Reanimation

by

Linkin Park

Edit

Linkin Park's "Reanimation" is a remarkable CD. Many people I know said they wouldn't buy it because they assumed it was just a collection of extended, watered-down versions of their originals. Untrue. Each song is completely unique from it's parent, often times barely resembling it. With each song they took it to the next level, sometimes rerecording/rewriting the entire vocal or rap section to make it different from the original. "Pushing Me Away" comes to mind as a great example of this. So there's the first thing - this is not just a pale reflection of "Hybrid Theory"; it's completely fresh takes on the songs, including some previously unreleased cuts only available to LP fan club members.

Although they used a dozen different producers throughout the CD it has an amazing continuity to it. The same melodic string and piano motifs appear throughout each recording, connecting it in a surreal way. There is only one production that seems out of place to me, and it's on the worst possible song - "In The End." This was their biggest hit from "Hybrid Theory" and fans were expecting more out of it than any other cut on the record (at least I was). They destroyed it. The producers gave the song a shuffle feel and laced it with the "yo-yo-yo" street thing, rather than the more rapcore attitudes that permeate the rest of "Reanimation." Terrible.

Fortunately, though, the rest of the CD shines. This may be the first record, with the exception of "Hybrid Theory," that utilizes the newest technology for the good of music, not for the worse of it. Here's a brief explanation.

Music is done entirely on computers today. There is no more tape. Only hard drives. We can now work with music in a similar way that a writer works with a word processor - just cut and paste. The result has been the demise of music. We now have tools of unbelievable power, undreamt of only ten years ago, yet the quality of music has steadily gotten worse. Why? Because the tools are so powerful and simplified that unqualified musicians can now use them. Performances can always be "fixed later" so a good performance doesn't really matter anymore. The vocals can be tuned, the drums can be put in time - not need to waste precious studio time on perfectionism. That's if you're lucky enough to be in a studio. Most of these systems are in the producer's house, which brings us to the second reason for demise - location. We no longer need 84 channel consoles and racks upon racks of outboard gear. It's all in the computer. Anyway, I'm going off a little too much. The point is, music quality is declining because enormous power is now in the hands of people who aren't qualified to have it.

Linkin Park, however, has used this power for good. They've managed to use it to produce new sounds we've never heard before and to overall improve the quality of their sounds. On "Reanimation" the editing is used as an instrument as much as anything else.

Make sure to stick with every song because they often turn midway through into some new, amazing section. Track 7 comes to mind as a production with a less interesting first half that ends up providing the best moment on the album in the outro. If you liked "Hybrid Theory" I can't imagine you wouldn't love "Reanimation."

"Opening" is beautiful. It raised my hopes... probably too much.

As much as I'd like to say this is a fabulous album, it's only "good"--and that's gotta hurt, coming from a real Linkin Park fan.

What was good? When the electronics got used to their full capability in songs like Pts. Of. Athrty, Wth>You, Frgt/10, By_Myslf, and especially 1stp Klosr, the songs were dramatically enhanced by it. The newer beats and more complex backing was a major improvement. When two great vocal talents collided in the stunning "Krwlng" mix, it was beautiful, powerful--everything the original was not. For these songs, Linkin Park can be commended.

However, all is not good on this disc. Linkin Park is a great band because of their ability to combine rap with excellent rock; both work because they have a good rapper (Mike Shinoda) and a fabulous rock singer (Chester Bennington). I've never been a fan of the rap side of it, but it works.

On Reanimation, however, the band saw fit to let other random artists put random tracks in random places on this exceedingly random CD. "X-Ecutioner Style" is a good example. It starts off with a few mangled samples of "One Step Closer", and moves into a rap song. From a different band. With no other mention of Linkin Park anywhere in it. What IS this?

That song, more than anything, got me extremely annoyed at this album. Why did they decide to let some random band create a completely unrelated song on their CD? Oh, I forgot.. they use the words "Shut Up!" from One Step Closer as their chorus. Does that qualify this as Linkin Park material? Or even a remix? No.

Likewise, H! Vltg3 is a through-and-through rap song. At least Mike is a good rapper, but still.. this is not at all what I wanted to hear.

Throughout the entire CD are phone messages left on Mike's answering machine--another example of completely pointless filler that has NOTHING to do with the music at all.

And then comes the song which totally ruins it for me. What they have done to "In the End" is just inexcusable. They have taken a song that was undoubtedly the best on Hybrid Theory and have proceeded to tear it apart piece by piece. First, the gorgeus piano in the first is replaced by a honky-tonk. Next, the soaring vocals of Chester are gone, and the entire thing is redone by a random rapper named "Motion Man" who completely changes the style of the lyrics into something far less meaningful than before. Next, they speed it up a bit, losing all emotion whatsoever. And finally, "Motion Man" has to let everyone know that "in the beginning, there was Linkin Park, and then came funkmaster Flex with a remix". This song makes me just want to strangle "Motion Man", as I'm sure many other fans feel the same way.

Don't buy this album. Buy Meteora, which thankfully is extremely good. This one hopefully won't be remembered as one of Linkin Park's, as it basically isn't thanks to "Motion Man" and whoever the Executioners are. After completely ruining the album for me, I can't possibly recommend this.