Chris Cornell

In case you didn't catch the symbolism, Chris Cornell is smashing a guitar on the cover of Scream because he's done with those six-strings -- he's leaving it all behind for Timbaland, who has long wanted to leave hip-hop and R&B behind to make a rock album. As an idea, this rock-dance fusion has some merit; clearly, Cornell needs to do something to shake himself out of his solo stupor and Timbaland is an imaginative, daring producer whose gifts are not limited by genre, although as much as they want to stretch, neither Cornell nor Timbaland is willing to leave his comfort zone here. To be fair, Timbaland's tracks are often augmented by additional production by anyone from Justin Timberlake to John Mayer (who contributes the unbilled and, yes, bluesy hidden track "Two Drink Minimum"), but most often OneRepublic's Ryan Tedder, who contributes to no less than five of the album's tracks. Whoever was directly responsible, the result sounds like skittering dance-pop, graced by Cornell's sometimes looped, sometimes manipulated caterwaul. [The Barnes & Noble Exclusive edition includes a bonus track.] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide