Trumtram

On 3/27/2021 at 11:37 AM, Stranger said:

 

the problem here is your jokes is not really a joke. it's you being sarcastic and try to cover/labelled it as "jokes". it's getting bored and tired seeing your "jokes". not everything meant to be joke for.

Glad I'm not the only one feeling that.

In such a situation one could do one of two things: Take feedback and try to improve on it or ignore it because everyone else is just (naturally) wrong. Either way, the result is telling.

6 hours ago, RickLPL said:

So what were Mark's reasons for leaving the band, according to Jeff?

Basically that Mark felt like the weakest link because his performances weren't good (live and during recording). According to Jeff he lacked the quality of being a front man. So Mark got thrown out of the band rather than quitting because of anxiety issues, so the band could become a overall better package. It could be connected of course but it felt more drastic in Jeff's side of the story than what Mike told us. I mean sure, Mike doesn't need to go: "Well, he sucked so we threw him out of the band" but he made it seem much more "unfortunate" rather than it being a necessity at the time to take the next step. Which is obviously understandable with them being close friends.

I like both songs, "Stick 'n Move" and "Runaway". Especially the mood during the verse and Chester's performance on the latter are really enjoyable for me and set me back decades everytime I listen to it. Though I agree that "Stick 'n Move" would have been a cool song, too. But I have to say that I'm glad it became "Runaway".

Again we get the story of Mark's stage fright and since we still don't have the q&a with Jeff Blue online, there is a contradiction which I'm curious about. It might be possible that Mark suffered from stage fright which then impeded his performance which led to him getting kicked out of the band. But still I find it really interesting that Mike never mentioned anything close to what Jeff has written about in his book. Or put differently: Jeff never mentions stage fright.

Thanks yor the write up and the cool infos!

17 hours ago, lpliveusername said:

Then not long after the album came out they released an EP (3 more vinyls, mind you)

What?

Oh boy... Well, yeah. That seems a tiny bit excessive.

16 hours ago, PurpleFlinstoneVitamins92 said:

Releasing HQ versions of already existing tracks (exactly the same of HT20) is a dick move...ok 

Once again, comparing it to HT20 doesn't add up for a variety of reasons and is useless whataboutism.

Anyway. Let's see what they come up with when "Amends II" drops...

Comparing this to the HT20 set doesn't work (whataboutism in general is no answer). Much of the contents were out beforehand, yes, but most of it was LPU stuff which was never officially available to the wider public. Plus it was a celebration for the original album with new unseen DVDs, a couple new demos, first time LP release of HTEP etc.

With "Stripped" I find it irritating to release some of these versions on different releases for "Amends" (or even in the 90s) and then make an EP from those. Of course with limited vinyl stuff and everything. "Amends" was crazy in this regard but at least it was a special release, so I could see past that. This feels like leftover/rehashing for a quick buck. Having it for free on streaming platforms doesn't absolve it because that is just natural and counts for ALL music releases.

It just leaves a slightly sour taste, that's all.

And just to be clear: I critizised many LP releases in the past, too. Having special editions for 100s of dollars felt excessive at times. This is no "my team is better than yours" kind of stuff. We should be better than that ;).

Oh wow, I never really went for the "cash grab" argument, but this is... something I suppose.

I listened to the original version quite a bit and it felt like the same song version sound-wise.

On 1/28/2021 at 10:47 PM, PurpleFlinstoneVitamins92 said:

except for Syndrome that was mind bending, totally different vocal take.

Isn't that basically the same version as the piano version from the 90s?

Reminds me of "Coal" a bit.

That was a great read. I enjoyed the style and had to go through the whole thing in one day. I never really had an opinion about Jeff and his time with the band. But I guess we all should thank him and his efforts because he was probably THE key factor of LP becoming the band we all came to love.

His perspective felt sincere and self-reflecting, coming to terms with mistakes he made under immens pressure. But I totally get why especially Mike didn't take this situation so well. Still, without Jeff this band probably would have never happened in any familiar shape or form.

Personally the book was everything I hoped for and it amazed me how much information we still missed through 20+ years of the band existing. Reliving those days from an inside perspective made me smile a lot.

9 hours ago, Ru551anR0ck3t said:

Crist I remember back in the day when just finding Phoenix Mason Jar 2000 and KROQ X-Mas 2000 and 2001s in any type of video was the holy grail, lol

Holy shit! Nice to see you again ! And yeah. I vividly remember both 2000 shows as being our holy grail back then (+ Modesto 2000 for me personally).

It's so funny that Mike brought this on himself again by mentioning something we didn't know about. But I after HT20 I'm so content with everything, I don't feel the need to holy grail this one.

This is so great!

Holy fuck. PR 02 is incredible. Wasn't there talks about a live dvd that got scrapped? Because this looks like a fleshed out production. It's so interesting because it seems like "Live in Texas" was a concept that got tried before. It's basically LIT in 02 at a arena show. The sound is awesome, clear but with some rawness to it. The setlist is great with so many highlights (OSC had me laughing out loud!) and finally having this incredible "My Own Summer" video is a holy grail by itself. I never would've thought that Mike was so prominent on it and did in fact do a large chunk of lead vocals. Crazy! Oh, and "My December" <3! And so much more!

The editing is a bit messy at times, but many songs feel like they could be a live music video which makes the whole thing even more enjoyable. The transitioning in between songs is weird, though. Probably has to do with some cutting back and forth between shows. Nevertheless, what a great show and a true gem to have. Next up: Frat Party 2  

Joe specifically talks about the 4-track they had to use for recording but mentions it for the songs after the 3-song demo. There might be something to this which is funny considering how we thought with HT20 this early chapter of the band might find rest :D.

Of course this might be the case of Joe mixing stuff up like Mike did in the past. But we should at least keep this on our radar. Maybe Joe mixed up "By Myself" with "Esaul" as that one was worked on with Mark besides "Rhinestone".

But he mentions this 3-song demo twice (in both his videos I think). At first I thought he got the Xero tape wrong because it's 4 songs and 1 1/2 made it on the album. But then he mentions it again that they started on the next batch of songs after the original show case 3-song tape which became the 4-song Xero tape (presumably). Never knew of that and I doubt there is a lot left from it after all this time (see the "Rhinestone" audition tape rip).

I haven't listened to it yet, but "Dialate" might be one of those songs.

Btw: The videos contain more little bits of information which is not in the written version.

So now we have a new holy grail with the three-song demo before the Xero tape? Boy oh boy...

On 8/20/2020 at 1:29 AM, hahninator said:

However, we do have an LPLive project in the works, maybe with the same name, maybe different, to host all of the shows on a server. Audio first, then video. I actually finished all of 2000 and started on 2001 but then a few months ago I got distracted on all of the Linkinpedia stuff. So I edited like, thousands of wiki pages for a long time. I need to get back with it.

Oh wow! I actually thought about this a couple days ago. How cool would it be to have all the HT era shows, especially with HT20 on the horizon. Looking forward to it

Seeing what they did with the other songs on "Amends" there are a lot of possibilities for a banger.

Hopefully my boy "Saturation" will get the treatment.

Oh, for sure. There was some ridiculous stuff in the past. I'm actually really happy that didn't go overboard this time around.

@hahninator

Thank you for the long post. It just baffles my mind how anyone could call this a cash grab. There is so much stuff in there that 180ish currency units are an incredible price for value. It proves that you can do your very best and still people will try to call you out for it. This could've gone for a bit more and would still be a great package.

Compared to the Xero tape, I was shocked at how bad Mark sounded overall. Could hardly recognize him. But I have no real idea anymore on how the song went aside from the obvious melody we all knew before. Plus I think the version we are getting will sound a lot more clean and better produced. I imagine the difference being like between "Rhinestone" from the Xero tape and the "Forgotten" demo.

47 minutes ago, hahninator said:

That'd be great. Hopefully they do Meteora. HT20 is going to have to have very good sales for them to even consider it, most likely.

 

My top ones are probably:
1. Thoughts That Take Away My Pride

2. No Roads Left w/ Chester

3. In Between w/ Chester

4. Friendly Fire

5. Rob's Meteora drum track

Meteora is probably one of their most well known albums which is considered by many to be a classic. After MTM they lost a lot of their earlier fans. The first two albums are often in the run for best LP album by more casual people. Plus I think it would make a great package overall because there was a lot more stuff during that era.

Oh, and obviously "No Roads Left" with Chester  would be on my top 2 list, too.

15 hours ago, LPLStaff said:

06. Rob's Meteora drum track

This one is it for me. Ever since I watched the LPTV episode for the very first time in... January(?) 2003 (imagine all the hype after so much time without any real new LP stuff!) I couldn't get it out of my head. To this day I catch myself humming the melody of this thing and I hope we'll get it with Meteora20 (which has to be a thing). For all I know it could be the same as "Thoughts That..." but however it may be, receiving this song will be a full circle kind of thing for me.

Pretty much all my holy grails are from the HT and Meteora days. So one down, one more to go ;).