Temple Of The Dog — Temple Of The Dog

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• 5 — S*****n · on Aug 27, 2025

  🤘🤩 Some albums capture a moment. Temple of the Dog doesn’t just capture one, it created one, the spark that birthed Pearl Jam and gave us Chris Cornell at his m…

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  🤘🤩 Some albums capture a moment. Temple of the Dog doesn’t just capture one, it created one, the spark that birthed Pearl Jam and gave us Chris Cornell at his most powerful.

  Before Pearl Jam’s debut and before Soundgarden reached their peak, there was Temple of the Dog. A one-off collaboration born from grief, it stands today not just as a tribute to Andrew Wood, but as a fully realized record with its own voice.

  What makes it compelling is the hybrid sound of Eddie Vedder and Chris Cornell coming together. The songwriting is strong and the arrangements feel perfectly judged, muscular when they need to be, and restrained when space serves the song better. It feels both familiar and brand new, like a true coalescence of the Seattle scene in one moment.

  “Reach Down” is a knockout. The lyrics and Cornell’s conviction pull you into vivid imagery, his voice soaring over the band’s heavy but fluid groove. “Hunger Strike” may be the calling card, but tracks like “Say Hello 2 Heaven” and “Times of Trouble” reveal the emotional weight and depth that made this collaboration matter beyond its context.

  The production and musicianship are top notch. You can tell these players were already dialed into who they were, and yet they managed to capture lightning in a bottle by leaning into their strengths without sanding off the edges.

  It’s also the moment Pearl Jam began to take shape. Vedder had just arrived in Seattle when he was pulled in to sing with Cornell, Gossard, Ament, McCready, and Cameron. That spark would become Ten, but here you hear the very first flash of it.

  This is a time-period piece that has aged remarkably well. The grit, the emotion, and the interplay between musicians still resonate more than three decades later. RIP Chris Cornell. His voice here remains one of the great testaments to what made this album timeless.

  If you’re new to Temple of the Dog, the best way in is simple: listen first, let the songs hit you, then go back and explore the history of its members. You’ll hear not just the birth of Pearl Jam and the peak of Cornell, but one of the purest moments of the grunge era, made with heart and conviction.

  

  Favorite track: Reach Down

  Encores: 1

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