Nine Inch Nails: The Fragile (1999)

NIN: The Fragile (1999)

Five long years after The Downward Spiral (1994), its successor appeared, a double album of two distinct halves.

Disc 01 (labelled as LEFT) feels like another concept album. It's moody and seems initially impenetrable, but rewards repeated listens; like a winter retreat it reveals hidden beauty to those that choose to explore (if you can accept the notion that personal demons are a kind of beauty).

It embraces the fuzzy guitar sound that people associate with NIN, but there's much more to it - it's layered throughout with hooks and a deep resonating bass that pumps like a meticulously slow, pained heartbeat.

Disc 02 (labelled as RIGHT) is more akin to a collection of standalone songs, like a regular album with obvious singles pushing their way to the fore. It's perhaps more accessible to new listeners, but it's also less interesting conceptually and I sometimes think of it as the half of the album that people with less introspective tendencies or a shorter attention span might enjoy most.

It's rare that I listen to the full album in the order it's presented. Usually I listen to LEFT only, whose structure makes it feel blissfully complete in itself, with closing tracks La Mer and The Great Below functioning as a perfect lead-out point. I tend to use RIGHT as a' visitors' album, when I want some late 90s NIN but don't want the exclusivity of LEFT to lull me or bore others.

The Fragile got a belated companion of sorts in 2017's The Fragile Deviations 1, a one-pressing limited edition 4 vinyl 180g LP 'deconstruction' containing 'instrumentals, alternate versions and over an hour of never before heard material from the original fragile recording sessions'.

It cost an unreasonable £75.00 (not including shipping from the US and import taxes), so I don't own it. I've heard a dozen tracks from it on YouTube only. It's not possible to make a fair assessment of music that's been pushed through YouTube's calamitous compression algorithms, but even so, it was intriguing. It must be said, though, official NIN Store prices are a bad joke.

NIN: Things Falling Apart (2000)

The 'no surprise' Remix album has ten tracks in total but arguably just two that are worth commenting on.

In the reverse order of which they appear on the CD, the first of them is 10 Miles High, originally a B-Side on one of the 'We're in This Together' singles (exclusive to the UK and Japan, there were three separately released CDs each containing three tracks). It isn't very good, but it's not a remix, so it earns itself a mention.

The second notable track isn't a remix either. It's 'Metal', a respectful cover of a Gary Numan song, which featured on his classic début solo album The Pleasure Principle (1979). The Gary Numan cover is the best thing on the Things Falling Apart disc and the reason that I still own the CD.