Nine Inch Nails-Purest Feeling Sep 16 '09 (Updated Sep 26 '09)    Write an essay on this topic. Tweet Popular Products in Music Jersey Boys [Original Broadway Cast Recording] by Original Broadway Cast From $8 Mai by Eri Sugai From $4 The Bottom Line Purest Feeling is an Excellent Bootleg from NIN featuring demos for Pretty Hate Machine.  1994 was a big year for Nine Inch Nails as The Downward Spiral was a massive hit. Yet, with a rabid fan base, fans were already clamoring more than just the band's discography as bootlegs were becoming popular. Among these bootlegs is a record that is the legendary demo that got NIN mastermind Trent Reznor attention from record companies called Purest Feeling. Recorded in November of 1988 at the Right Track Studio in Cleveland, Ohio. Purest Feeling is a nine-track record filled with early versions of songs from Pretty Hate Machine plus unreleased material that served as a blueprint of sorts of what Reznor would create. Though a lot of the material sounds dated, it's an interesting bootleg for fans to enjoy. The album opens with an intro called Slate, a near two-and-a-half minute track with smooth, pulsating hi-hat taps and a thundering beat that includes a wailing guitar siren. With a smooth synthesizer track, it serves as a lead-in to an early version of the song Sanctified. Presented in a more upbeat fashion with bouncier rhythms but with the same, wobbly bass line in the final version of the song. Featuring a washy guitar track, Reznor's vocals are a bit high-pitched to his tenor vocal style as in the chorus, he adds an echo effect along with samples of a man talking. For a demo, it's quite remarkable with what he had to work with. Maybe Just Once is a song that can be described as pure 80s with its frenetic synthesizer tracks, bouncy beats, and wailing keyboard riffs. The lyrics have Reznor singing about confusion with a chorus that is 80s dance. It's not a great song but some of it is quite hilarious as we can see why it never made it to the final album in all of its cheesiness. The Only Time, in an early incarnation, is presented in a similar context to the final version of the song with its wobbly bass line and mid-tempo beats as it features a frenetic synthesizer solo in the middle of the verse along with a hollowed, high-pitch vocal presentation from Reznor in the mix. Kinda I Want To, in its early version, is presented in a more upbeat version with warbling synthesizer melodies and a bouncier, rhythmic beat that is reminiscent of 80s dance music. With Reznor singing quietly in the verse, he is more engaging for the chorus that includes an acoustic guitar accompaniment in the track. That's What I Get has a similar arrangement in its final version but with a live drum accompaniment and droning synthesizers that is similar to the work of Depeche Mode. During the bridge section of the song, Reznor is just accompanied by a thumping beat and droning synthesizer that is followed a whistling solo as it's a solid demo version of the song. The bootleg's title track is a bouncy, mid-tempo track that is in the style of synth-pop. Featuring a blaring saxophone accompaniment and funky bass synthesizer riffs, it's a song that has Reznor trying to do something that is pop. Yet, a lot of ideas with pounding drum fills and such don't really work as it's a weird song that was fortunately, scrapped from the sessions for Pretty Hate Machine. An early version of Ringfinger called Twist which features alternate lyrics in the chorus section though the arrangements of the final version of the song from its droning synthesizer melodies and pulsating beats are similar. The last track on the bootleg is Down In It, which is different from the original 1987 bootleg that appears in the U.S. single version of Head Like A Hole. Featuring a sampled scream in the beginning of the track, the rhythm has a more thumping back beat with tapping beats and scratchier guitars in the mix as the demo is superior as it shows a song in development. The bootleg as a collection of demos are remarkable from what Trent Reznor was trying to make at the time. Yet, it showed that Reznor was trying to find a balance between industrial and pop though the harshness and dark tone of Pretty Hate Machine isn't heard in the album except in some parts. The two unreleased songs that didn't make it to Pretty Hate Machine show Reznor's attempt to great catchy songs which are undermined by the 80s synth-pop trends of the time where they're not great and there's a good reason why Reznor doesn't mention them throughout the years. While it's a record that isn't really for casual fans. Purest Feeling is a fascinating bootleg for hardcore NIN enthusiasts who will hear the development of what Trent Reznor was trying to make back in 1988. In the world of NIN bootlegs, it's essential though flawed. NIN Reviews: Bootlegs: When the Whip Comes Down - Live Hate w/ David Bowie - Quake OST - CRC Sessions - Where Darkness Doubles, Where Light Pours In - Bridge School Concerts

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