had this album for years and never tire of hearing it. Its one of those rare albums that are mesmerising from start to finish, without any rubbish songs in between. If you like epic rock songs with massive vocals go out and buy it, 'hunger strike' (a duet between cornell and eddie vedder) is worth the money alone.

An astounding Rock performance with a capital R.
Since I've had this cd in my collection for over 7 years, I feel obligated to share my thoughts about it with all of you. I find it one of the best rock cd's ever made. It sounds like seventies and almost smells like it to. The fantastic artwork is the first thing you must notice. The music however is the real thing. Pure rock as it should be. From the opening "Say hello to heaven" to the closing "All night thing" it's a real blast. The main attraction for me is the sound: so pure and simple ! It's almost like standing in a rehearsel room next to them! The songs are honest as they should be. Since this is a landmark in Seattle rock early 90's, you can expect some of the best songwriting around. Chris Cornell is well known as a writers talent. Listening to songs such as the epic "Reach down", one thing comes to mind: why not more recordings of Temple of the Dog ? The answer is simple : it was a project which Cris initiated after a friends death. The lead singer of Mother Love Bone (there's a name for you!) died and Chris put his emotions and thoughts to music. As pure as his reasons to record this were, as pure sounds the music. My 5 stars go directly on the board since this is MY cd of the decade (maybe even the century).