Turns out that cover of Michael Jackson's ''Billie Jean'' on Chris Cornell's last solo album was prophetic; the former Soundgarden/Audioslave frontman's controversial new CD seems like nothing so much as an attempt to create his very own Thriller. What's more surprising than Scream's R&B bells and whistles (provided by überproducer Timbaland) is that Cornell almost succeeds at that goal without tarnishing his hard-rawkin' legacy. Expansive ballads like ''Never Far Away'' and ''Long Gone'' sound like dance-floor cousins to ''Black Hole Sun,'' and ''Time'' is perhaps the funkiest song to bear that title since Sly Stone's. Talk about being alive in the superunknown. B+
Download This: Listen to the song ''Never Far Away'' on imeem.com
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