Are they even doing an official score release for Patriots Day though? I can't recall seeing anything about that
Are they even doing an official score release for Patriots Day though? I can't recall seeing anything about that
The fact that every song except TGG, TGD and AVOTT have almost exactly the same arrangement. It gets extremely boring.
With that said, most songs have at least one reason to keep listening anyway, and one can change arrangements with multitracks if so inclined. Once I did, it's certainly an unstoppable listen!
Random NIN Comment/Question: I enjoy The Slip and think it occupies a cool space in NIN history -- spontaneous, fun, and a fascinating companion to Ghosts from the same year. But I believe it's my least favorite NIN release and I'm trying to think why. I've read from sources here that it was supposed to be an EP, a la NTAE, but then was expanded (can this be confirmed?). Even NTAE sounds more polished then TS, though. Is it the production of "1,000,000" I don't like, or the fact that there are two, chunky instrumentals in the second half right before an enigmatic closer ("Demon Seed")? Two of my favorite NIN songs come from the record, though ("LITS" and "Echoplex"), and apparently a lot of indie music outlets praise it highly. Go figure!
As it stands, my obligatory ranking is:
The Fragile
With Teeth
The Downward Spiral
Hesitation Marks (sometimes higher)
Ghosts
Broken
Year Zero
Pretty Hate Machine
Still
Not The Actual Events
The Slip
I listened to The Fragile DE last night and... wow.... there is more in that record to hear as it's the little things that really makes a difference. There's bits here and there in the album either I don't remember hearing or ever heard. It makes me love the album even more. Someone needs to make a doc or something about that album as there has to be something about the mixing and sound design because it is truly out of this world.
I can't remember where, but Trent did say that The Slip started as either leftover ideas/sounds from the Ghosts sessions, or something along those lines (where they just kinda kept going with a few things, as evident with Demon Seed). Which is funny to think about, as Hesitation Marks was another album that grew from a few songs (meant to be used for the greatest hits release) into a full album release on its own as well.
I'm not sure why The Slip constantly gets abused, I love Discipline, Echoplex, LITS and Demon Seed.
I think it's the best in the catalogue.
Seems like a few get down on it from an angle of eyeing the relatively brief creative phase and translating that to the album having a subpar production. But you’re right, The Slip is a damn fine album. If anything, the rapid creative process is a testament to the expertise of its makers. And for what they charged for the album, I have nothing negative to say about it.
I love The Slip. I thought it was a solid album. Plus, who doesn't like to shake that booty to "Discipline"?
I feel like The Slip would have been much less divided if the vocal performance was more like the rehearsals. I do love the studio's performance too overall but rehearsals have much more power, expect for songs like Head Down and Echoplex, those are in my opinion better on the studio. I love the album itself, I love how varied it is, I love how there seems to be some kind of a theme going on. I love its sound too. Shame it gets often unoticed, it is a real shame. Demon Seed may just be one of my favorite closers, very unique way to close out an album from NIN.
Last edited by HWB; 01-05-2017 at 04:09 AM.
I've had in the back of my mind to do a Slip remix album (in the spirit of FDTS etc.) and had some solid ideas of things to try but the area I would get stuck on are the middle numbers: 1M, Letting You etc. - perhaps using live performances or rehearsal performances as a mix base would work well for them.
Yes. I wouldn't necessarily call it the most accomplished vision or concept album of his. That certainly goes out to TDS. But what I like about The Slip is how loose it feels.
To me, NIN-albums typically tend to be dense and they often feel needlessly serious and dark. They seldomly come without detailed narratives on what they mean to portait or how you as a listener have to absorb this thing at hand. Also, there's practically no NIN-album that I can listen to without having to cringe a few times. And that's because the lyrics sometimes are so bad that they sabotage those overly serious topics. Add his subpar skills at singing and all that drama and darkness that's on display suddenly looses a lot of its spark. (Btw those moments, I feel, are the key to understanding where a reviewer like the one from the PF review about TF is coming from).
And while that might sound a bit unfair, I feel with The Slip, the music benefits from the concept of this garage-y record they set out to do. Also, here, I like his lyrics better than on most of his other stuff. I guess the fact that he didn't spend so much time on every aspect of this record - musically (Head Down = Trent & Co's best production ever) and lyrically - didn't allow him to overthink much of this album.
I feel like The Slip doesn't get the respect it deserves. It isn't my favorite, but I love it and it has some of my favorites songs (Head Down, LITS, Echoplex, Demon Seed). I really feel like it doesn't get a proper chance due to the fact that it was given away. I think that really has an impact on how people view music. It cheapens it. I never understood the feeling like it was not a fully fleshed-out album from listening to it. If I didn't know it was recorded so quickly I wouldn't feel like it was. Just in terms of length, I think it would have benefited from maybe one more song.
Also, it might be my least favorite cover (except for maybe NTAE), but I totally LOVE the rest of the artwork. I always thought the picture of the circle with the red line through the bottom would have been an awesome cover.
am i the only person who DOESN'T like "lights in the sky?" trent's ballads have never been my favorite, but if i had to rank them off the top of my head, LITS would be at the bottom, tied with "find my way"
I didn't mean to start a debate. Well, perhaps I did. Don't get me wrong! It's a fun album. And I love "LITS" for how un-industrial it is. Maybe you will all make me rethink Le Slip.
His singing voice may not be the best thing ever in the world, but it is really good in my opinon and its range has been improving. He is really good at whispering and he has various ammounts of screams. Hesitation Marks kinda proved he can make a good album which has a lot of singing and does not have to scream almost at all.
Right Where It Belongs is wonderful mostly thanks to his vocals. He is not all about screaming in my opinion.
Biggest disappoinment with these reissues is how Trent treated the digital and the vinyl flow the same with all of the tracks breaks caused by the vinyl format. It's especially noticeable with The Fragile. I just love the CD version when it flowed more since there was only a single separation between discs 1 and 2. The vinyl edition has too many moments where it breaks up the flow and loses that feeling of a continuous journey. I wish Trent just made each format unique and mixed the digital copy closer to how the CD tracks were blended. These pauses, for example between The Wretched and WITT, are distracting and take me out of the moment. Shame Trent didn't take the opportunity to make the digital copy unique so each format had its own experience. A continuous Fragile without any breaks would be awesome.
Last edited by neorev; 01-05-2017 at 01:53 PM.
Thank god because TDS flows exactly how it should like its CD version and it is what makes TDS an amazing listening experience. The whole breaking up of sides and across multiple records is one of the main things that I hate with vinyl. Its time limitations just destroys an album's flow. And it's a shame that the journey that is The Fragile is hindered by it.
I'm sure you guys are familiar with those musical easter eggs Trent tends to put in some of his songs. Well I just found one today, from Where Is Everybody? even. During the guitar solo bit, the acoustic guitar riff that enters in the beginning actually reenters at about 4:00.
See, this is a strength imo. The forced flow of something like ED->"Pilgrimage" on the CD is just trash, imo. There's no need for those two songs to be continuous without something else, more sensible, creating the flow. Like "Feeders." Except that's a poor example because it sucks too, imo.
The transition from TB into IDNWT is at two clashing tempi. It sounds bloody awful. So the vinyl would be greatly improved if it had the two separated (which is in question). imo imo imo
I should probably have posted this in the controversial comments thread.