Exclusive: LPU 9 Acetate Demos

Summary

The LP Underground CDs started as a tradition for the band to give back to their fans by the way of exclusive songs that couldn't be heard anywhere else. While LPU 1.0 featured a re-release of the Hybrid Theory EP, LPU 2.0, LPU 4.0, LPU 6.0 and LPU 8.0 featured rare songs, demos, remixes and more from the band, with the 3.0, 5.0 and 7.0 CDs alternating and featuring live content over the years. This would all change in fall 2009 when LPU 9.0 was released, however.

On November 10, 2009, a tracklisting for the upcoming LPU album leaked in Japan, prompting a storm of sorts across the Linkin Park community. For the first time, nine songs were featured and a mix of demos with unreleased songs prompted fans to say that this was easily the best LPU CD ever released.

Mike premiered the tracklisting on his blog on November 11, 2009, the next day, saying,

"As promised, here’s the big announcement about the LP Underground 9 fan club package for 2010.

The package will be available in December. As usual, LPU members are eligible for in-person meet-and-greets with the band at shows and other special events. All members receive the LPU newsletter and collectible items, and access to the LPU fan club community…but the real gem here is the LPU9 CD. Here’s this year’s track listing:

1 – A-Six (Original Long Version 2002)

2 – Faint (Demo 2002)

3 – Sad (“By Myself” Demo 1999)

4 – Fear (“Leave Out All the Rest” Demo 2006)

5 – Figure.09 (Demo 2002)

6 – Stick And Move (“Runaway” Demo 1998)

7 – Across The Line (Unreleased Demo 2007)

8 – Drawing (“Breaking The Habit” Demo 2002)

9 – Drum Song (“Little Things Give You Away” Demo 2006)

For those of you who have been keeping track, “Across The Line” is a brand new, unreleased song. It was recorded during the “Minutes To Midnight” sessions, and was originally entitled “Japan.” We know a lot of the fans on the LPU boards have wanted to hear this song, in its entirety, for a long time. We’re putting it on the LPU9 CD for you!"

On October 31, 2011, more than two years after the release, bpercy (a well respected Linkin Park trader for many years) posted a thread on LPLive saying, "Today I randomly grabbed my LPU 9.0 CDR acetate from Central Europe (Germany) and put it in my Xbox. The CD itself is pictured here. I get to the second track as I'm updating my collection website on my laptop and I thought the CD was skipping so restarted it (Faint) and realized the intro was something I've never heard before. Very cool intro indeed. So a little more discovery and I found that Sad and Across the Line also have extended intros (at least) or are completely different tracks." Sometimes promo acetate discs leak or are put up on eBay after a release, which is what happened in this case.

As soon as we found the songs, we went to Linkin Park's management to confirm the authenticity of them, but we were told they are fan remixed and fake. Seeing as how this could almost be impossible specifically due to the extended 'Across The Line' intro, we pressed further and Adam responded the next day by saying, "I have some good news for you. The songs are legit. I finally found the file Mike sent me before we went to mastering. The extended intros are there. Congrats! I'm REALLY confused at how this stuff got put on a promo CD in Europe. Strangest thing ever!!"

This one might be able to be chalked up to pure luck, as it's very possible someone made a mistake and sent the wrong versions of the songs to Europe to be put on an acetate demo CD. Luck or not, we are grateful that they surfaced. While this was the first actual disc of demos that the band had officially released, still with the release of this CD, it became apparent for the first time that the band might be editing demos again before they were released.

Moving on to actual differences...

Faint - As the original sample of the song starts, it slows down drastically, remixed to the point where it becomes something new before it gives way to three drum hits as the normal drums follow immediately afterward. LPU track length - 3:11; Acetate length - 3:28.

Sad - There are no big differences with Sad, but the song is extended another 12 seconds from the version on the CD. LPU track length - 1:08; Acetate length - 1:20.

Across The Line - The song features an extended, full-band instrumental to start the song that builds up before giving way to the quiet intro heard on LPU 9. This is the same instrumental piece used in the bridge of the song, this time without vocals. LPU track length - 3:10, Acetate length - 3:47.

http://lplive.net/downloads/stream/linkin_park-across_the_line.mp3

These demos on the acetate were very likely the original demo recordings, before they were edited down for release. Because of this acetate demo, speculation from fans continues this day of whether other LPU songs are edited at some points before release.

Download

Note: Faint, Sad and Across The Line only. Tracks identical to official release withheld. The complete album is available as a digital download from LPU.

FLAC (zip)

mp3 (zip)

You can find the original thread for the release here, the thread for the LPU 9 release here, and the thread for the leak of the tracklisting from, Japan here.