***Re-edited & Updated 10/5/07***

When Nine Inch Nails mastermind Trent Reznor ended his tour for The Downward Spiral in 1996, he took a break and worked on several projects. One of them is the Tapeworm side-project with NIN cohorts Danny Lohner and Charlie Clouser (that would eventually fall apart in 2003) and the other project was producing the sophomore release for Marilyn Manson titled Antichrist Superstar. During that period in 1996, Reznor got a call from legendary cult filmmaker David Lynch about producing some music for his upcoming film Lost Highway and for Reznor, it was another project he couldn't refuse.

Reznor's previous soundtrack production for the Oliver Stone film Natural Born Killers was a hit with fans and critics who praised Reznor's approach to making a soundtrack and Lynch hired Reznor for that same reason. Lynch who had been known for putting ominous music into his films that included the scoring music from Angelo Badalamenti for such films as Wild At Heart and his cult television show Twin Peaks along with its prequel Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me in 1992. Lost Highway marked the return of David Lynch which was an experimental film that was about a jazz musician played by Bill Pullman who finds his wife, played by Patricia Arquette, murdered and is sent to jail where he's transformed into a young mechanic, played by Balthazar Getty, who falls for a gangster's wife, who is also played by Arquette, where he is led to a world of madness and murder.

While Lynch's return was anticipated by fans and film critics, Lynch used Trent Reznor to heighten the anticipation by producing the film's soundtrack that included a couple of instrumental pieces from Reznor along with a new song from Nine Inch Nails and contributions from David Bowie with Brian Eno, Lou Reed, the Smashing Pumpkins, Marilyn Manson, Barry Adamson, and Rammstein. Whereas Reznor's previous soundtrack to Natural Born Killers reflected the American obsession with serial killers.

The soundtrack to Lost Highway is a much darker and more eerie record that is disturbing yet, subtle that sounds like a road album to nowhere and that is what Reznor wanted as a reflection to Lynch's sinister but brilliant mind. Whereas the Natural Born Killers had a diverse mix of music, Lost Highway isn't any different with its mix of industrial rock, electronic music, jazz, avant-garde minimalism, and simple rock n' roll. Trent Reznor again, makes another brilliant soundtrack that solidifies him as a producer and mastermind.

The opening and closing track on the album is a minimalist rock track titled I'm Deranged from David Bowie that features opening and pulsating drum machine tracks along with eerie synthesizers all done by Brian Eno along with ominous and atmospheric guitars from Bowie cohorts Carlos Alomar and Reeves Gabrel and piano breaks from longtime Bowie pianist Mike Garson that has an ominous and brooding feel from Bowie's vocals who sings about madness and references to the story of Nathan Adler from his 1995 Outside which the song originally appears in. The opening version is a two-and-a-half minute opening while the closing reprise version opens up with a vocal-only intro with the music coming in the background in about twenty seconds.

The second track is an instrumental piece titled Videodrones: Questions composed by Trent Reznor with help from Coil mastermind Peter Christopherson which is a short and ominous atmospheric-based track that features wind-like keyboard sounds and a man breathing that closes with a loud and eerie atmospheric break that serves as an intro to the next track.

The Perfect Drug by Nine Inch Nails is the first NIN song that isn't composed solely by Reznor nor involves mainly by Reznor. Instead, The Perfect Drug is actually the first NIN song written and performed by Reznor and his NIN live lineup which by that time consists of bassist/guitarist/keyboardist Danny Lohner, keyboardist/programmer Charlie Clouser, and drummer/programmer Chris Vrenna (Lohner would receive co-writing credit on the sleeve of the Lost Highway album while Clouser and Vrenna would receive credit on the sleeve for the We're In This Together maxi-singles in 1999 that included an extended version of The Perfect Drug).

The song starts off with a fast and imperfect guitar intro that leads into a drum n' bass-inspired track of distorted bass beats along with pulsating drum machines from Charlie Clouser as he accompanies Reznor fast-paced vocals and brooding lyrics of "I got my head, but my head is unraveling/Can’t keep control, can't keep track of where it's traveling/I got my heart, but my heart is no good/And you're the only one that understood/I come along but I don't know where you taking me/I shouldn't go but you're wrenching, dragging, shaking me/Turn off the sun, pull the stars from the sky/The more I give to you, the more I die".

After the first verse of the song, loud and hard-hitting live drums from Chris Vrenna (in his final involvement with NIN before leaving for a solo career in 1997 that culminated as Tweaker) that accompanies Reznor's vocals who says the words "And I want you" about four times along with background vocals from Clouser and Lohner that leads to Reznor saying the words of "You are the perfect drug, the perfect drug, the perfect drug" about a couple of times. The song returns to its drum n' bass structure as Reznor sings more lyrics of despair and pain as returns to its powerful chorus of "And I want you/You are the perfect drug" that features droning guitars from Lohner along with ominous synthesizers and hard-hitting drums.

Reznor sings the words of "You are the perfect drug" until it leads into a pulsating and powerful synthesizer and drum machine track from Clouser that leads into a powerful drum solo from Chris Vrenna that is the highlight of the track. The song then finishes up into a melodic-guitar based track with soft drum and synthesizer tracks as Reznor sings "Without you, without you everything falls apart (take me)/Without you, it's not as much fun to pick up the pieces" as he performs a closing and melancholy piano solo at the end of the song.

The next two tracks are compositions by Lynch's longtime score composer Angelo Badalamenti. First is a jazz-inspired Red Bats With Teeth that features a thumping mid-tempo rhythm from its smooth rhythm section of bassist Ernest Hamilton and drummer Ralph Penland along with a cool piano track from Badalementi accompanying a lead saxophone from Bob Sheppard who is backed by Henry Kranen and Ronald Brown who are both on baritone saxophones that leads into a powerful and wailing saxophone solo from Sheppard who just wails with his sax at the end of the track.

The second composition is a minimalist electronic-based track titled Haunting & Heartbreaking that features an ominous orchestral piece performed by the City of Prague Philharmonic that features eerie string arrangements that are chilling and spellbinding. The next track is an electronic-inspired song from the Smashing Pumpkins called Eye that features a chilling and powerful synthesizer opening along with a mid-tempo drum machine rhythm accompanying Billy Corgan's chilling vocals along with layers of synthesizer that are both ominous and atmospheric that shows Corgan's interest in electronic music and it's one of the best songs on this record.

Dub Driving is another instrumental composition from Badalementi that is co-written with David Lynch that is led by a smooth bass track from Peter Richards along with an ominous guitar tracks from Samuel Richards and Tra Siegel along with a percussion performance from Lynch in this smooth and chilling bass-driven track. Next is the first part of a composition from avant-garde musician Barry Adamson that serves as a theme track for Robert Loggia's character Mr. Eddy titled Mr. Eddy's Theme that is a chilling and cool instrumental track that features a smooth horn section along a jazz-like organ track and a cool tenor saxophone track that makes a man like Robert Loggia very cool.

Next is a brilliant and heart wrenching cover of the early 60s classic This Magic Moment performed by underground music legend Lou Reed who brings in a melodic-driven rock track spurred by guitar feedbacks and rockabilly-like guitar overtones that accompanies Reed's brilliant and powerful vocals that shows that Reed still has it as a vocalist. Next is the second part of Mr. Eddy's Theme that features a louder percussion intro along with an extended oboe performance.

Next is another Angelo Badalementi composition titled Fred & Renee Make Love that features a chilling orchestral tone that serves as a background to soft sexual moans from Bill Pullman and Patricia Arquette's characters as Pullman says "I want you" quietly during the track. Then comes a new song from Marilyn Manson titled Apple Of Sodom that is brooding and chilling due to Manson's screeching and deep vocals that along with a powerful but dissonant rhythm and metal-grinding guitar tracks that is the darkest track on this album (Manson along with then-bassist Twiggy Ramirez both appear in the film for Lost Highway as porn stars).

The next track is a classic bossa nova composition from Brazilian composer Antonio Carlos Jobim that is his classic composition Insensatez that is filled with a soft percussion track along an ambient-like string orchestra accompanied by a quiet piano track that is beautiful and serves as a great introduction to the world of bossa nova.

Then comes a cool instrumental composition from Barry Adamson titled Something Wicked This Way Comes that features a jazz-like tempo along with trip-hop bass track structures along with a string orchestra in the background and a turntable scratch at the end of the track. Next comes a powerful and hard-rocking cover of Screamin' Jay Hawkins I Put A Spell On You by Marilyn Manson that features a voodoo-like rhythm along with a grinding-metal guitar track as Manson sings the song as if it was a metal song rather than a chilling blues track that Hawkins had intended.

The next two compositions are from Badalementi. First is a jazz-inspired track called Fats Revisited where the City of Prague Philharmonic orchestra that also features a smooth bass rhythm and an excellent piano track from Badalementi. The second composition titled Fred's World is a minimalist, electronic-inspired track that features ominous synthesizer layers and atmospheric overtones that leads to a laugh from Robert Blake who plays a mysterious madman in the film.

Then comes a powerful industrial-driven track from German industrial powerhouse Rammstein titled Rammstein that is both powerful and menacing with its grinding guitars, hard-hitting drums, and German vocals that would put Rammstein into the musical mainstream in 1998. Another track from Rammstein is a more up-tempo track titled Hierate Mich that feature more grinding metal guitar tracks, loud drums, and powerful synthesizer tracks that just take the song into a brutal level.

Next is a bass-driven instrumental composition from Barry Adamson called Hollywood Sunset that features a brooding bass track along with a jazz-like organ track and echoing drum tracks that are accompanied by soft but atmospheric synthesizer tracks. The final Badalementi composition is another collaboration with the City of Prague Philharmonic orchestra titled Police that features a soft police siren that is made by ominous string tracks that are chilling as if they were police sirens that ended with Bill Pullman saying, "Dick Laurent is dead".

The next track is an instrumental composition titled Driver Down by Trent Reznor with additional production from Peter Christopherson that opens up with a pulsating drum machine track along with a chilling synthesizer track. Then comes a powerful guitar track from Danny Lohner along with live drums from Chris Vrenna that dominates the track through its entirety along with a melancholy piano riff from Reznor who also brings in a powerful saxophone solo in the near-end of the track.

There was supposed to be another song in the soundtrack that appeared in the film which was a cover of Tim Buckley's Song To The Siren by the 4AD cover project This Mortal Coil where the track was performed by Cocteau Twins' Elizabeth Fraser and Robin Guthrie which appeared during a lovemaking scene between Patricia Arquette and Balthazar Getty. The reason the song didn't make it into the soundtrack because 4AD label founder Ivo-Watts Russell had a very special connection with the song and asked Lynch not to put it into the soundtrack but he gave Lynch permission to use it in the film.

Although the film to Lost Highway wasn't the film many fans had expected, Lynch did however regain some of his edge again and heightened his return as he went on to make widely acclaimed films since like 1999's The Straight Story and 2001's Mullholland Drive. The soundtrack to Lost Highway was a success thanks to the singles for The Perfect Drug by NIN and Eye by the Smashing Pumpkins.

Reznor again proved to the world of his mastery as a producer and in early 1997 was put in the list of Time Magazine's 25 Most Influential Figures of the 1990s. For those who like jazz, industrial rock, electronic music, and classical, this is the soundtrack for you. It's another brilliant achievement from NIN mastermind Trent Reznor.

Lost Highway (1997):

http://www.epinions.com/content_405386333828


Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Driving