"Session" - Song by Song, Let's Talk Linkin Park

Discussion in 'Linkin Park Chat' started by hawk, Jul 2, 2014.

  1. minuteforce

    minuteforce Danny's not here, Mrs. Torrance. LPA Team

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    We've been exploring "Collision Course" as a series of alternate versions of songs we've already covered, although I guess not everybody bothered to do that. We could do that
     
  2. Filip

    Filip god break down the door LPA Contributor

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  3. minuteforce

    minuteforce Danny's not here, Mrs. Torrance. LPA Team

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  4. Louis

    Louis Message me if you need to talk. We love you all. LPA Team

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    I don't need to worry about "Nobody's Listening," since that's probably the least memorable track off of Meteora.

    As for "Session," it is easily the best instrumental (to me) that Linkin Park has created that isn't an interlude. I really enjoy how it builds up, and I just thoroughly enjoy all of the glitch effects that are added to the drums. Joe's scratching near the end that travels from one audio channel to the other is really cool to me. Definitely a fun one to listen to.
     
  5. minuteforce

    minuteforce Danny's not here, Mrs. Torrance. LPA Team

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    "Session" is among my top-ten favourite Linkin Park tracks. There are so many little aspects of it that I like, such as the way the nice chords contrast and mesh with the really busy drums. There's a sense of intricacy to it that I don't think had been there in anything the band had done up until that point.

    Even just comparing it to "Cure", there's evidence that the band was stretching their wings a little and pushing themselves. They'd touched on glitch here and there on "Hybrid Theory" and definitely on "Reanimation", and Shinoda (or maybe it was Hahn) had professed his love for Aphex Twin; in hindsight, "Session" was the logical next step in that respect.

    I think that the scratching is much more interesting compared to most other turntable solos we've heard Hahn do on studio recordings and live. It sounds much more musical, more nuanced, almost melodic in a way. You listen to his scratching solo segment during the current live show and it seems like he's just trying to make as much noise as possible with little regard for rhythm ... but I don't know a whole about the technicality of turntablism anyway, really.
     
  6. Rivendare

    Rivendare Well-Known Member

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    I really like "Session", even a lot more than "Cure for the Itch".
     
  7. Tyler

    Tyler Well-Known Member

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    Session is cool. It's one of the last songs that I had heard by LP in all of their studio albums but I still like it. The whole way everything comes together is nice and it still has the formula for an LP song, even though it still remains as an instrumental instead of just a song without vocals. That's the difference.
     
  8. Atticus

    Atticus Bullets lance the bravest lungs

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    Session is yet another prime example in my opinion of how Meteora's "carbon copy" formula of Hybrid Theory is sometimes superior. Cure For The Itch was exciting, but Session takes the instrumental to another level.
     
  9. Michele

    Michele Praise Brad Delson, our Lord and Savior. LPA Addict

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    How about Numb?
     
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  10. lime treacle

    lime treacle You are not alone Über Member

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    We'll do "Numb" when Hawk or Tony decide to move on to it. :)
     
  11. Michele

    Michele Praise Brad Delson, our Lord and Savior. LPA Addict

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    the 48 hours are over :kappa:

    well , if they dont have time isnt a bad thing. They do a great job with all the information about EVERY SINGLE SONG. :clap:

    Great Job.
     
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  12. Bawa

    Bawa Could wait to see tomorrow.

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    Indeed, I really love the wonderful summary of the songs we get now! Live performances and really cool stuff ;3
     
  13. minuteforce

    minuteforce Danny's not here, Mrs. Torrance. LPA Team

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    Last one for "Meteora" is "Numb". :)


    "Numb" really has it all. The song's instrumentation is built around a distinctive keyboard hook, fiery turntablism, virtuosic guitar and bass work by Delson and Phoenix, and a blistering drum performance by Rob Bourdon to round it all out. All of these elements work in tandem with one another to support what some fans would still call the most mature, heartfelt lyrics Shinoda and Chester have penned to date. The magic which the two vocalists deliver on "Numb" is considered one of their most inspired performances ever. "Meteora" could not end on a stronger note.

    Regarding lyrics, Mike Shinoda was quoted explaining that "Numb" is about a sense a fatigue:

    Exhaustion, funnily enough, is also what I'm feeling right now. :)

    In an interview during the making of the song's video, Chester Bennington gave his own perspective on what the lyrics are about:

    "Numb" was released as a single from "Meteora" towards the end of 2003. The song (and, by the extension, the album it was on) was a worldwide success. It spent a collective twelve weeks at the top of Billboard's "Hot Modern Rock Tracks" chart, and did similarly well on several rock music charts, earning it a place among Linkin Park's most successful singles to date.

    "Numb"'s video was filmed mostly while the band was touring in the Czech Republic. The video, like so many Linkin Park videos before it (and after it), was directed by Joe Hahn. Like the "From The Inside" video, which was filmed in roughly the same area during the same period, the "Numb" video makes heavy use of Prague's breathtaking architectural aesthetic. Explaining his choice to shoot videos in Prague, Hahn said:

    The video's plot concerns a female protagonist portrayed by actress Briana Evigan; the character is a student and aspiring artist who wanders the city feeling isolated from peers and authority figures alike. The tension throughout the video builds up to a climax in the bridge, where the character unleashes her pent-up frustration upon a hapless canvas.

    The band's performance footage takes place inside a Prague cathedral. The performance itself was more restrained compared to those in the band's past videos, resembling the band's recording studio vibes rather than hinting at their live shows. While discussing the video's tone and feel, Shinoda said:

    Unfortunately, Chester Bennington came down with stomach- and back-related health issues during the shoot, which prevented the band from filming the video entirely in Europe. He was back in action after a stint in a Los Angeles hospital, and the band resumed and completed the performance shoot in a Los Angeles church.

    During "Numb"'s run as a single, a music video set to a live recording of the song from the 2003 Summer Sanitarium tour was released to video channels to promote "Live in Texas":


    In 2004, Mike Shinoda created an absolute monster when he combined "Numb" with Jay-Z's song "Encore", thereby creating the first proper instance where Kanye West's voice appears on a Linkin Park song. :p The track was the first single released from the "Collision Course" EP. Among other things, this mash-up boasts new clean guitar parts skillfully performed by Brad Delson and slick new basslines by Phoenix.

    Like the original song before it, the mash-up saw great success as a single. A music video set to a live recording of "Numb/Encore" was released to promote "Collision Course":


    "Numb" has stayed a constant in the live setlists since the band started playing it for audiences in 2003. In mid-2004, the song was performed with an extended intro that was well-received by hardxcore fans. Some years later, there was an extended outro centered around Shinoda's piano-playing, which would eventually come to include elements of "The Radiance" in an effort to blur the lines between the band's earlier material and their newer experiments. During the "Living Things" tour legs, the band began throwing in elements from the mash-up "Numb/Encore" when playing "Numb", with Shinoda rapping Jay-Z lyrics to close out the song.

    In 2006, for that year's Grammy ceremony (which also fell on Phoenix's birthday, February 8), Shinoda and Delson created a mash-up arrangement which combined "Numb/Encore" with a well-known song by The Beatles called "Yesterday". Delson later explained the inspiration behind the idea in an interview with MTV:

    That article also mentions that he and Shinoda "had the mash-up on tape" but fans who care about hearing the studio version would appear to be in the minority.

    Going a tiny bit further into what made the mash-up work, Shinoda explained that "Yesterday"'s verses run for the same number of measures as Jay-Z's "Encore" verses:

    In any case, the resulting song was performed at the ceremony with Sir Paul McCartney singing parts from "Yesterday" and harmonising with Chester Bennington, in a section which replaced the "Numb"-centered sections that follow the two rap verses in "Numb/Encore".

    In an email newsletter sent out to Linkin Park fans shortly later that month, Delson looked back on the performance, saying that the band consider it to be one of their career's biggest highlights:

    So we're now done with talking about "Meteora". :) In a few days, we'll move onto "Collision Course" so you can discuss your favourite Linkin Park release specifically. :)
     
  14. polleo

    polleo You're gonna carry that weight. LPA Super Member

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    The angst in the song is a little ridiculous but it really does fit a lot of people's lives. Numb and SIB have a personal feel to me because those were one of the first LP songs I used to listen to. Its funny I started with Meteora and not HT. Maybe that's why Meteora feels different to me in terms of sounds and feel than HT.
     
  15. Halfway Dwight

    Halfway Dwight We are the fortunate ones.

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    I love this song because I can relate to the lyrics. I also like how Chester performs it. My second favorite from Linkin Park
     
  16. The Joesen One

    The Joesen One Fun-employed LPA Super Member

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    "Numb" was the song that introduced me to Linkin Park. I heard the song for the first time when I saw the video in MTV (the irony haha). Oddly enough, this was the only somewhat-metal song that was playing in the radio station I was listening to. Sure, it's "Crawling" part 2, but the hook is catchier, the sample more memorable and instrumentals bolder. Not a huge fan of the lyrics though. Even with the angsty tone, it's still got some sort of swagger to it.

    EDIT: That's odd. I didn't know Mike did the Numb sample back in the day. I'm used to Joe playing it and leaving out the turntables. :lol:
     
    Last edited: Sep 6, 2014
  17. BTorio

    BTorio Well-Known Member

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    My second fav song behind In The End, the hook is just one of those perfect things.
     
  18. minuteforce

    minuteforce Danny's not here, Mrs. Torrance. LPA Team

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    Shinoda and Hahn weren't the only ones ... :shifty:

    [YOUTUBE]gFuNQVkwym8[/YOUTUBE]​
     
  19. Tocaraca

    Tocaraca A part of me screams away silently

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    As I didn't have time to talk about Session earlier I am going to say about Session and Numb in the same post.
    Session is easily the best instrumental I've heard. The drum machine may make the other instruments slightly unhearable but I love it anyway. I like the dubstep in the second half as well.
    Numb I found is actually a very popular Linkin Park song, and a lot of people think it's the best off Meteora. I like the lyrics, and it is one of my favourites off Meteora. I don't really understand the music video and why the girl runs to the area where they were playing the song and finds them gone.
    It's actually not Crawling Part 2, it's Pushing Me Away Part 2. Have you ever noticed how similar those 2 songs are? With a couple of changes you could play them at the same time and they would play next to each other perfectly synchronised!
     
    Last edited: Sep 6, 2014
  20. Tocaraca

    Tocaraca A part of me screams away silently

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    What's collision course?
     

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