Friendly Fire / Papercuts (Singles Collection 2000-2023)

[Stranger]

27 minutes ago, LPLStaff said:

Up to 7 vinyls now. That's not a good look when the band their entire career has been so meticulous about every single merch item and thing they put out. OML had what, 3? A normal and 2 others?

Looks very cash grabby to do something like that when you have the press and fans running wild about "unreleased song featuring Chester Bennington vocals" combined with the fact the band and label are both VERY aware the LP fans collect every single item with the band's name on it. The attention to detail here the band usually has on physical releases, including HT20 and M20, is just not there for this.

 

You need some degree of sensitivity when something with Chester comes out, for a billion reasons.

 

There are good aspects of this, of course - the Friendly Fire music video is fantastic. But who was really pushing/itching to do a release here? It sure doesn't look like the band, especially coming after Mike's comments about greatest hits collections. There are some personal notes from the band in this - you have to do SOME sort of press or statement when your name is on a release. But for something that comes out with their band's name on it, the attention to detail/care for this doesn't look even remotely comparable to anything the band has ever released previously. Even RECHARGED was significantly better.

 

"and record companies killed me, try to force me to stray and obey" - Rakim 

 

We all know this is all on WR. they become fkin greedy with the successful of M20. maybe they're tired of waiting for the band to move forward and release new album, so instead of waiting, "Hey let's put out Greatest Hits album and releases tons of fkin variation vinyls, fans gonna dig it!".

 

that's how label works. but hey, they owned them. and the label has right for everything. unlike GD, which you all know.. 🫣🤑

 

[Coizu]

The multiple versions of the same album in general is completely overdone right now and it needs to stop. TS is taking this to a whole new level with her upcoming album.

It's an insult to fans. There is no way arguing around it. Create one product that people want to buy. If you want to make bank, which is totally fine, make a package that is worth spending money on (like the anniversary bundles) but don't create the same product in different colors with the only goal to make people buy it multiple times. I don't know in which world this is acceptable from any artist.

 

And please don't start this "It'S aLl On ThE rEcOrD lAbEl" bullshit. LP was big enough to negotiate contractual terms in their favor, there is no way they are hostages of the record label (and they continuously repeated that they are very happy with their relationship with Warner anyway).

Edited February 24 by Coizu

[Qwerty18]

1 minute ago, Coizu said:

If you want to make bank, which is totally fine, make a package that is worth spending money on (like the anniversary bundles) but don't create the same product in different colors with the only goal to make people buy it multiple times. I don't know in which world this is acceptable from any artist

 

Yep, phrased like that, it's hard to disagree with this. 

[Stranger]

1 minute ago, Coizu said:

LP was big enough to negotiate contractual terms in their favor, there is no way they are hostages of the record label (and they continuously repeated that they are very happy with their relationship with Warner anyway).

 

as long as they still with the label, they cant do much. no matter how big you are. that's the reason why Taylor Swift f**k out her old label and recreating everything from the beginning. her fans is happy with it. so she won the battle.

 

"repeated that they are very happy with their relationship with Warner anyway" - you know they have to said it right.. it will be stupid for the band to against the label. 😂

 

let's hope one day LINKIN PARK fully owned the masters. and get off from these freaking label.

[RentEznor]

HT20 and M20 were extremely successful, even when Mike was very vocal about being against releasing some type of 'Greatest Hits'. Well, this was what I fear it would eventually happen, and I blame mostly on the label, even if the band had a lot of freedom to pretty much put whatever they wanted since the MTM/ATS days, Warner is a massive company, I truly hope the band finally goes independent one day. Having nothing from THP sounds like a dick move from the label, not the band, as allegedly they weren't big fans of that record.

Edited February 24 by RentEznor

[Soeffingnaive92]

As much as THP is my least favorite album by them, I totally agree with all of you that no THP is super weird and the label is the only one to blame (they’re guilty all the same, too sick to be ashamed!). Plus, yeah, the GH album is clearly due to the label pushing because of the great success of M20. Not a big fan of the release, but without it we would have never gotten FF that soon and QWERTY on Spotify.

[JZLP-Benningstrong]

6 hours ago, Qwerty18 said:

About Friendly Fire :  after a couple more listens,  I appreciate the track a bit more, but it is definitely nothing spectacular IMO. 

 

One thing that bugs me is how the instrumental gets no space to breath. From second 1, Chester is singing over a nice but forgettable sonic background. Everything feels compressed into the typical mid-tempo verse/chorus/verse/chorus/bridge/chorus structure. Take the same melodic idea, the same guitar layers, the same synths, but play a bit more with the dynamics,  add some short but sweet instrumental parts, experiment a bit more, and I'd like the song a lot more.

 

Nothing against the "verse/chorus" thing in itself. But if you go for it, I feel the song need to have other highlights to really shine, and I don't see those highlights here.

 

This post fits almost every OML song. Awful, basic, safe, repetitive, simple.

 

They praised that they worked a lot on the vocals but every song sounds like Chester is holding back, singing softly, very quiet.

 

It's a disgrace that this was his last album.

[ScottiePippo]

2 hours ago, LPLStaff said:

Up to 7 vinyls now. That's not a good look when the band their entire career has been so meticulous about every single merch item and thing they put out. OML had what, 3? A normal and 2 others?

Looks very cash grabby to do something like that when you have the press and fans running wild about "unreleased song featuring Chester Bennington vocals" combined with the fact the band and label are both VERY aware the LP fans collect every single item with the band's name on it. The attention to detail here the band usually has on physical releases, including HT20 and M20, is just not there for this.

 

You need some degree of sensitivity when something with Chester comes out, for a billion reasons.

 

There are good aspects of this, of course - the Friendly Fire music video is fantastic. But who was really pushing/itching to do a release here? It sure doesn't look like the band, especially coming after Mike's comments about greatest hits collections. There are some personal notes from the band in this - you have to do SOME sort of press or statement when your name is on a release. But for something that comes out with their band's name on it, the attention to detail/care for this doesn't look even remotely comparable to anything the band has ever released previously. Even RECHARGED was significantly better.

"Looks very cash grabby to do something like that when you have the press and fans running wild about "unreleased song featuring Chester Bennington vocals" combined with the fact the band and label are both VERY aware the LP fans collect every single item with the band's name on it."

Isn't that plain and simple supply and demand dynamics? I'm not a compulsive buyer and I think I'm responsable with my money. I'm going to buy the cd version because that is my preferred choice and I don't care what other people can afford to buy (if they can buy it all good for them, they do what they want with their money, and if they can't buy anything there's still free streaming). It feels like a lot of you are discovering capitalism recently or acts naive. What you are talking about (the fact that the band has always been meticulous about every single release and that there weren't X different version of the same thing) belongs to the past of the music industry. The trend is going in this direction for some time and there's not much you can do about it other than not buy everything like a maniac. The music industry is pushing is that direction to resurrect a little bit physical media and we all know that.
Also a greatest hits type of release has never been something that is renowned for being special in its attention to detail/care and almost always the band is not even remotely involved in it. This is a greatest hits release and compared to the standard compilation it's not bad at all imo. 

 

[Sukotto]

Only way the plethora of vinyl versions from publishers will stop is if people vote with their wallets, or lack there of in this case. 

Edited February 24 by Sukotto

[ChesterRTX]

It does seem a bit "out of blue" but I guess I just can't get enough of Chester's vocal or any Linkin Park music so thanks for releasing "Friendly Fire" and I hope those 5 guys are doing what they love and living happily (Mike's doing great apparently LOL).

There's a shot in the Music Video where Chester just walks into the studio. I still can't watch things like that. It just looks like he never leaves. But the reality is heartbroken in terms of that.

For the whole album: not really sure about the actual selection (For me maybe it would be great if they include "Final Masquerade", "Talking to Myself" or "Shadow of the Day"), but I guess that's between the label and the band? Love the idea of a cassette release though! Ready to restore one of my grandpa's old tape players!

Edited February 24 by ChesterRTX

[bloodbath]

My opinion about Papercuts could have this headline: I could live without it.

 

Besides my opinion about Friendly Fire, which I found enjoyable, but forgettable, there was no necessity to release this. 

 

To be honest, I knew that this "Queen-esque" movement was going to come, sooner or later, very glad though that it has been much later than what I would have expected. 

 

What I mean by "Queen-esque" is that LP has become a legacy artist, like Queen or Michael Jackson, whose label have been releasing compilations with a couple of new tracks/demos, to make happy both hardcore and casual fans. But during this time we had two marvelous boxsets, so I can't be mad. 

 

As some of you have pointed out, the fact that they're releasing 300 different vinyls it's a cashgrab... But that's how it works capitalism. 

 

Does make any sense at all to release this compilation on physical format? Maybe in 1989, but nowadays casual fans, which are the main target of this release, will just stream the record and won't spend anything. 

 

I can't see the sense of spending almost 20 bucks for a new track, even less to buy that pack with all the formats for almost the price of a box set. But the truth is, if labels keep doing it, must be because hardcore fans we're quite dumb sometimes. Has it always has been. Personally I'll buy it if the price lowers, but as I said above, it's existence doesn't bother me and I can live without it. 

 

One more thing: I don't think we will ever have a box set for LT onwards. Making those boxsets are huge investments and they're not popular enough to justify it. Perhaps we will just have a 2/3CDs edition or something like that. 

Edited February 24 by bloodbath

[ChesterRTX]

23 minutes ago, bloodbath said:

My opinion about Papercuts could have this headline: I could live without it.

 

Besides my opinion about Friendly Fire, which I found enjoyable, but forgettable, there was no necessity to release this. 

 

To be honest, I knew that this "Queen-esque" movement was going to come, sooner or later, very glad though that it has been much later than what I would have expected. 

 

What I mean by "Queen-esque" is that LP has become a legacy artist, like Queen or Michael Jackson, whose label have been releasing compilations with a couple of new tracks/demos, to make happy both hardcore and casual fans. But during this time we had two marvelous boxsets, so I can't be mad. 

 

As some of you have pointed out, the fact that they're releasing 300 different vinyls it's a cashgrab... But that's how it works capitalism. 

 

Does make any sense at all to release this compilation on physical format? Maybe in 1989, but nowadays casual fans, which are the main target of this release, will just stream the record and won't spend anything. 

 

I can't see the sense of spending almost 20 bucks for a new track, even less to buy that pack with all the formats for almost the price of a box set. But the truth is, if labels keep doing it, must be because hardcore fans we're quite dumb sometimes. Has it always has been. Personally I'll buy it if the price lowers, but as I said above, it's existence doesn't bother me and I can live without it. 

 

One more thing: I don't think we will ever have a box set for LT onwards. Making those boxsets are huge investments and they're not popular enough to justify it. Perhaps we will just have a 2/3CDs edition or something like that. 

I guess you're making a good point! I'm a fan from Mainland China. I spent 120% of the price for the box sets (customs duty or sth like that). For HT20 it's my first chance to ever possess any format of Hybird Theory EP. For Meteroa 20 it's I really love any previously unreleased live recordings. And both box sets are delicately designed.

But for Papercuts, I like "Friendly Fire", I really do, but I'm not movtivated to pay $100 for 2 sets of vinyls with different livery. I really like the idea of cassette though.

Looking foward to any MTM20 release! Personally that's my favourite LP album.

Edited February 24 by ChesterRTX

[RYG4R]

They're pulling a Taylor Swift situation here with the vinyl. That marketing chick really stir these corporate minds in making more vinyl variants.

 

I have no problem with these variants as long they have different tracklist on it. For example, swap QWERTY with Final Masquerade, swap LOATR with Shadow of the Day, Swap SIB with FTI, swap Crawling with Given Up, etc.

[bloodbath]

3 minutes ago, ChesterRTX said:

I guess you're making a good point! I'm a fan from Mainland China. I spent 120% of the price for the box sets (customs duty or sth like that). For HT20 it's my first chance to ever possess any format of Hybird Theory EP. For Meteroa 20 it's I really love any previously unreleased live recordings. And both box sets are delicately designed.

But for Papercuts, I like "Friendly Fire", I really do, but I'm not movtivated to pay $100 for 2 sets of vinyls with different livery. I really like the idea of cassette though.

Looking foward to any MTM20 release! Personally that's my favourite LP album.

Exactly, you can simply just ignore its existence, you're not less of a fan if you don't buy absolutely everything from the band. Personally I would have love the remix of Iridescent to avoid paying 100$ for the CD single, but it's not the end of the world 

[YRQRM0]

4 hours ago, ScottiePippo said:

"Looks very cash grabby to do something like that when you have the press and fans running wild about "unreleased song featuring Chester Bennington vocals" combined with the fact the band and label are both VERY aware the LP fans collect every single item with the band's name on it."

Isn't that plain and simple supply and demand dynamics? I'm not a compulsive buyer and I think I'm responsable with my money. I'm going to buy the cd version because that is my preferred choice and I don't care what other people can afford to buy (if they can buy it all good for them, they do what they want with their money, and if they can't buy anything there's still free streaming). It feels like a lot of you are discovering capitalism recently or acts naive. What you are talking about (the fact that the band has always been meticulous about every single release and that there weren't X different version of the same thing) belongs to the past of the music industry. The trend is going in this direction for some time and there's not much you can do about it other than not buy everything like a maniac. The music industry is pushing is that direction to resurrect a little bit physical media and we all know that.
Also a greatest hits type of release has never been something that is renowned for being special in its attention to detail/care and almost always the band is not even remotely involved in it. This is a greatest hits release and compared to the standard compilation it's not bad at all imo. 

 

 

Yeah I agree. Same thing as everyone complaining about the Already Over versions as if it's not a consequence of streaming and best practices for modern artists. I'd love LP to be an exception but as long as the business side exists, this is probably the tip of the iceberg 

 

We've also been seeing this for the merch too. A few HT and M20 shirts caught my eye out of seemingly dozens, and when I ordered them they were pretty poor quality and felt very "quantity over quality" to me

[OKCrew]

My one tiny nitpick is the exclusion of THP when the whole thing is 68 minutes, leaving time at least one (if not two) more songs. I think Final Masquerade would fit perfectly. Maybe the also wanted to keep the tracklist to 20, in which case Final Masquerade could replace LOATR imho

[Hybrid1988]

I’m pretty neutral on the whole thing. I can live without it, but its existence doesn’t really bother me. I am completely unsurprised that this release is happening and I’m actually surprised it didn’t drop sooner. LP has always been about making money. The constant merch they pump out for every little minor occasion shows that. 
 

I don’t see myself buying this. FF isn’t my thing and I already have Qwerty on disc. Will be curious to see if these sell once the hardcore fans are done purchasing every variant. I’m willing to be I’ll see a bunch of these sitting on the lonely vinyl shelf at Walmart next to Nirvana unplugged and Billie Eilish’s latest. 

[lpliveusername]

15 hours ago, Qwerty18 said:

About Friendly Fire :  after a couple more listens,  I appreciate the track a bit more, but it is definitely nothing spectacular IMO. 

 

One thing that bugs me is how the instrumental gets no space to breath. From second 1, Chester is singing over a nice but forgettable sonic background. Everything feels compressed into the typical mid-tempo verse/chorus/verse/chorus/bridge/chorus structure. Take the same melodic idea, the same guitar layers, the same synths, but play a bit more with the dynamics,  add some short but sweet instrumental parts, experiment a bit more, and I'd like the song a lot more.

 

Nothing against the "verse/chorus" thing in itself. But if you go for it, I feel the song need to have other highlights to really shine, and I don't see those highlights here.

These were basically my thoughts about Heavy when it came out. They talked a lot about doing vocals first and paying a lot of attentrion to vocals while creating the album and you can really tell this was the only thing they were concerned about in those two songs. They're just vocal after vocal without anything in between. Friendly Fire even starts with the "vocals and very light instrumentation" format that the band said was the early stages of the songs on One More Light. Heavy has a great build up during its bridge that I thought would lead to something amazing, but it just ends abruptly and goes back to the chorus. They really grew a lot as instrumentists during The Hunting Party, so I expected the instrumentals to be a little more elaborate on the follow up. Not another heavy album, but at least something that showed they put a little more effort in the instrumentals than what we ultimately got.

[Soeffingnaive92]

If Heavy was just Chester and FF replaced SFN, OML would be my 3rd fav record by the band. Outstanding song, probably my fav b-side of their career. Love the emotional and melancholic vibe and the way they arranged it. Strong strong song, 8/10

[ShineWolf]

All this "cash grab" talk, why people forget that this band is one of the most famous and successful like..ever? Do you really think that the label wouldn't put something like this? Lol I was actually shocked that it happens only now. Talkin about  the Chester new vocal thing, used for this, after 2017 I honestly saw one of the most respectful treatments of postum releases ever in music biz. If you don't think that, you honestly got no idea how bad it's out there. Just look at all the rappers we lost or even a MJ level of artist, people, labels even FAMILY suck the soul of the death artist to make a buck every 3 months with some kind of release...just talking about LP here. GD and features are another discussion.

Edited February 25 by ShineWolf

[PizzaPino]

Saying that Lost sounded too similar to Numb and then putting it right before Numb in this tracklist is wild. 

[RYG4R]

5 hours ago, PizzaPino said:

Saying that Lost sounded too similar to Numb and then putting it right before Numb in this tracklist is wild. 

 

I would've love LOST if they saved it for HYBRID THEORY, part 3.

 

Meteora was Hybrid Theory, part 2.

Edited February 25 by RYG4R

[ScottiePippo]

6 minutes ago, RYG4R said:

 

I would've love LOST if they saved it for HYBRID THEORY, part 3.

 

Meteora was Hybrid Theory, part 2.

No it wasn't

[mrfox]

At least this is a good sign that we will be getting new stuff. Hope this is last greatest hits compilation.

[PizzaPino]

9 hours ago, Somebodyangry said:

If Heavy was just Chester and FF replaced SFN, OML would be my 3rd fav record by the band. Outstanding song, probably my fav b-side of their career. Love the emotional and melancholic vibe and the way they arranged it. Strong strong song, 8/10

What do you have against SFN, it’s one of my favorite LP songs lol