Now, I don’t know if the guys in Linkin Park realize it, but it appears that Warner Bros. wants this release to succeed in a big, big, way. If you’re a band looking for sales that can be about as good news as you can receive, but if you’re a band who’s shouting “watch us grow” and you spend well over a year writing, refining and squeezing songs until they pop with sales potential, it can be really, really, bad news. And when someone decides to add Rick Rubin into the production of a band this popular, well, sales is the primary goal.

I know that Mr. Rubin is a music world divinity at the moment because of the whole Johnny Cash American series, but as a counterbalance I would like to add that along with his good works (King King by Red Devils, wow!) … Isn’t he the guy who transformed the Red Hot Chili Peppers into a hit manufacturing machine, thus driving a stake through their collective heart? And isn’t he the guy who wanted the Black Crowes to change their name to Kaptain Krowe’s Karnival or something like that? What band from the South wouldn’t want their initials to be KKK? For a band that’s looking for a transformation, is he really the best choice? Or is he the best choice for the record company?

So anyway, here we are at Minutes to Midnight. I’ve listened to it about 10 or 15 times now and it’s clear that they want to tell me something. I think they’re pissed off about the state of the world (“No More Sorrow”) and/or breaking up with a girlfriend (“In Pieces”) or the state of their girlfriend, or breaking up with the world … the message is a bit muddled. And when a message is unclear, and almost entirely dependent upon perception and attitude, you end up with a lot of nothing. It may be good-sounding nothing, but it’s nothing nonetheless. I mean, I have to give them credit for trying. They’re trying to look at the world in a different way, and what they’re seeing is obviously disturbing them, as in the post-Katrina “The Little Things Give You Away,” but the song drifts in and out of second person and ends with a Richard Patrick, Filter-like chorus that sounds great but what the hell does it mean? What the hell does any of this mean?

And that sums up the entire CD. I really dig much of the sound of it (versus its sonic qualities, to be addressed below), but the substance is more implied than existent. I know that “Given Up” has to be a hit, but when they break in to an approximation of the Powerhouse theme from Warner Bros. cartoons in the middle, I have to ask myself if it’s an attempt to buy my favor with something loved and familiar instead of winning it with something new, dynamic and creative.

“Leave Out All the Rest” sounds like a surefire radio hit but it feels like I’ve heard it a thousand times before. As a matter of fact, each time it comes around on repeat the first thing that pops into my head is Liz Phair’s “Ordinary.” And given the choice of Linkin Park or Liz putting out a glossy hit single/video, Liz wins every time with me. This too may be unfair to the Park boys as everything about Liz Phair touches that spot in my brain that conjures up fantasy (I don’t think I have to spell it out for you, do I?), but the point is clear. The song has “we’ve dialed into the formula and manufactured a hit” written all over it, and I’d rather hear that from other sources. Especially the ones I fantasize about.

“Shadow of the Day” sounds like it could be a U2 demo and “No More Sorrow” reprises the Powerhouse theme and there’s lots of vocal overlays that sound like they’re pitch-processed, and spine-crunching guitars and loops and stuff, and it looks like Warner Bros. is getting just what they wanted with Minutes to Midnight. The single “What I’ve Done” has shot to number one and I can see the result being sales of a gazillion or more. I just don’t know if that’s entirely what Linkin Park was aiming at. After reading the liner notes, press releases, thoughts that went into the making of each song and how they’re struggling to grow, it seems as if they are actually looking for a future as a band.

Minutes to Midnight refers to a Doomsday Clock created by scientists in
order to portray how close the world is to nuclear destruction. Minutes to Midnight is the defining statement of a band standing at the gates of its own doomsday. With a stated ambition to mature that seems to be in direct conflict with the mega-selling nature of their very existence, they’re looking out onto the bleak horizon that a thousand other popular bands have stared at and crumbled before. Their fans may love MTM but will eventually drift off to what ever the next thing is. Linkin Park will re-examine what they’ve actually accomplished, and implode. The record company will say let’s do it again, but this time without feeling. And those who don’t appreciate Linkin Park or MTM will say, “Please step through and take a number. Your grave will be ready shortly.”

I don’t hate this record. I found myself enjoying it periodically. But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to give it away.

Sound
Minutes to Midnight sounds like it was manufactured on a computer. Now before you fly into a tizzy, I clearly understand that, except for White Stripes and a few dinosaurs, most everyone records digitally these days. Hell, I do. That’s not where I’m headed. There are plenty of DAW-recorded releases that sound just fine. I’m just pointing out that MTM seems like one of those Pro Tools, cut and paste, fix every little thing CDs. It’s clean and nice and comes across pretty damn well on my big old stereo but has the life and personality of an iron skillet. It’s the antithesis of “Louie Louie.” No one is ever going to put MTM on and have a party break out. The rhythm/ percussion/drums/loops are so on top of every beat that when the drums actually began to swing a bit on “No More Sorrow,” I almost cried. Or crapped, I can’t remember which. For an example of a CD that brims with life, pay a visit to Chris Whitley’s Reiter In. For a CD that makes Minutes to Midnight sound like Music from Big Pink, listen to Rod Stewart’s stomach pumper, Still the Same… Great Rock Classics of Our Time. You’ll have a clear understanding of why this one’s a five all around.