Collision Course (with DVD) - Dark Publications

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Similar Items:

•	Meteora
•	Hybrid Theory
•	Reanimation
•	Minutes to Midnight
•	The Rising Tied

Editorial Reviews:

Album Description
MTV Ultimate Mash-Ups is one of the biggest musical events in years, premiering on MTV with a show featuring the multi-platinum Linkin Park, the biggest contemporary rock band in the world, joining forces with the multi-platinum Jay-Z, one of the biggest stars in hip-hop. Mash-Ups brings together artists from different genres to seamlessly blend their songs, creating an exciting and unique musical experience. Offered in both CD-sized Digipak and Amaray package, it features a CD with versions of existing Linkin Park and Jay-Z tracks mixed together in the studio; and a DVD featuring two versions of them performing these Mash-Up tracks for MTV.

Amazon.com
The first question everyone asks about Collision Course is "Is this album more Jay-Z or Linkin Park?" The wrong answer is that it's Jay-Z with a loud band or a back-and-forth of covers where one rearranges the other. The right answer is that this CD/DVD set is quite possibly one of the best cross-genre pairings of its kind. What started off as an exercise at "mashing" a Linkin Park track with a Jay-Z track turned into a fantastic pickup game between two artists at the top of their worlds. Each brought a short list of their best songs to the field and walked away with a six-song trophy. This is recess in the supergroup sandbox, and the boys shared their toys. "Numb/Encore" and "Izzo/In the End" are near-perfect plays of seamless sonic moves and mic assists from heavy metal to hip-hop and back. Both artists have spent a little time in the other camp on various parts of their records, but it's the collaboration that makes this album a winner. It may be true that Linkin Park is less than convincing than J-Hova on "Big Pimpin'/Papercut," but there's no evidence of "I" on this team. In fact, the DVD clearly shows Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda taking on the role of head coach as he commands the digital workstation, the mixing desk, and all the players with a collective spirit. --Pete Hilgendorf

Recommended Jay-Z and Linkin Park

The Black Album	The Blueprint	Vol. 3: Life and Times of S. Carter
Meteora	Hybrid Theory	Reanimation

Customer Reviews: Read 233 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

Hot: great concept, great execution February 1, 2005
36 out of 45 found this review helpful

Title says it all. This set is hot. The CD is good -- the DVD showing the making of, and the live show are awesome. I wasn't a Jay-Z fan, but after watching the DVD, I've gained a lot of respect for him. He's talented, and a great complement to Linkin Park.

Others have said it: this is not a remix album, it's not a re-release, it's a mashup. It's an intentional blending of two distinct sounds. It shouldn't be rated in comparison to either act individually. I purchase a lot of music, and this is one of my better purchases in recent memory. Great concept, and flawless execution.

1 out of 5 stars

Was Reanimation not a butchery enough? January 6, 2005
24 out of 70 found this review helpful

I'm with everyone who wonders what the hell happened to Linkin Park. Hybrid Theory was solid gold; Reanimation was anywhere from slight improvement (Crawling) to absolute butchery (In The End) of the same songs. Now LP has apparently decided that Reanimation wasn't enough of a mockery of their music, so they sent their songs to one of the most awful rappers in the world to be crapped all over and mutilated even more. WHY?!? WHAT HAVE WE DONE TO DESERVE THIS?!?

3 out of 5 stars

Somewhat Unfortunate December 1, 2004
23 out of 36 found this review helpful

"Collision Course" is Linkin Park's second remix record, their first being "Reanimation," a brilliant 2nd take on their debut record "Hybrid Theory." Unlike "Reanimation," however, "Collision Course" features Jay-Z and each song is actually a hybrid of an LP song and a Jay-Z song. Technically, it's not really a Linkin Park record (though if you watch the extra features you can see it clearly is) but part of the MTV "Mash-up" series.

Another difference between this record and "Reanimation" is that the latter is actually a strong release with its own merit. "Collision Course," on the other hand, is a randomly assembled mosaic of two very different artists with songs of very different content. I understand that the point of the Mash Up series is to join two diverse artists, but in my opinion this is just too much - or rather it may not have been done in the best way.

What you really have here is 12 songs, not 6. Each track is roughly half a Jay-Z song with Mike Shinoda and Jay-Z rapping LP lyrics over it, and then an awkward, often abrupt transition into an LP guitar riff with Jay-Z rapping his own lyrics over it and Chester occasionally screaming. It's rare on this album that I feel the two styles are actually *combined*. Instead it's usually Section A - the Jay-Z section; Section B, the LP section.

Making the problem much worse is the lyrical differences between the two artists. Every Jay-Z song is topically centered around something like "I'm a pimp and I couldn't care less what you think of me." Every Linkin Park song, on the other hand, seems to be some emotional cleansing that is completely centered on how someone has hurt or affected them. Neither is bad on its own, but they mix like oil and water. The one exception to this is "Points of Authority/99 Problems" but in this case Mike Shinoda wrote entirely new lyrics for it that match Jay-Z's. It would've been much better had they done this as extensively for each song. As it is, the paraphrase another reviewer, any remix artist could've thrown this together in a weekend. The genius of "Reanimation" in completely absent on "Collision Course."

The DVD, however, makes this barely worth the purchase. Not that it's especially great, just that it adds some cool behind the scenes footage of LP and Jay-Z in the studio working on the record.

Overall I feel this is more for the Jay-Z fan than the LP fan. Most LP fans will be let down and somewhat horrified, especially at the major-keyed happy-go-lucky "Izzo/In the End." Hopefully Linkin Park will get back in the studio and Jay-Z will figure out whether or not he's actually retired.

5 out of 5 stars

Great Idea + Great Artists = Original & Unique Album December 1, 2004
12 out of 14 found this review helpful

The first thing that I must say is WOW! They picked two of the most influential musical artists of their genres and "mashed" them together. I think that Jay-Z's Black Album: Acapella Version was the inspiration for "mashing" artists together. For those of you who don't know what the Acapella Version is, it is a recording of Jay-Z rapping his lyrics only with no music in the background so that people could add their own beats and create remixes with Jay-Z's lyrics.

The idea to mix two groups of different genres is sheer genius. I'm sure that the idea arose, but no one ever did anything toward incorporating two artists into remixed songs. The result of this combination is excellent. Take a rock, yet hip hip influenced Linkin Park, and mix with one of the all-time greats of rap, the clothing industry, and the soon-to-be president of Island/Def Jam/Rocafella Records, and you have one hell of a combo. I love this cd even though it has only 6 songs, but each one is as good as the next and the one before. Unfortunately, this cd can only be truly and thoroughly enjoyed by those who are fans of both LP & Jay-Z, and speaking as one, I love this cd! I am a long time fan of Jay-Z and LP, so it's perfect for me. I think it's awesome that they include a DVD of the live performance shown on MTV on such short notice (live on TV about 3 weeks ago). I recommend this cd to anyone, but mostly to anyone who loves remixes and collaborations of artists.

1 out of 5 stars

If you like Linkin Park and/or Jay-Z, that's fine, but . . . October 10, 2005
12 out of 18 found this review helpful

This is very upsetting. It just goes to show how the music industry isn't about music. It's about money. The music corporation has managed to come up with yet another album without getting any new material from the (lazy and mediocre) artists (using the term "artist" very loosely) just because people will buy it. Linkin Park has written about 23 songs in 7 years and managed to get 5 albums out of it. and millions of units sold and $$$.
It's just a money making scheme. It's just record execs capitalizing off of the "mash-up" concept. It's just a gimmick. Why don't you just go out and buy a CD of various versions and remixes of McDonald's "I'm lovin' it"?

And as for the music itself, it's just ridiculous. I would consider you very childish if you actually listen to this in any situation besides a dance party. This is nothing any serious music fan would actually listen to. These versions destroy the songs and take away whatever original meaning and power they had to begin with. They are rendered silly and pointless on this CD. Mash-ups rarely turn out very good.

If you like Linkin Park and/or Jay-Z, that's fine with me, I won't dis you for it. But just stick with the original songs. Don't waste your money on this. Don't buy the same music twice just because it's remarketed, remixed and repackaged.

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