Israeli producer extraordinaire Dennis Lloyd has returned with a heart-rending cover of a alternative-rock classic, Like A Stone, this time with singer-songwriter Tom Morello---yes, one of the iconic original members of Audioslave, an alt-rock supergroup formed out of the remaining members of Rage Against the Machine and Soundgarden in 2003.

Tom Morello’s incredibly moving rendition not only pays its homage to Chris Cornell’s unforgettable, haunting voice but allows the memorable rock song to take on a new meaning in the wake of Cornell’s death a few years ago. Seeing how the song is about the inevitability of dying and the descent of the body into its final stages, the lyrics inextricably invoke the sadness, the pain and longing that swept through the music industry once it learnt that one of the most interesting singer-songwriters of the decades gone by succumbed to substance abuse and depression. 

This stripped-version focuses on Tom Morello’s extensive vocal range, one that breathes through the entire barrel of human emotions through just a couple of minutes. His voice having taken center-stage, accompanied by merely a soft acoustic guitar riff, Tom Morello powers through this familiar tune with his raw, abrasive spirit. The most generous choice, and perhaps the most creatively valuable one as well, that Dennis Lloyd made with regard to this track is tone down the instrumentation and the bass, and let his collaborator Tom Morello take control---as he personally was involved in the original production of the song with Audioslave and was one of many majorly affected by Cornell’s death. As a result, this version isn’t merely a slow cover of the original meant to recycle familiarity of the early-aughts but as a solacing work of art that could unite all those still mourning for Cornell. 

The words itself are the most melancholic aspect of the song; the way Morello’s voice shakes yet persists in the chorus really captures the agony left behind in the original. In your house I long to be does not only serve as an expression of longing and loneliness, it is a message of hope, hope that emerges out of grief. 

 Rock