Soundgarden is diving into the lovely pools of nostalgia this June with the release of a multi-disc, rarities-packed special edition re-release of their 1994 masterpiece Superunknown. In celebration of the record’s 20th anniversary, the band have planned two deluxe reissues and a vinyl release for the LP, featuring many unreleased demos and recordings from rehearsals.
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While Badmotorfinger was Soundgarden’s pure-firing realization of power, Superunknown was the band’s toned, honed artistic peak, an absolute masterpiece of attitude and accessibility within an uncompromising artistic fever. After watching fellow Seattleites Nirvana and Pearl Jam reach superstardom in the previous two years, Chris Cornell & co. stepped into their own commercial success with a gloriously dark, bristly album that boasted five strong singles, put them in Grammy league and went nine times platinum. Sure, this is the record that gave us “Spoonman” and “Black Hole Sun,” but you’re doing yourself a disservice skipping any tracks on Superunknown – especially “Mailman,” the apocalyptic dirge of “4th of July” or the epically soaring title track.
The two-CD Deluxe Edition boasts a remastered version of the album alongside a second disc of 16 demos, rehearsals and B-sides. For the big collectors, the Super Deluxe Edition features five discs packed with even more rarities, B-sides, demos and rehearsals – as well as a version of the album mixed in Blu-ray Audio 5.1 Surround Sound. Accompanying it will be a hardbound book with liner notes by Rolling Stone’s David Fricke, never-before-seen photos by Kevin Westerberg and “reimagined” album art by artist Josh Graham.
