Hip-hop and R+b superstar Timbaland is set to take former Soundgarden and Audioslave's Chris Cornell to the clubs after secretly collaborating with the rocker on his third solo album.

After working with Justin Timberlake, Nelly Furtado and a host of other big names, Timbaland calls his work with Cornell "the best work I've done in my career".

And Cornell admits working with the hitmaker was a lot of fun.

He says, "This is different from anything I've ever done. I've come from an indie rock world, where, if you have a producer, it's somebody who's not a musician, not a songwriter."

"He's just someone who twists knobs and can kinda tell you if they think a song is too long or too short or needs to be more aggressive."

The rocker adds, "It was as if we were in a band."

Cornell calls the new album, which hasn't got a release date at present, "a highlight of my career".

Timbaland adds, "This will be everybody's favourite album of this year."