Halo is great. One of LP's best instrumentals. What We Don't Know is a decent song. The rest? Pretty forgettable.
I guess Coal and Stick'n Move from LPU9 are somehow remastered. I can't believe the band achieved such a great quality. Otherwise, that would be pretty awesome considering these tracks are between ten and 13 years old. Anyway, I agree with you that the band is capable of so much more. In my opinion, A-six, the original Faint demo, Pale and Halo have the potential to be a lot better than their current work. Their current music might have more complex elements but in my opinion they don't really fit. I also like more guitar work, but that's a matter of taste. Halo as an example seems to be a perfect fusion between Rock, electronic elements and nice beats. The elements are simple, but they really fit. To me, this is the real Linkin Park sound. I can't imagine how this song might have turned out with a bit more work. I can't understand how this song got voted out. I also agree on Mike's raps. Man, those vocals on I have not begun are totally awesome. Even Divided stands out. I'm not sure if this track uses a drum machine. In case this track contains Rob's drumming, this is pretty dope. I know LP won't return to their original 2002-ish sound from these demos, but hopefully they'll bring back the spirit and maybe heavy guitars and cool rapping. I don't ask for their HT/Meteora sound because in my opinion these demos do not sound like these albums. They're more emotional, combine different elements in a better way. Don't flame me, it's just an opinion.
Im missing something really important: Comments. I mean sure the demos are awesome but I would like to know why they havent chosen this song to be on the album, if this demo is the pre-version of any song...etc. They gave us stuff about we just know the date and title. Not under which conditions they've been recorded (i.e NRG studios, Mike/Joe's studio...on the road!) And what about these different studios in which Mike (or the band) recorded some stuff? Ive read an interview that he has been to one in Germany as well! Maybe Mike will write something about them on his blog soon.
I believe the demos have likely been remastered, as the Hybrid Theory EP was given a remaster treatment (if I'm not mistaken) before it was re-released. It's pretty impossible to be that 'clear' based on their very limited tech at the time. And I agree...Halo reminds me so much of what I considered to be the signature LP sound. Apart from the generic bridge/power-chords during the end...the track is more complex than anything we got from Meteora. It's a very emotional track, even without lyrics.
Yep, the lyrics on I Have Not Begun aren't that impressive. Maybe they are compared to some of their other existing work, but that would say more about what it's being compared to. It's a load of basic figures of speech strung together, pretty much. It's the same as usual, I guess it's interesting to listen to but none of it really blows my mind or anything and with one or two exceptions I think it's fair enough that they didn't bother taking most of it forward.
Because they haven't 'linkinparkinized' it yet, just like Pretend to Be. Pale is my fav out of the ten, really has that Kenji + Lockjaw feeling, which I both love.
Not really. The base structure, melody lines and the overall sound feels very generic. I don't think it would've sounded radically different after "linkinpark-izing" it.
Which is likely why they kept it a demo, probably wasn't different enough for their tastes. It's a GREAT song though.
It's basically a message about people who know something but are afraid to say it. "We fake what we don't know." I REALLY like this song. Like a lot. But I agree that it was good that it stayed a demo.