Customer Reviews

Songs from the Underground Ep

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As an intro, Songs from the Underground consists of six popular Linkin Park Underground (fan site exclusive) tracks from the past seven years and two never-released live tracks ("Hunger Strike" and "My December").

The EP itself was an enjoyable listen that brought back some good memories. Most of the songs could fit right in with Hybrid Theory and Meteora tracks.

"Announcement Service Public" is a short instrumental intro track, nothing special.
"QWERTY" is my personal favorite, a track with Chester's signature screams and actual rapping from Mike Shinoda. Really reminded me of the Hybrid Theory years.
"And One" is also a solid track, reminiscent of Hybrid Theory songs.
"Sold My Soul to Yo Mama is one of LP's signature instrumental tracks, with snippets of "Papercut" and some serious beats/scratches.
"Dedicated" is another standout song, with Mike Shinoda rapping throughout. Similar to "Hands Held High" but "dedicated to the kids/Dedicated to wherever music lives."
"Hunger Strike" is actually a live version sung by Chris Cornell featuring Chester.
"My December" is a piano version, recorded live during the Projekt Revolution 2008 tour. A very nice performance, with Chester belting out the lyrics with angst and desire.
"Part of Me" is the last song, another Hybrid Theory era track. A good end to the EP, with a hidden instrumental at the end of the song.

Overall, this is EP is well put together, ideal for LP fans who have not heard these songs through Linkin Park Underground.
It's also just a good CD to listen to if a wave of nostalgia hits from listening to newer LP songs. This was Linkin Park at its earliest, arguably at its finest. Respect and remember.

This is really good stuff from Linkin Park. Though I already had a few of these songs in my collection, I really appreciate the selection and the composition of the 8-song e.p..This music is as cool and slick as anything from Linkin Park yet.

I'm what one might call a closet Linkin Park fan. I loved Hybrid Theory for years, liked Meteora all right for a while, and haven't even bothered picking up Minutes to Midnight after I listened to a friend's copy and didn't think much of it.

Then comes Songs from the Underground. I'll admit, I wasn't expecting much when I bought this, but I was clinging to the hope that some of the older demo tracks might be good.

They're more than good. "Qwerty" is possibly the most aggressive song ever written by Linkin Park, the two live tracks are outstanding, and (I kid you not) Chester lays down some Layne Staley-style vocals on "Part of Me."

The only negative thing I can say about this EP is that the instrumental track "Sold My Soul to Yo Mama" is pretty boring. I prefer the hidden instrumental at the end of "Part of Me" to this track.

Please, Linkin Park, revert to your old ways and give us more songs like "Qwerty" and "And One." Great EP, pick it up pronto.

dont get me wrong, i love linkin park and happen to know first hand how good these songs are, but 14.99? seriously? do yourself a favor and drive or even walk to best buy and get this cd for 6.99 or just go to the lp website. now this is no bad talk or slander about amazon in fact most everything ive bought was under any price i could find, but as far as used items go, these sellers apparently dont believe in depreciated value. trust me, the gallon of gas is worth it.

This small EP is for die-hard fans of Linkin Park only. None of the songs on here interest me that much, but that's not to say I don't like these songs. They are still listenable, but these songs weren't good enough to be put on their other three albums. Now, I wonder why High Voltage wasn't featured.

Rating: 2.5 stars/5 stars

If you're familiar with with just how deep Linkin Park's discography goes, you'll notice that there's plenty of essentials missing from Linkin Park's expansive and ever growing Underground series. Its a fair starter if you haven't heard any of these fine rarities before. But at only eight tracks, it feels like a great opportunity was passed up -- especially seeing how difficult it is to obtain any of the LPU releases. Where is "High Voltage"? Where is their live performance of "Reading My Eyes"? And what about the fantastic Crystal Method remix of "Points of Authority"? The list could go on and on.

This album is an EP with a bunch of demos released to the LPU (Linkin Park Underground), yes, but it is not very broad. And One and Part of Me were originally released on the ORIGINAL Hybrid Theory EP then re-released on LPU 1.0. Announcement Service Public and Qwerty were off of LPU 6. To be honest, the songs that I believe you would really need to buy this album for are Dedicated and My December, because you can get Qwerty almost anywhere, and definitely the entire HTEP. If you can, buy the songs you want (or don't already own.) However, buying the whole thing isn't worth it.

First of all I'm a huge Linkin Park fan and I dig pretty deep to find rare tracks and releases.

Track 1 "Announcement Public Service" - Piano and effected drums make this track sound like it would have been released on LP's third album, Minutes to Midnight. Chester's muffled background screaming make any possible lyrics undecipherable.
Track 2 "Qwerty (Studio Version)" - Starts heavy and sounds characteristic of LP's early work (between Chester's and Mike's alternating vocals and rapping). Great track. Doesn't sound like the mixing process was 100% done when the track was put on the album.
Track 3 "And One" - Also characteristic of LP's early work. Sounds like a second track enters about 3:00 in. Great work by Mr. Hahn. Fully mixed and sounds like pretty good track.
Track 4 "Sold My Soul To Yo Mama" - Very obviously an early or remixed version of Papercut (Hybrid Theory). Lots of effects by Mr. Hahn.
Track 5 Dedicated (Demo 1999)" - Fully mixed track featuring vocals rapped exclusively by Mike Shinoda. Effected rap drum beat, lots of Mr. Hahn goodness too.
Track 6 "Hunger Strike [Live]" - The well known Chris Cornell track performed live featuring Chester Bennington of Linkin Park. Love it, downside is that this track would not synch to my iPod.
Track 7 "My December [Live]" - LP-style piano and vocals make an amazing slow song. Easily one of LP's best slow songs, hands down.
Track 8 "Part of Me" - Heavy guitar and rap vocals (Mike Shinoda) make a great classical LP-sounding track. Good balance of rap and singing. Hidden track starts at approximately 10:00. (All instrumental effects and drums track)

Overall this album was a rock 'n rollin good time. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
I'm The Pilot, and this product is PILOT-APPROVED!

I am a big fan of Linkin Park which may explain why I was expecting more and ended up disappointed. A number of the tracks are just a little too "creative." The track with Chris Cornell doing "Hungerstrike" might make the 8 track CD worth the price.