Send "Soundgarden " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Pitchfork |
 The announcement of Soundgarden's 2010 reunion was exciting on several counts; first, that meant Chris Cornell would stop his fucking around with Audioslave and Timbaland. But more importantly it would be the return of the only band that really sounds like Soundgarden. While Bush, Godsmack, and Creed spawned from the most easily cloned DNA of Soundgarden's peers, few bands attempted to possess either the chops of their SST days or the dexterous, expansive pop-metal that would come later.And yet, instead of reissuing any of their mammoth LPs for a much-needed rediscovery, A&M chooses to strip mine the Soundgarden vaults for barely new compilations. Even more so than the poorly curated and bafflingly packaged hodgepodge of career retrospective Telephantasm, Live on I-5 comes off like an experiment to figure out the minimum amount of effort required to separate a Soundgarden fan from $9.99. Rather than capturing the band at the peak of its powers, I-5 documents the Down on the Upside tour that found Soundgarden worn out by that album's grueling recording sessions, punishing substance abuse, and most importantly, each other. That the title references a stretch of highway along the Pacific instead of a single venue is in itself telling: though I-5 ends up a pretty faithful recreation of Soundgarden's setlist at the time, it's pieced together from a handful of West Coast dates, and you can tell by how the crowd noise pipes in at random intervals and volumes like a hovering apparition. As such, there's really no ebb and flow, no tension, no sense that this needed to be Soundgarden's first live document. At the very least, Kim Thayil, Ben Shepherd, and Matt Cameron are highly skilled musicians doing efficient yeoman's work here-- there's an anachronistic pleasure in hearing Thayil's serpentine soloing wailing through the very unhip wah-wah pedal, and how they manage to pummel through the closing "Jesus Christ Pose" is nothing short of miraculous considering the torpor that precedes it. They give a very professional performance, nothing less, nothing more....full text |
| Pastemagazine |
| Soundgarden’s Live On I-5 was recorded on the West Coast leg of the band’s 1996 tour. The title alludes to the arterial stretch of highway that connects the various nights the performances are pulled from. If it was all one show, an alt rock time capsule that captured their ironic peak during grunge’s slow slide from Cobain’s death towards obscurity, it would be an interesting trip back to our collective musical past. But it isn’t. It’s pretty much a greatest hits album, which conceptually blows an opportunity right off the bat. Sonically, it’s classic Soundgarden. You get what you expect: power-chord progressions, hard-hitting drums and Chris Cornell singing his heart out to the delight of a flannel-clad crowd, and the album does earns a few of their raucous cheers. “Burden in My Hand” supports a long-held and unfounded theory that the best song on early-to mid-’90s alt rock records is Track 7 a statistically relevant percentage of the time. Tracks 11-13, from the same Oakland set, create nearly 19 contiguous minutes that give a glimpse of what it might be like to spend a night with Soundgarden at their apex. The album also offers a chance to hear “Black Hole Sun” performed live in Seattle, a dream my 12-year-old self might have had. Not in 1996, but perhaps at some point, possibly....full text |
| Avclub |
| Coming on the heels of several well-received reunion shows in 2010—and in the middle of songwriting sessions for what would be the band’s first album since 1996’s Down On The Upside—Live On I-5 strangely is neither a snapshot of Soundgarden as it stands now, or a reminder of what the legendary grunge outfit was capable of at its absolute best in the early ’90s. Rather, it’s the product of good old-fashioned vault-cleaning: Live On I-5 was recorded during a West Coast tour in support of Down On The Upside, right about the time that Soundgarden’s members were drinking and feuding their way out of being a working band. Live On I-5 was supposed to be released in 1997, but Soundgarden ended up breaking up not long after playing these shows. The live album is finally here now, but why? This isn’t the Soundgarden that fans or even the band would prefer to remember. Chris Cornell’s powerful howl sounds weakened by the road (or maybe Jack Daniels) on the otherwise indomitable “Rusty Cage” and so-so covers of The Beatles’ “Helter Skelter” and The Stooges’ “Search And Destroy,” and the rest of the band plays competently, but never with the ferociousness it was known for. While the album features respectable performances of many of the band’s biggest hits—even a diminished Soundgarden can’t muffle the power of the almighty “Outshined”—Live On I-5 should have stayed in the dark hole it’s been buried in for 15 years....full text |
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