For all its similarities to Hybrid Theory, its successor Meteora was superior, especially when Linkin Park stretched their rock/ grunge/rap/samples mélange on the heroic Easier To Run and Numb. There really was nobody quite like then.
Twenty years on, there’s a 3CD version, a 4LP version and, most intriguingly, a massive Limited Edition Super Deluxe Box Set. It comprises 89 tracks spread over five vinyl LPs (remastered Meteora, plus two 2003 concerts including the previously released Live In Texas) and four CDs (Meteora, plus live rarities and demos).
Oh and there are three DVDs (three additional concerts and a Making Of), plus assorted gubbins. It’s quite the ride. The concerts include a soaring cover of Nine Inch Nails’s Wish and when rock and rap clash on One Step Closer in Nottingham (“this is one of the places we come to feed ourselves”) it’s spine-tingling.
- “Most is more than familiar… but there’s a sense of excitement in having this chemistry back in place”: Dream Theater’s Parasomnia largely lives up to the hype
- “I bought some fake diamond earrings for 28 dollars”: What Linkin Park spent their money on after Hybrid Theory sold 14 million copies will definitely surprise you
Some previously available on fan club albums, some previously unreleased, the demos are little pieces of a giant jigsaw, so Drawing is an instrumental template for Breaking The Habit and the turbo-charged version of Faint eclipses the proper version. There’s a lot of take in, but, for anyone with more than a passing interest in Linkin Park, it’s pure catnip
