Originally Posted by
goingincirclez
Truth is I personally don't consider TF to be bloated at all. All the songs have a purpose, and the order is generally sensible. It's not meant to be a seamlessly flowing album. Consider the name: the sometimes clunky arrangement and hither-yon aesthetics really do underscore just how, ahem, fragile the whole thing really is.
But the key word there, is sometimes (clunky). Going back to my "ebb and flow of traffic" metaphor: sometimes you zip right through a familiar stretch and sometimes it takes to long for Who the fuck knows why. Same too with The Fragile: sometimes my mood just doesn't feel like a Starfucker, or With Decay, or even (ironically) Fragile. It doesn't happen often... but sometimes it does.
The Fragile is truly an organic work. It is never the same, no matter how many times I hear it. All those songs evoke so many different moods and sweep to so many places real, felt, forgotten and imagined... all and never at once.
For me it is the most cherished piece of music I've had the pleasure to hear and "own" and when The Deluxe Edition is finally "soon" announced for sale I'll be knocking the rest o' you muthafukas out the way to be first in line...
...just kidding on that last bit. Well, maybe only a little.