In the latest episode on The Pods & Sods Network, Remembering Chris Cornell Part 1, Ann Wilson of Heart shares details of recording Bob Dylan’s Ring Them Bells with the late Chris Cornell. “On the Heart record Desire Walks On, there’s a version of the Bob Dylan song Ring Them Bells. And we were looking for a third voice. We asked just about everybody in the industry who was a great singer including Chris to come in and sing one of the parts on it. Chris came in and sang on it,” Wilson recalls.
She continues, “but then because of where their career was going, the up-tightness of the industry back then, Heart was just a veteran band that sort of had seen better days and Soundgarden was this brand new, burgeoning, honest, authentic thing that was going up. So his management decided not to let him appear on our record.”
“So we got a copy of Chris singing on that song, which just sounded amazing, that we couldn’t use. So what happened is Layne Staley came in and sang it instead. Of course Alice In Chains management didn’t have a problem in the world with it.”
“It’s in our vault. Maybe some day we’ll be able to release it. It’s a beautiful version.”
Superunknown Producer Michael Beinhorn detailed the process of recording Soundgarden’s 1994 album Superunknown. And he shares his reaction to first hearing Black Hole Sun during that time, “I think for the rest of my entire life, until I draw my last breathe, I’ll never ever forgot how I felt when they started playing that song. From the very first few notes, I felt like I’d been hit by a thunderbolt. I was just absolutely stunned. What in the world is this? I get goosebumps thinking about it now.”
