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

In early 2010 I used to play Not Alone every night before bed with the lights off and headphones in. It's just so peaceful and elegant. Chester's performance is extremely underrated here.

 

I did think about this. The drums do sound sampled, but the video shows Bourdon playing drums, so I thought I may be wrong. I also thought the bridge was Shinoda, but the video shows Hahn during that part (although the footage looks very similar to that of him doing the drums for the New Divide bridge. I don't know.

 

All right, the song I reminded Filip about!

But really, "Not Alone" is up there in my Top 10 Linkin Park songs, and it's probably the most underrated.

The instrumental's beautiful, the message and meaning is simple and delicate, and it showcased LP's ability to make slow, positive songs. Individually, this is one of Chester's absolute best solo performances ever, especially the last chorus when it kicked in after the synth breakdown from Joe; that gave me so many chills. Speaking of Joe's synth breakdown...dude...if it wasn't for Chester's singing and the meaning behind the song, THAT would've been my favorite part about "Not Alone". Also, that ending. That wonderful, wonderful ending. I always somehow forget about this song for a while, but once it comes back up, I immediately remember how amazing it is and I'm hooked on it again. Now that it's back in my mind, definitely going to put that in my Top 10 LP songs immediately instead of forgetting it again and taking a while to choose another favorite.

Jumping on it immediately after it was released on a random rainy Vegas day in January was definitely one of the best life decisions I've ever made. The Download to Donate album was amazing. The fact that I'm a Kenna, Hoobastank, and Lupe fan helps too, so I loved "Never Let You Down", "We Are One", and "Resurrection" a ton. And it's all for an amazing cause: I remember actually donating either $5 or $10 to MFR and to those involved in helping Haiti before downloading "Not Alone" and the whole album even though it was released as a free download. It's gone now sadly after I cleaned out the Music folder in my dad's laptop due to it being slow and laggy at the time, but if I had another iTunes gift card, I definitely would buy it again.

 

I wanted to do The Requiem, The Radiance and Burning In The Skies in the same post, as they all link into each other.

 

I second this motion. There's not that much to say about The Requiem and The Radiance anyway, so all three together might give us more material to work with.

As for Not Alone, the song is not one of my favorites, but it's a very good song that showcased the softer side of Linkin Park. I absolutely love the synth, and the soft scratches at the end (the scratches reminded me a little of My December, a favorite of mine). There's not much to say about the song. It's not bad, but it's also not jaw-dropping. But a good song overall.

 

I feel like I'm saying this for every song at this point , but I love "Not Alone". I've always thought it was underrated.

 

I would also like to point out that Chester's Bono impression in the video is impeccable.

 

Not Alone is alright. I listened to it a lot when I first found it, but pretty much never listen to it otherwise. It doesn't really feel like a full song to me that can stand on its own. New Divide feels like a strong single that can be released on its own, Not Alone feels like a leftover demo that would sound better in the context of an album.

 

Like "Not Alone". BTorio is right when he said that it can't feel like a full song for its own and the softness works but so much.

Thanks for answering my mind question of why Chester was looking so much familiar. Forgot about Bono back then

 

ATS might actually go by a little faster if we have interludes added to the full songs for each post.

 

But we need a whole post for Empty Spaces, that is important

 

blackbirds was officially made available on the itunes deluxe edition of a thousand suns, so you
could actually put that after the messenger.

 

THIS!

 

Chronologically, it was made and released before A Thousand Suns.

 

I like the tempo of blackbirds, it's not really the speed at which blackbirds fly though so I found that quite disappointing. Can we talk about The Requiem now?

 

Oberyn has forseen the future, and now the rest of us can talk about it aswell. "Blackbirds"! (racist!)

​

"Blackbirds" is a song by Linkin Park which could be unlocked after beating Linkin Park's iOS game 8-Bit Rebellion!. The demo version of the song, just like "Not Alone", comes from the Minutes to Midnight sessions. The song was one of the 17 from which the band chose the 12 songs on Minutes to Midnight, but it did not make the album. It was later dusted off in 2010, re-worked and re-recorded, and released as part of the aforementioned game. Mike said in an interview with MTV that the song is "not a leftover or a B-side" and was "recorded exclusively for “8-Bit Rebellion!”". That filthy liar. The Making of Minutes to Midnight includes clips of strings being recorded for "Blackbirds" on the same day they did "Drum Song" and "Patients". Due to popular demand, the song was later released as a bonus track on the iTunes Deluxe Edition of A Thousand Suns. Unfortunately, just like "Not Alone", the song was never performed live, and I doubt it ever will be. When the game was beaten, the song was unlocked with a music video consisting out of images of the band recording the song. It's embedded above in case someone hasn't seen the video yet.

Blackbirds begins with a rap verse from Mike Shinoda, most likely a version recorded before the one used in the song. He spits some pretty non-sensical lines "When he hock that spit up, pacing the beat" referring to hip hop music. After this, a very nice piano line appears, over which Bennington sings the first verse, supported by a bassline from Phoenix. The verse follows a person who feels alone and hopeless - very uncommon for Linkin Park. As he raises his voice for the pre-chorus, very nice strings appear in the background, along with some "oooh"'s from Mike, which are repeated through the chorus. Lyrically, the chorus is filled with regret, as the person realizes that what goes around - comes back around, as Chester sings "I'm getting back what I gave...". The second verse is much more upbeat than the first. A guitar line is added and a sampled drumline which continues through the rest of the song appears. However, lyrically, it's still hopeless, as the character is paying the price for his mistakes. After the verse, the pre-chorus and chorus are repeated, this time accompanied with more instrumentation - drums, guitar, bass, strings... The song then goes into an unexpected element - a rap verse from Mike Shinoda very similar to the one in the beginning of the song. The verse ends with the same lines as the first one did, which proves that the one in the beginning may have just been a demo verse. After this, Chester repeats the chorus once again before the song ends. What do you interpret the lyrics as? What do you think of the song?

There's really not much more to say. We move on to A Thousand Suns next, beginning with "The Requiem" and "The Radiance".

 

Pfffft. Loser.