Just in time to promote Soundgarden’s upcoming reunion show at this weekend’s Lollapalooza, the band sent out an e-mail announcement excitedly trumpeting its “new” album Telephantasm, its first “new” collection of material in 14 years. As our cutting use of ironic quotes indicates, Telephantasm is actually more of a “career retrospective”—meaning it contains 11 greatest hits and one previously unreleased song, “Black Rain,” drawn from the recording sessions for Badmotorfinger.
Undaunted by its self-evident lack of newness, the press release proclaims that Telephantasm will “make history” as its bundling inside the upcoming Guitar Hero: Warriors Of Rock “marks the first time a music album will be simultaneously released and bundled with a video game launch.” The Guitar Hero/Telephantasm package debuts on September 28, after which rock ’n’ roll will never be the same. (By which we mean it will absolutely be the same.) Following that, Telephantasm will be available as a both standalone CD and in a deluxe two-disc edition that adds a DVD of music videos, to be followed by a triple-LP version. Here are the various track listings:
Telephantasm CD:
1. Hunted Down
2. Hands All Over
3. Outshined
4. Rusty Cage
5. Birth Ritual
6. Black Hole Sun
7. Spoonman
8. My Wave
9. Fell On Black Days
10. Burden In My Hand
11. Blow Up The Outside World
12. Black Rain
Deluxe Edition
Disc One
1. All Your Lies
2. Hunted Down
3. Fopp
4. Beyond The Wheel
5. Flower (BBC session)
6. Hands All Over
7. Big Dumb Sex
8. Get On The Snake (Live)
9. Room A Thousand Years Wide (Single version)
10. Rusty Cage
11. Outshined
12. Slaves & Bulldozers
Disc Two
1. Jesus Christ Pose (Live)
2. Birth Ritual
3. My Wave
4. Superunknown
5. Spoonman
6. Black Hole Sun
7. Fell On Black Days (Video Version)
8. Burden In My Hand
9. Dusty
10. Pretty Noose (from SNL)
11. Blow Up The Outside World (from MTV Live ‘N’ Loud)
12. Black Rain
DVD: The Music Videos
1. Flower
2. Hands All Over
3. Loud Love
4. Jesus Christ Pose
5. Outshined
6. Rusty Cage
7. My Wave
8. Spoonman
9. The Day I Tried To Live (Uncensored version)
10. Black Hole Sun
11. Fell On Black Days
12. Pretty Noose (Uncensored version)
13. Burden In My Hand
14. Blow Up The Outside World
Bonus Videos
1. Spoonman (Mash-up version)
2. The Day I Tried To Live (European version)
3. Superunknown
4. Pretty Noose (International version)
5. Pretty Noose (Alternate ending)
6. Blow Up The Outside World (Censored version)