Telephantasm is a compilation album by the American rock band Soundgarden. Featuring songs that span 23 years of the band's career, it was released on September 28, 2010, through A&M Records. The album was certified platinum by the RIAA after its first day of retail availability based on the one million discs that were included in packages for the video game Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock.
Overview The album was released in September 2010 on A&M Records following the band's reunion earlier that year. The career-spanning retrospective compilation includes an unreleased track, "Black Rain", taken from the Badmotorfinger recording sessions. In late August 2010, "Black Rain" reached No. 44 on the Canadian Hot 100 and No. 96 on the US Billboard Hot 100. The song also peaked at No. 14 on the Billboard Rock Songs chart.
Kim Thayil explained the title Telephantasm as "an illusion at a distance, or a ghost from afar. Which I think would be an appropriate reference to what we have here — a retrospective of a band that had been inactive for thirteen years." He added that the album emerged from a project to create a "B-sides" compilation following the 1997 greatest hits album A-Sides, but the band decided to include some better-known songs because "we need to re-establish ourselves with the rock and roll audience out there, the younger audience".
The single-CD version of the album is featured in the music video game Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, with "Black Rain" available on the disc and the remaining eleven tracks available as downloadable content alongside the release of the game.
The two-CD/DVD limited edition package includes a booklet containing a biography of Soundgarden written by Jeff Gilbert, a message from Thayil, and content credits.
The album features artwork by Josh Graham, who handles the visual arts for Neurosis as well as artwork for other musical artists.
Track listing Single-disc version
Deluxe edition
DVD
Bonus videos
Personnel Soundgarden Chris Cornell – vocals, rhythm guitar Kim Thayil – lead guitar Ben Shepherd – bass on tracks 3–12 (Single Disc); tracks 9–12 on CD1, and tracks 1–12 on CD2 (Deluxe Edition) Matt Cameron – drums Hiro Yamamoto – bass on tracks 1–2 (Single Disc); tracks 1–7 on CD1 (Deluxe Edition) Jason Everman – bass on track 8 on CD1 (Deluxe Edition) Scott Sundquist – drums on track 1 on CD1 (Deluxe Edition)
Charts Chart (2010) Peak positionCanadian Albums (Billboard) 15US Hard Rock Albums (Billboard) 2US Tastemaker Albums (Billboard) 5US Top Rock Albums (Billboard) 7
Certifications
References