Linkin Park

Collision Course (with Jay-Z)

Half the songs were good, the other half...not as good.

Review Score:

(8/10)
Collision Course: Jay-Z/Linkin Park
A review by Justin D. Hurkman

Introduction: I am a HUGE Linkin Park fan, hell I even have my own parody tribute band. It would be awesome if I had the lyrical talent to parody the Jay-Z parts, but I just don't feel up to it, no matter how absurd this collaberation is. Really, it's great, I saw the concert on MTV, and the DVD is probably worth the price of the CD, and it probably has a few more rock parts (I hope), but here's the reviews of the different songs as I listened to the album.

The CD:

01-Dirt Off Your Shoulders/Lying From You: A noticably good song on the album, perfect blend of the two songs, makes me want to bob my head up and down to the beat, actually, I did that-gave into the feeling. Great way to kick off the album. Note: I LOVE the frapichino (is that how's it's spelled?) line at the begining of this track!

02-Big Pimpin'/Papercut: At this point, the album seems to go a little downhill, this song should've had more LP stuff in it, it's just Papercut lyrics to the Big Pimpin' music, and of course the lyrics from the original song. And personally, I think the beat is kinda crap and the flutes are super-annoying. So are the "shaa-shaa-shaa-shaa" or whatever it is in the background. It was highly dissapointing after such a great song like DOYS/LFY. Hopefully, it just has to grow on me...I mean, it's kinda catchy now that I'm listening to it a second time.

03-Jigga What/Faint: Better than Track #2, but nowhere near as good as Dirt off Your Shoulders, it has LP parts and Jay-Z parts, but they seem to be pretty much just from the regular songs and mixed up. I prefer the songs like DOYS/LFY and the next one, the single-

04-Numb/Encore: I heard this one first, and it's by far the best track on the entire 6-track album. The way the Numb parts are actual remixed and very well to boot. I just wish every track was like this one. I also like the words, like many of my LPU peeps-"What the hell are you waiting for?".

05-Izzo/In the End: The Jay-Z parts are great, but when they start doing "In the End" to the same beat, it just feels...I don't know...WRONG! Where's the rock? Another very dissapointing track for me.

06-Points of Authority/99 Problems/One Step Closer: It's official, half this album is great! The other half is pure rap crap. Considering that Linkin Park is supposed to be all about Rock and Rap, there's a dissapointing lack there-of. But in this song, I love it when Mike Shinoda is the cop, so do the LPU peeps.

The DVD:

I figured I'd go ahead and watch the DVD too to offer a complete review of what you get for the price.

Studio (behind-the-scenes) Stuff: Wow, this is worth the price of the DVD, watching LP members recording is just priceless for any hardcore Linkin Park fan such as myself. I also just like watching the process in which things are made, and that's just me.

Live Performances: I thought they were going to do "It's Goin' Down", maybe they either changed their minds, or I was misinformed, because it was at the begining of the MTV Ultimate Mash-Ups show in little parts, or maybe it's somewhere else on the DVD, I'll just have to see. I also think I'm having audio problems...weird...damn computer...anyway, it's basically the same thing as far as the music, only live, which does give it some added points for visual. But basically, it's not much different, I wish they could've improvised some rock riffs for the live performance, but no dice.

Special Features: The same show, as it aired on MTV, as I thought...it's not a "pure live" performance, and not complete because it goes to clips of Jay-Z landing in a plane, and ends short. They should've freakin' included the full performance, but noooo...it's all about LP and JZ, they can't include a complete song without Jay-Z. That sucks so much...

Conclusion: As I said, half of this album was a dissapointment music-wise, but with the behind-the-scenes stuff on the DVD along with all it's LP group-interaction in the studio, that bosts my satisfaction up to about 70%. So I'd say maybe 7/10 is my final verdict on the album.

It's not that I HATE rap, I like some of it, but it just doesn't sound right sometimes with LP songs, and now that I've actually listened to it I can't be called a pesimist. And I also mention that I really liked Reanimation, but Reanimation this is not. Numb/Encore comes the closest, DOYS/LFY comes in second, tracks 03 and 06 at least have LP music in them, but it isn't seriously remixed in any way. Of course, I do realize this is NOT supposed to be a remix album, but still...with Numb/Encore as the single, I expected something so much more like that.

So yeah, 7/10.

For the purposes of Amazon.com, I give it a 4 out of 5, since this album is in my opinion, just because it's LP, above average. But only JUST.

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