Based on the handful of times I saw Soundgarden perform in the early-to-mid 90s, they were a decidedly spotty live band, with their early shows leaving me utterly transfixed and transformed, while most of their later performances left me sadly wanting more. It seems that they frequently traded the nuances and texture of their studio work for sheer volume in the live setting, often steamrolling over their songs and their audience with a crunchy thunder that buried the subtlety of their sound under an ocean of noise, leaving frontman Chris Cornell straining to be heard amidst the swelling cacophony. In a small club this clamorous formula worked pretty well, with the intimacy of the venue still allowing the audience to make a discernible connection with the band and their pounding sonic assault, something that didn’t necessarily translate all that well in the large arenas which Soundgarden would play for most of their career as their popularity grew.

It is from this late period (1996) that the entirety of Soundgarden’s first live album, Live On I-5, is culled, and while the warmth and harmony of their club shows are lost, and the affinity the band once had towards one another in the early stages of their career was starting to fray by this point (they would break up less than a year after these recordings), most of the songs on this collection still rumble and roar with an intensity and urgency that captivated the attention of the music world in the first place. But Cornell’s piercing voice is in somewhat ragged shape throughout most of this collection (just listen to ‘Outshined’ and ‘Jesus Christ Pose’ for proof), so the real stars of the set end up being drummer Matt Cameron and guitarist Kim Thayil, who together create a wild fury of sound that the others struggle to keep up with and ultimately don’t quite match.

Starting the disc out with ‘Spoonman’ is both a tongue-in-cheek way for Soundgarden to give a nod to one of their biggest hits (which helped propel them into even larger venues), as well as immediately satisfy their casual fans who probably won’t dig too deep into this collection in the first place. And while the performance is commendable, things instantly get far more interesting with ‘Searching With My Good Eye Closed,’ a bristling combination of crunchy, doom-laden riffs and insightful, compelling lyrics that made Soundgarden stand out amongst their Seattle brethren. The strong momentum continues on ‘Let Me Drown’ and the experimental, percussion-driven ‘Head Down,’ despite the annoying gaps between tracks that remind the listener that they are listening to a combination of Pacific coast shows from the band (hence the I-5 in the title–a highway that stretches down the Western portion of the U.S.), and not one continual performance.

And that disjointed, uneven aspect of the disc is its eventual undoing, with the songs sounding fine and, for the most part, inspired, but you don’t really get the gradual build of an actual concert (and the inevitable bond the band makes with the crowd) from these performances, you just hear a bunch of songs assembled together to fill a disc. So, stage banter is kept to a minimum, other than Cornell dedicating ‘Rusty Cage’ to “the man in black” (who had just covered that same song on his brilliant covers album Unchained), leaving the focus on the greatest hits-like assembly of songs found on the album and not necessarily on the live Soundgarden experience itself. This collection features a couple covers of its own, with decidedly mixed results; the band deliver a ponderously dull version of ‘Helter Skelter’ that makes you wonder why it was even included on the disc, but fare far better on a blistering version of the Stooges ‘Search And Destroy’ that is carried entirely by Thayil, who really puts on a show with his guitar work.

Whilst this collection represents a fiery, fervent snapshot of what the American musical landscape sounded like in the mid-90s, there isn’t a whole lot of personality brought forth by these recordings (which is always a drawback to live albums). While ‘Fell On Black Days’ and ‘Black Hole Sun’ are both drenched in gloomy sentiment, the real heart of these songs are always just boiling right below the surface and never fully materialize no matter how much the band wails. Live On I-5 was supposed to be released at some point in 1997, delivering a tangible example of Soundgarden’s raucous live show as a thank you to their many fans who chose to ride the wave with them on that tour. But instead (due to legal and label issues that materialized soon after the band broke up), these recordings have remained in the vault all these years. And while these live tracks certainly bring a listener up to speed on why people listened to Soundgarden back in the day (and continue to do so), and how their dissonant, untamed songs can bewitch a massive audience, it doesn’t quite capture the full experience of what it was like to actually be there.