Linkin Park shared a rare early demo, “She Couldn’t,” one of several previously unreleased tracks set to appear on the 20th-anniversary edition of the band’s debut album, Hybrid Theory, out October 9th via Warner Records.
Bootleg versions of “She Couldn’t” have been floating around fan circles for some time, although this marks the first official release of the track. The song settles and stays in a distinctly mellow groove, with a simple guitar loop twisting around trip-hop drums, with synths and record-scratching adding texture. The chorus features the intertwined vocals of Mike Shinoda and the late Chester Bennington, alongside a deftly placed Yasiin Bey vocal sample taken from his verse on High and Mighty’s “B-Boy Document 99.”
Linkin Park have unearthed an array of archival material for the 20th-anniversary edition of Hybrid Theory, which will be released in multiple formats: a massive CD/DVD/vinyl super-deluxe box set, a vinyl-only set, a two-CD set, and a digital version.
The super-deluxe set will boast five CDs, three DVDs, and three vinyl LPs. The CDs include the original Hybrid Theory record; the remix album Reanimation; a collection of 12 previously released B sides from that era; an LPU Rarities disc with 18 tracks that previously circulated only via the Linkin Park Underground fan club; and the Forgotten Demos disc, which features 12 unreleased tracks, including “She Couldn’t.” The vinyl in the super-deluxe set will feature the original album, Reanimation, and Linkin Park’s 1999 Hybrid Theory EP.
The three DVDs, meanwhile, will feature more than 95 minutes of never-before-seen footage and other extras. There will be a direct replica of the band’s first documentary, 2001’s Frat Party at the Pankake Festival, and two full concerts from 2001, one at the Fillmore in San Francisco and the other at Rock AM Ring in Germany. The third disc, Live Projekt Revolution 2002, will boast an hour of unseen live footage from Las Vegas and San Diego, plus a 45-minute sequel to Frat Party, dubbed The Sequel to the Worst Name We’ve Ever Come Up With, that will boast previously unavailable backstage footage and interviews.
On top of all that, the deluxe edition will come with an 80-page illustrated book featuring contributions from the band and previously unseen photographs; a cassette reproduction of Linkin Park’s original two-track street-team sampler; a Chester Bennington poster; and three lithographs featuring new art from Mike Shinoda, Joe Hahn, and Frank Maddocks.
As for the other editions, the vinyl-only set will come with LPs of Hybrid Theory, Reanimation, and the B-sides and rarities set. And the two-CD set will feature just Hybrid Theory and the B sides and rarities.
From Rolling Stone US
