Cons: Mediocre remixes and unneeded filler. A Very Disappointing EP from NIN.
The Bottom Line: Although Things Falling Apart features some great highlights, it's undoubtely overshadowed by poor remixes and unneeded filler. (2.5 out of 5)
thevoid99's Full Review: Things Falling Apart [EP] by Nine Inch Nails
Throughout Nine Inch Nails’ history, NIN mastermind Trent Reznor and his cohorts have been known for putting out remix records as a companion disc to their albums. 1992’s Fixed and 1995’s Further Down The Spiral were both successful remix albums among NIN fans and helped give NIN status as masters of the remix albums. In 2002, the remix albums have become popular recently from mainstream pop artists like Jennifer Lopez and Destiny’s Child to THE WORST BAND IN THE WORLD!!!! L___ B_____. While NIN was recovering from the commercial disappointment of their double-album The Fragile in 2000, the band carried on with a successful U.S. and European tour that year. In late 2000, the band released a companion remix record to The Fragile that showed their mastery in the art of remixing. Unfortunately, Things Falling Apart didn’t display any of their greatness in the art of remixing.
While previous remix records like Fixed and Further Down The Spiral contained remixes that weren’t primarily singles and focused more on album tracks, Things Falling Apart does the opposites of sorts and that makes the record somewhat unsatisfying. Although the record does features some of the strongest remixes including an outtake from The Fragile called The Great Collapse and a cover of Gary Numan’s Metal, the record is cluttered with a lot of unneeded filler and some mediocre remixes. Sadly, Things Falling Apart doesn’t live up to the old NIN standards of their past remix albums.
The first track off of Things Falling Apart is a remix of the song Into The Void titled Slipping Away remixed by NIN mastermind Trent Reznor and his co-producer of The Fragile Alan Moulder. The six-minute remix opens up with an atmospheric background from Reznor and Moulder along with a rhythmic drum machine beat pattern and a violin background that goes on for about a minute until melodic guitar strums come in to accompany the track as Reznor sings the line “I keep slipping away” in the near two-minute mark as synthesizer bleeps follow Reznor’s vocals. By the third minute, the original funky bass synthesizer track comes in as the track becomes distorted as Reznor sings the line more aggressively until the fourth minute as Reznor sings “Tried to save myself but myself” as grinding guitar tracks come in along with break-beating drum tracks that makes this remix a great opener to the remix record.
The Great Collapse is an outtake track from the sessions of The Fragile that is created by Reznor and Moulder along with additional programming and sound design of the New Orleans electronic duo Telefon Tel Aviv (Joshua Eustis and Charles Cooper). The track starts off with a buzz-like atmospheric background with melancholy piano riffs layered on top of the background that goes on for a minute until a choppy guitar track comes in along with a thumping drum machine track. By the third minute, the guitar sounds become noisy along with an ambient background from Telefon Tel Aviv and by the fourth minute, a female vocalist whispers the lyrics of The Wretched saying “Now you know, this is what it feels like” as Reznor screams that same lyric as the track ends.
The next track is the first of two remixes from NIN engineer and programmer Keith Hillebrandt. The first remix is for the song The Wretched that is known simply as The Wretched (version). The track starts off with a buzz-like atmosphere background that accompanies Reznor’s vocals who is singing the track as the background becomes louder with noisy synthesizers but the buzz-atmosphere backgrounds is overdone and makes the track lifeless, even as it leads into another part of the track where Reznor sings the second verse of the lyrics as he’s accompanied by powerful drum tracks and it becomes a bit silent when Reznor sings the lyrics of “Now you know, this is what feels like” as he’s just accompanied by a strumming guitar track that becomes a bit too much as its layered above by a pulsating bass-drum machine track which makes this remix a bit mediocre and not very memorable. The next remix is the first of three remixes of the song Starf*ckers, Inc.. The first remix by Reznor’s old Pretty Hate Machine producer Adrian Sherwood with additional production from Mark Stewart and engineer working from Alan Branch that sounds like a video-game inspired remix with pulsating synthesizer tracks and drum n’ bass musical structures along with the original track’s fast-charging guitar assaults. With the pulsating and distorted synthesizers and drum machine tracks leading the track along with brief guitar breaks and sirens with vocal breaks from Reznor saying "Starf*ckers" in the track.
The biggest standout of the whole Things Falling Apart record is Benelli’s remix of the instrumental track The Frail. Originally a piano piece, Benelli’s mix is more of an interpretation rather than a remix that led by Telefon Tel Aviv’s Joshua Eustis and Benelli’s mastermind Turk Dietrich with violinist Steve Hakel and cello player Marc Paradis. The track starts off with a little bit of distorted guitar tracks and ukulele strums that then leads into a beautiful violin and cello performance that gives the original track a new mood. Where the piano piece has a melancholy feel, the remix contains that same feel with a more beautiful approach that is sad yet elegant as it features distorted backgrounds of water noises, ruffled leaves, and other noises as its surrounded by its beautiful string accompaniments. Benelli’s remix of The Frail is the best track of the entire record. The same couldn’t be said for Dave “Rave” Ogilvie’s remix of Starf*ckers, Inc. Ogilvie’s remix is opened up with an ominous synthesizer track with drum machine tracks building up from slow to a pulsating drum n’ bass track with guitar breaks and synthesizers. Reznor’s vocals is accompanied by drum machine tracks but there’s too many where one is the original pulsating beat and the other is a pulsating drum n’ bass track and it doesn’t know which direction it wants to go so it’s not a great remix from Ogilvie because it suffers from one too many drum machine productions.
The remix to Where Is Everybody? is by NIN multi-instrumentalist Danny Lohner with Telefon Tel Aviv. The remix starts off with a distorted ambient background that accompanies Reznor’s vocals until slow drum machine tracks come after the first minute of the remix along with distorted vocals break from Reznor that’s a bit overdone and by the third minute, pulsating drum machine comes in but it’s ruined by its distortion and the track is another letdown in this record all because of too many distorted noises. The next track is a cover of the Gary Numan song Metal from his 1979 masterpiece “Pleasure Principle” that starts off with fuzzy guitar tracks and slow drum tracks that become louder along as Reznor sings Numan’s lyrics of “We’re in a building where they make us grow/And I’m frightened by the liquid engineers like you/My Mallory heart is sure to fail/I could crawl around the floor just like I’m real, like you”. The drum tracks become more violent as Reznor keeps singing Numan’s lyrics that then leads to a synthesizer solo in the near-end of the track its accompanied by a buzzing noise background along with an acoustic guitar strum and a soft saxophone solo in the end of the track.
The next track is pretty much the worst track of the record because it’s really nothing more than an extended mix with an added guitar strum in the end of the track. Keith Hillebrandt’s remix of 10 Miles High sounds exactly like the original track with its thumping drum track and melodic bass groove that accompanies Reznor’s distorted vocals along with a metal-blazing guitar track. Reznor sings the angry lyrics of “I try to get myself high” in the track even when it’s distorted and it originally ends with “Tear it all down” but a discordant guitar strum takes over the track and it just ruins the song even for those who don’t carry the vinyl version of The Fragile or one of the three imported singles of We’re In This Together.
The final remix of the album is the last of the three remixes of Starf*ckers, Inc. by the song’s co-writer and longtime NIN keyboardist/programmer Charlie Clouser. Clouser’s five-minute remix starts off with a guitar strum and ambient synthesizer background that goes on for about a couple of minute along with a thumping bass drum track that starts to build up as it becomes louder until the second minute mark when it becomes a drum n’ bass-style track of distorted and pulsating, atmospheric drum tracks and distorted synthesizer and vocals with Reznor screaming “Starf*ckers” but it then goes into a pulsating drum track where it becomes overkill due to not just its pulsating drums but its layers of thumping synthesizers and thumping bas tracks that ends with distortion.
While tracks like The Great Collapse, Metal, Slipping Away, and Benelli’s remix of The Frail are some of the strongest tracks on Things Falling Apart, the rest album of the album suffers from mediocre remixes and unneeded filler. While the remixes of Where Is Everybody? and The Wretched weren’t spectacular, the problem with Things Falling Apart lies in the tracks that weren’t really needed. Aside from the poor extended mix of 10 Miles High by Keith Hillebrandt, the record features three remixes of Starf*ckers, Inc. that just doesn’t fit in with the record but also it doesn’t belong in the first place. The Starf*ckers, Inc. mixes should’ve belonged on a single for the song if NIN had released it publicly instead of giving to modern rock radio as a promo single. There, Things Falling Apart wouldn’t be cluttered with three remixes of a song that’s already played on radio and MTV. If those three remixes and the 10 Miles High mixed were taken away, what should be in place of those tracks? Some fans felt the exclusive mp3s NIN have at their official website should’ve been on the record like two remixes from Keith Hillebrandt on the songs The Fragile and No, You Don’t and a remix of La Mer from NIN drummer Jerome Dillon.
In the end, Things Falling Apart is a very disappointing release from NIN even though it contains some of their best remixes and outtakes. For me as a fan of the band for nine years, Things Falling Apart remains my least favorite of the entire NIN discography. Casual fans wouldn’t want to pick this up due to its filler and mediocre remixes but for hardcore fans and completists, they should pick this up for the record’s best moments. Next time NIN does another remix record, don’t focus on songs that are played on the radio. Focus more on album tracks and put more heart into it. For me, listening to Things Falling Apart is just a record that just disappoints and when your favorite band does something disappointing. It hurts and listening to Things Falling Apart really hurts.
Live Shows: (NIN/Bauhaus/TV on the Radio-6/7/06 Atlanta, GA Hi-Fi Buys Amphitheater) - (NIN/Deerhunter-8/13/08 Duluth, GA Gwinnett Arena) - (NIN/Jane's Addiction/Street Sweeper Social Club-5/10/09 Atlanta, GA Hi-Fi Buys Amphitheater)
This remix album features versions of The Wretched , Star******, Inc , The Frail , and Where is Everbody , form the critically-acclaimed CD The Fragil...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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