gorast

Man, they're just taking hit after hit in JK, aren't they? First Brandon and now Elias. Of course Brian Welch is the one to get Elias to tell everyone, considering he did literally the same thing in 2005 with KoRn.

When did you change your sig? Anyway, here we go. No order to these, but they are in sort of chronological order. Sort of. High Voltage [2000 Reprise] - This, I think, was the first indicator that Mike could really go all-out with his rapping if he wanted to. From Hybrid Theory [EP] through Collision Course, Mike's rapping was very...robotic, emotionless in the studio, really. Like, you could feel the emotions that were being conveyed, but you sure as hell couldn't hear them. The 2000 reprise of High Voltage wasn't like that. There, you could hear the intensity, hear the fierceness in Mike's voice. You could tell he was really into it. Why this song was cut from Hybrid Theory I'll never understand. Reading My Eyes - Speaking of emotion, Reading My Eyes (and the whole demo tape for that matter) had the bite that I was talking about in the first paragraph. Maybe it was due to the presumably live nature of the recording (or as live as it could be), or how young they were, I don't know. In any case, Reading My Eyes is a beast of a song, even in the shit-ass quality that it tends to be floating around the net. When I heard it on LPU 6, I freaked out. The song's content was quite different from pre-2007 LP, as well, with topics usually only touched on in Mike's solo songs, be it with LP or Fort Minor. FRGT/10 - Reanimation was one of those rare remix albums that just takes the original, smashes it to pieces, and reassembles it into something completely different, in a damn good way. FRGT/10 is probably the best example of this, throwing away the original instrumental, both verses being re-recorded with references to every previous version of Forgotten, heavy as fuck bass, and of course, the best guest verse on the entire album, courtesy of Chali 2na. You want to sum up Reanimation in one song? Here's your fucking song (preferably with the [Chali] skit preceding it). Pushing Me Away - I wanted to say the piano version, because it's really a beautiful arrangement, but it also ditches the best parts of the original, so we'll go with the original here. There's a reason Hybrid Theory ends with PMA, and it's because this song is one of the best on the album, and one of the best of LP's entire pre-2007 output. While it (and HT and Meteora in general) reek of a teenage-esque angst, PMA definitely does it in one of the best ways. The trading of lines in the pre-chorus and bridge between Chester and Mike is some of the best in LP's catalogue, and the energy in the song just carries fantastically throughout. The bridge in PMA is one of my favorites as well. Standing in the Middle - So far I've hit a whopping one main album track. Off to a great start. Anyway, Standing in the Middle is really a hilarious song to me, particularly because of Motion Man's verse. Like, yeah it's a serious song, but the way Mike and Motion call out to each other throughout the song, it just sounds like they're having way too much fun with it. This would've been way better on Reanimation than X-Ecutioner Style, even though that song probably fits better in the context of the album. The Little Things Give You Away - What can even be said about this song? For seven years we waited for LP to break the "verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge in 3 and a half minutes" mold that they'd been stuck in, and when they finally did, at the end of an album that certainly challenged the fans they'd gained (though that challenge was nothing compared to what we'd get three years later), it defied the expectations I'd set for it when we first heard about it in interviews. The slow build-up throughout the song, exploding into a powerful, emotional (albeit rather simple) solo from Brad, and then somehow building even more into the ridiculously grand vocal outro, capped off the album that, in my mind, set the band on the track to stay relevant, to become, finally, a band "for adults", as derogatory as that sounds. No Roads Left - And then we have No Roads Left. The primary b-side of the MTM era (though we'd get several more through 2010), this song showed off, in a much better fashion than In Between, just what Mike Shinoda was capable of when he wanted to "pull a Chester", so to speak. And while he certainly is no Chester, Mike's voice isn't something to brush off like it's nothing, because goddamn is it something. This was the song that made me want to hear way more of Mike's singing voice, and what we had at the time sure as hell wasn't enough. Iridescent - Iridescent is, in my opinion, the highest point of A Thousand Suns, an album that certainly has quite a few high points. The way the song builds, starting off with just a piano, and ending with a cacophony of sound, is fantastic, and the trading of vocal duties between Mike and Chester is top-notch. I think Mike's singing voice was at its best on the album here, along with the end of Blackout. Waiting for the End - Of the three songs with Mike's rapping on the album, Waiting for the End was my absolute favorite, even if it had the smallest amount of rapping. The way he delivers the verse is different from his usual style (a norm for this album), and I think it worked pretty well. One thing I don't like about the live performances of this is how Chester doubles the rapped verse. Bro, just let Mike have his time to shine, you get to rap in Blackout. Chill out. Burning in the Skies - And we end with this, the first real track of A Thousand Suns and the first song to hint at the overall theme of the album. And what a theme it was. I know a lot of people aren't fond of the slower, downbeat songs that LP puts out, but they're actually my favorite ones, personally. I like when I can just sit back and be immersed in atmospheric songs like Burning in the Skies. This was also our first taste of Mike's new, stronger singing style, where he seemed to have more practice and was more comfortable in his voice. Burning in the Skies is probably my favorite track from ATS, maybe second to Iridescent. BONUS: Issho ni - I didn't include this in the main list because let's be honest here, this is a Mike Shinoda song, not a Linkin Park song. But still, it's my absolute favorite Linkin Park instrumental. It's just so...meaningful, even without a single lyric. It's one of those songs that gets across the message without having to say it - the message of "We're here to help." The message of "You'll get through this. Have hope." It's a powerful song if you listen. So, what's the tally? Xero - 1 Hybrid Theory and b-sides - 2 Reanimation - 1 LPU 4.0 - 1 Minutes to Midnight - 2 A Thousand Suns - 3 HONORABLE MENTIONS: P5hng Me A*wy, My<DSMBR, Breaking the Habit, Nobody's Listening, Step Up, In Pieces, Valentine's Day, Across the Line, Blackout, Numb/Encore/Yesterday (2006 Grammys), The Radiance (Live), Pale, Slip

/thread

Seriously with the shit about the mixer? The dude's mixing the album, it's not like he's writing the damn songs. He's the last person that I'd look at to blame if the album sounds like shit. LP fans will find absolutely anything to complain about, I swear.

Is that a legit bundle?

It's just the tone of the article that pisses me off, like the author thinks he's the sole judge of what's "cool" and what's not. When you're writing about something that you don't usually write about and therefore you know is going to attract a different crowd (like this article), it's best to keep it more neutral than how the article actually sounds.

The article was pretty informative, but I'm not a fan of the writing style, particularly how pretentious the opening paragraphs are. I guess if you're a regular reader it makes sense, but for someone who's going to read about a band they really like, that's an awful way to open your article. "Yeah this band used to be on my bullshit radar but then I pulled my head out of my ass." Good job. But this article did make me somewhat more excited to hear the album.

Don't get your hopes up for an actual additional studio track for the Japanese release. Look at the Japanese releases for literally any album and it's usually live tracks. This looks like it'll be a great resource. Thanks for putting it up.

Oh my god don't even get me started on those albums.

It seems like he's just messing with us like usual, though.

Twenty bucks too much for you? That's a damn shame.

Sorry we don't all follow the setlists obsessively like you. Chill the fuck out.

Regarding swearing, it doesn't really matter to me either way. If Mike drops the f-bomb a few times in his verses, so be it. If Chester screams out "FUUUUUCK" once or twice, whatever. I don't understand the idea that not swearing is taking a high road of some sort. That's a pompous way of thinking. Music, good music, isn't highly processed, factory-made garbage. It's emotional, instinctual. I hope those track times posted earlier end up being accurate. But if Mike said something else, then I'll take that too.

I like how Mike absolutely couldn't hold up the facade once Chester outed him. He just totally gave up. Pretty good interview, really.

I doubt there's going to be any other edition besides the ones we have now. Announcing them after the pre-order start date would be a dick move on behalf of LP. Even if they weren't ready, they could be announced and put on the website for pre-order anyway. Don't hold your breath for anything like that. I think the most we'll get are foreign gimmicky editions, maybe a Tour Edition. I just hope that the live DVD for this cycle is released worldwide.

I forgot about Faint. Same with Figure.09, too. So in reality there's no reason to assume it's an instrumental beyond "we all want an instrumental and that seems like the one most likely to be an instrumental." And the fact that it's in the HT/Meteora "instrumental" spot in the tracklist.

We're not "so sure", we're thinking it because the title is a title that, in theory, couldn't be put in the chorus of a song. Unless it's a Papercut situation where the title isn't even in the lyrics.

nothing else to do really

Three hours would certainly be a disaster the way LP does shows currently. I think, with the tour schedule that LP seems to be doing now, two hours could be doable, and could leave the fans going home happy. Two 90-minute sets could work for the HC tour, maybe if the tickets weren't 100 dollars.

I swear I said something like this two pages ago I think, honestly, that's where the similarities will end regarding HT and LT. Tinfoil certainly sounds like an instrumental track title, but we have no idea what it'll sound like.

Clear your cache. That's what did it for me. Then go straight to livingthings.linkinpark.com, don't even bother with the bid subdomain.

Man, those preorders are even worse than the Europe ones. I'll pass on that one. Amazon it is for me this time.

http://linkinpark.warnerartists.net/eu/ Oh look at that. No Making of DVD? No Super Deluxe Fan Edition? Yeah I mad. Maybe when it gets put up on the US site they'll be there. As US-centric and shitty as that sounds.

Only date anywhere near me is Georgia and that's the one day I absolutely cannot make it.

Welcome back to 2000, kids. If Tinfoil is an instrumental I'll scream "2000" the entire time I'm listening to the album.