i guess this is still my favorite nin record. even my one-disc digest of this record kinda proves it should be two discs (i agonized over cutting "pilgrimage," "i'm looking forward to joining you finally," and "please")
― ToddBonzalez (BradNelson), Monday, 17 July 2017 12:41 (six years ago) link
incidentally it's
the way out is throughsomewhat damagedthe day the world went awaythe frailthe wretchedwe're in this togetherthe fragilejust like you imaginedinto the voidthe mark has been madethe big come downunderneath it allla merthe great below
about as long as the downward spiral in this configuration
― ToddBonzalez (BradNelson), Monday, 17 July 2017 12:44 (six years ago) link
No Even Deeper smh.
― chap, Monday, 17 July 2017 12:45 (six years ago) link
yeah srsly
― imago, Monday, 17 July 2017 12:57 (six years ago) link
Even the less good songs mostly have some textures and atmospheres I would miss. This is one of my favourite sounding albums.
― jmm, Monday, 17 July 2017 13:29 (six years ago) link
"Even Deeper" is a slog imo
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Monday, 17 July 2017 13:31 (six years ago) link
you're a slog
― this iphone speaks many languages (DJP), Monday, 17 July 2017 13:34 (six years ago) link
oh yeah it also hurt me a lot to cut "even deeper," sorry bros
― ToddBonzalez (BradNelson), Monday, 17 July 2017 13:38 (six years ago) link
you're a slogharsh but fair
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Monday, 17 July 2017 13:44 (six years ago) link
Hello.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PW_Ws04Vs_0
Per an NIN Hotline tweet:
Check out this youtube "album" of Fragility (1999-2000) performance recordings assembled by ETS member mauro995. "I made a heavier-than-aatchb live album of the Fragile era with some recordings from the NIN Live Archive" says mauro995.
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 22 January 2018 17:20 (six years ago) link
Briefly read that as "heavier than abacab."
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 22 January 2018 17:33 (six years ago) link
this album finally clicked for me, there'd been moments i'd loved before but it was just too dense/too heavy/too abstract/not pop enough for me before, but none of that was an issue today
it's totally too much to listen to all as once, but taken as two separate-but-related albums it's fantastic, which feels pretty unusual for a double album? like the typical modes of double albums are 'overwhelming messy stylistic grab bag' or 'too long to be a single album but not quite enough to be two separate things' but this doesn't fall into either of those? and the sequencing is perfect
the right disc is a little less fully-formed than the left and has the album's only dud in "starfuckers, inc." (but even that has the nice quiet part in the middle) but you could totally cut it without losing anything?
― ufo, Friday, 2 July 2021 01:30 (two years ago) link
"the day the world went away" is the best thing on this even though it's probably the most straightforward. a gorgeous wall of guitars
― ufo, Friday, 2 July 2021 03:04 (two years ago) link
actually "the perfect drug" would have been the perfect replacement for "starfuckers" wouldn't it? i should give that a try
― ufo, Friday, 2 July 2021 05:59 (two years ago) link
its abrupt end doesn't quite work there but otherwise it's exactly what the album needs
― ufo, Friday, 2 July 2021 07:48 (two years ago) link
are there non-nin bands that encapsulate the "just like you imagined" vibe?
― Western® with Bacon Flavor, Sunday, 28 August 2022 05:33 (one year ago) link
Maybe my favorite album? today, anyway.Also “Into The Void” still goes <3https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8LEheSUTGE
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 10 March 2024 02:53 (one month ago) link
lol @ the one disc versions upthread YOU BABIES jk jk
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 10 March 2024 02:55 (one month ago) link
the big comedown also gooeeesss
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 10 March 2024 03:19 (one month ago) link
agreed into the void is top shelf
was a freshman in highschool when this came out, thought it was pretty cool after listening to downward spiral a million times but I very clearly remember talking to the class goth about it and he was absolutely scandalized, "his music used to mean something, man" too pop I guess?
granted this guy was the real deal, 100% black wardrobe, tortured soul, piercing his ears with a lighter and a safety pin in between class, wonder what he's up to now
really like big comedown too and also please
― Florin Cuchares, Sunday, 10 March 2024 03:31 (one month ago) link
i have a reformed mega-goth friend who apparently got off the NIN boat after Downward Spiral! too commercial. lol there’s just no pleasing ppl The Fragile is so perfectly sequenced, i love how the instrumentals balance the before & after songs so well in terms of mood as well as just sounds also i love the way he uses strings & piano so much on this album, adds some really gorgeous textures
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 10 March 2024 05:25 (one month ago) link
imo i think piano is his secret weapon, so many of his best hooks are on piano
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 10 March 2024 05:26 (one month ago) link
agreed, and that wouldn't surprise me if that helped lead him to doing movie scores.
i remember my mind being blown as a teenager when this was released and reading the liner notes that dr. dre was involved. i just reread them and had absolutely no idea steve albini had a small bit in it and wonder what's the story on that.
― Western® with Bacon Flavor, Sunday, 10 March 2024 07:02 (one month ago) link
This album rules.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 10 March 2024 12:20 (one month ago) link
XP IIRC, Albini just recorded some drum/percussion tracks.
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 10 March 2024 13:12 (one month ago) link
I think that's right, they tracked the drums, or at least some drums, with him. Wouldn't be surprised if that was for future use as samples, too.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 10 March 2024 13:19 (one month ago) link
This version of The Big Comedown -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9b7K1D2z74
― chap, Monday, 11 March 2024 17:12 (one month ago) link
He needs to do an album with those backing singers
NIN was absolutely one of my favorite bands when this came out. They weren't anymore afterwards. Trying to think of why now and I only remember being really embarrassed to be listening to Starfuckers inc.I still have very good memories of the live show I saw in support of this album. They were amazing live.
― silverfish, Tuesday, 12 March 2024 03:05 (one month ago) link
I still have very good memories of the live show I saw in support of this album. They were amazing live.
Yeah, I saw this tour at Madison Square Garden — it was a really, really good show.
― Tahuti Watches L&O:SVU Reruns Without His Ape (unperson), Tuesday, 12 March 2024 04:36 (one month ago) link
yeah it was the first time i saw him use the full sized projection screens in front of the band, blew my mindalso remember a half-sold arena ppl really did not like this album at the time
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 12 March 2024 04:42 (one month ago) link
"starfuckers inc." is so bad and it would have been so much better if "the perfect drug" replaced it.
i get why this album underperformed though when it's so much denser and less accessible than the downward spiral, came after a 5 and a half year gap, and something like 1/3 of the tracks are instrumentals.
― ufo, Tuesday, 12 March 2024 05:13 (one month ago) link
one of my strongest memories of The Fragile tour was standing behind a fan and watching her play “air piano” to “The Frail”it was weird & funny but kind of cool somehow
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 12 March 2024 05:24 (one month ago) link
It was too long, too all over the place, too willing to be a little goofy - after the relative concision of TDS this seemed ridiculous
I listened to it a lot at the time but never became obsessed with it. It’s been decades since I heard it in full, should change that and see how it strikes me.
― Marten Broadcloak, mild-mannered GOP congressman (Raymond Cummings), Tuesday, 12 March 2024 09:50 (one month ago) link
it is ridiculous and not as good as the downward spiral, but it's still great and flows surprisingly well for a double album
― ufo, Tuesday, 12 March 2024 10:02 (one month ago) link
yeah it was the first time i saw him use the full sized projection screens in front of the band, blew my mind
They def. had the scrim for projection when I saw him tour "The Downward Spiral." It's such a cool effect, I wish more bands did stuff like that.
"The Fragile" is definitely uneven and all over the place, like most good double ("") albums. I remember him saying that he needed Bob Ezrin's help to sequence it. Was this the reported heights of his drug use? Anyway, I think its length is the only thing that ultimately makes this less accessible than "The Downward Spiral," which is more aggressive, more abrasive and also kinda uneven; my energy always seems to fade after "A Warm Place," with that run of "Eraser," "Reptile" and the title track. Of course, those songs (and "A Warm Place") would all fit pretty well on "The Fragile," so ...
But yeah, "Perfect Drug" instead of "Starfuckers" would have ruled, though isn't "Perfect Drug" one of the few songs Reznor often outright dismisses?
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 12 March 2024 12:50 (one month ago) link
he did used to dismiss it but they finally started playing it live on their last few tours so maybe he's come around on it
i think the fragile is way more abrasive and less pop than the downward spiral. there's no "closer" or anything
― ufo, Tuesday, 12 March 2024 13:31 (one month ago) link
Sure there is! Into the Void.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 12 March 2024 13:38 (one month ago) link
I never got into The Fragile, should try again. With Teeth was my "we're so back" moment, even saw them on that tour and they were great (Josh Freese on drums).
― Jordan s/t (Jordan), Tuesday, 12 March 2024 13:42 (one month ago) link
This is pretty much where I fall, too. I haven't listened to it in so long I can't even remember half the songs. It definitely feels like a candidate for "chop it down to a single disc" pruning. Might give that some thought today.
― Tahuti Watches L&O:SVU Reruns Without His Ape (unperson), Tuesday, 12 March 2024 13:53 (one month ago) link
what if it’s actually good at the length it already is
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 12 March 2024 14:47 (one month ago) link
It does require a little pruning (ie, delete Starfuckers)
― Cemetry Gaetz (DJP), Tuesday, 12 March 2024 14:59 (one month ago) link
imo the album is improved when it's longer ("10 miles high" and "new flesh" added back in)
― ivy., Tuesday, 12 March 2024 15:00 (one month ago) link
it was my first nin album though and i'll love it forever, nothing i'd change about it, not even "starfuckers" (great karaoke song)
― ivy., Tuesday, 12 March 2024 15:03 (one month ago) link
like i just think of hearing "la mer" for the first time in sequence and how much that expanded my notion of what music could be??? in how it fits the despairing mood of the record even though it is closer to jazz fusion than any previous nin song
i think one of the ways i got my mom into them was being like "hey mom check out this funky/jazzy piano song on this otherwise dark hopeless glitchy double album about hitting and spending a significant amount of time at rock bottom"
― ivy., Tuesday, 12 March 2024 15:08 (one month ago) link
also remember a half-sold arenappl really did not like this album at the time
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 12 March 2024 04:42 (twelve hours ago) link
The show I saw was def sold-out and it was maybe a shade less fantastic than the time I'd seen them in 95, which was maybe the most unhinged "big" show I've ever seen (Trent fully kicked Robin Finck off the front of the stage into the crowd, much instrument destruction, etc)
The full sized projection screens were awesome
I don't know how I feel about this album, as much as I like the idea of it has never really stuck with me, it does sound pretty cool listening to it now
― chr1sb3singer, Tuesday, 12 March 2024 17:13 (one month ago) link
i also like his concept of The Fragile as a reverse of downward spiral, so starfuckers appearing towards the tail end makes sense (and tonally correlates to say, mr self destruct or march of pigs on DS)
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 12 March 2024 17:20 (one month ago) link
The Fragile came out the same day as To Venus And Back. I was just turned 20 and I deeply associated NIN and Tori with my teenage years. I probably was mid-metamorphosis, psychologically. I bought both albums the day they came out, two double albums from two of my favourite teen artists. I remember 'really liking' certain parts, "La Mer" was nice, the production on "We're In This Together" was amazing. Same with Tori. But I felt deeply embarrassed by "Starfuckers" and Trent's lyrics in general. I felt embarrassed hearing Tori sing "bleese, yeah, bleese, yeah" and "blossom. Riot poof". I felt embarrassed for myself and embarrassed for them. I returned both albums and spent the year listening to cooler music. I need to listen to both albums again, now, I don't think I've heard either since I was 20
― braaam.flac (flamboyant goon tie included), Tuesday, 12 March 2024 17:28 (one month ago) link
― chr1sb3singer, Tuesday, March 12, 2024 12:13 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink
Listening to it today I kept wanting to the mix of the record to be a little messier, I kept wishing he's amplify the weird little bits here & there and leaning harder into the prog-funk of songs like "Into the Void" and "Where is Everybody", for a big, over-stuffed double record for me it sometimes feels a bit samey
― chr1sb3singer, Tuesday, 12 March 2024 18:43 (one month ago) link
All right, here it is, entirely predictable but much more enjoyable, to me anyway:
Nine Inch Nails - Less Fragile
1. Somewhat Damaged2. The Day the World Went Away3. The Wretched4. We're In This Together5. No, You Don't6. La Mer7. The Great Below8. The Way Out Is Through9. Into the Void10. Where Is Everybody?11. Please12. Complication13. I'm Looking Forward To Joining You, Finally14. The Big Come Down
Total running time: 64:33
― Tahuti Watches L&O:SVU Reruns Without His Ape (unperson), Tuesday, 12 March 2024 19:08 (one month ago) link