Customer Reviews

And All That Could Have Been

5 star:		(76)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

One of the drawbacks to live performances of electronics-heavy music is that much of it simply isn't live--it's prerecorded loops. "And All That Could Have Been" does suffer a bit from this, but the intensity of the live instrumentation (including Reznor's singing) makes up for that deficit in spades. "The Fragile," while a masterpiece, was overproduced; in contrast "And All That Could Have Been" retains a raw feel that is glorious, lacerating. It's particularly great to see how NIN have kept the early songs alive and vital. "Head Like a Hole" and "Terrible Lie" (from "Pretty Hate Machine") are fully updated.

Do whatever you can to get the deluxe edition. The "Still" CD (a tip of the hat to Joy Division?) is a startling contrast to "And All That Could Have Been." Whereas the former is a loud, cathartic mass event, the latter is accoustic, intimate, and works primarily by layering tension. The sound and feel of a clear winter dawn--just after your world fell apart.

The live CD will exhaust you. The accoustic one will burst your heart.

I don't usually feel compelled to write up NIN reviews only because there are so many already and mine would get lost in the sea. Though I think all Trent's records are genious I found this one to be the one I'll recommend the most.
The 2 disc set comes with one live performance (not the same performance as on their "All That Could Have Been" DVD) and one "unplugged" studio release of some earlier works, including a few new songs.
I already have heard a buttload of live NIN discs I've purchased over the years at independent stores, so the live performance, though played very well, wasn't anything new. NIN always seems to play almost the same lineup at every concert, so I really don't ever listen to the first disc. If you've never heard any NIN live stuff, then this disc 1 is a must. It's cool to see how the band performs the highly technical synth-laden songs live. At some points, trent can add his own flare to every song and makes it sound a lot better then the studio version, which is something a whole lot of musicians can't do. This really is the only reason I took off a star, for my personal taste.
Disc 2 is the shining moment here. The only reason to buy this, so don't settle for the 1 disc version, even though the limited edition is harder to find. I can't think of any other way to describe the acoustic versions of trent's music except with 2 words: Absolute Beauty. The remade songs (there are a couple of remakes of already remade songs) are completely piano driven. Sure there are synth effects thoughout, but the piano really helps develop the bleakness, and beautiful vulnerability of the whole record. Highlight tracks are; the piano ballad "Adrift and At Piece," which is so gorgeous it can bring a tear to your eye, "And All that Could Have Been," which makes one think of sunlight underwater in a snow colored forest, and "The Day the World Went Away," a remake of a remake which is so story like you can't help but be enchanted by the ending and hitting the repeat button. The final track "Leaving Hope" is an instrumental full of goregous synth effects and piano, leaving a saddened feeling to the listener. I don't care what type of music you are into, anything from Junk like Nora Jones all the way up to brilliant power metal like Blind Guardian, there is no denying the beauty of this record. I have a few friends into all different types of music like Tori Amos, Michelle Branch, Matchbox 20, Pink Floyd, Metallica, Rhapsody, etc and all of whom think this record is good or just plain great. This is PERFECT to listen to if you're trying to write a poem, or you're just relaxing on a rainy weekend evening. This is a MUST BUY for EVERYONE!

DISC 1:
Live concert albums used to stink; the sound quality never came close to a studio recording. Like Metallica's "S&M," NIN's "And All That Could Have Been" is so well mastered and mixed that it sounds like a studio album, with a cheering crowd added just for effect.

Reznor's live vocals are as good as in the studio. He ...(really abuses his voice) on each release, and this is no exception. He finally gives himself a break on "The Great Below," dropping the key from A to A-flat. The band is tight, and it SHOULD be, since most of the songs are at least half-mechanized. Here again, I've gotta praise the mixing - the instruments and keyboard tracks are distinct and crystal-clear.

Though I would've liked to hear "Ruiner" and "No, You Don't" live, the classics ("Head Like a Hole," "Closer" "Terrible Lie," "Something I Can Never Have") are all here.

If you're even reading this review, you're probably familiar with NIN's songs. On the off chance you've lived on Blarrgon VI since 1989: industrial rock with influences as diverse as David Bowie and Einsturzende Neubauten. Let the It's Not Industrial debate begin!

DISC 2:
This is a real departure from any prior CD. It's like "A Private Evening With Trent Reznor." His gentler songs, with mostly piano and his voice. Very intimate. He throws in a couple of new pieces that don't really tell you where he's going with the next album, but they have an intriguing movie soundtrack quality.

Get the double CD. Don't cheat yourself out of his "softer side" on the bonus disc. "All That Could Have Been" offers complete atonement for the half dozen or so lame "remix" haloes Reznor has put out over the years.

All in all, this is a necessary addition to any NIN library. Besides, it's Halo Seventeen; the haloholics know what I'm talking about.

First off the CD itself comes in a small grey box the cd is in a tri-fold case the credits & thank you's are in a little 'book' then CD 1 then CD 2.
Disc 1: It's easy to imagine yourself right in the middle of a Nine Inch Nails concert, this cd brings you front and center to the stage and without the worry of getting flattened in a moshpit. The audience in the background doesn't over power Trent's voice or the instruments; The audience is still there it's just not as lound as one might expect. The little added bits to the songs makes it all worth while.
Disc 2: Still; this is a cd that humanizes Trent Reznor, the songs are all 'stripped down' the sounds are not all perfect and the title track whick appears on this cd is absolutely beautiful, it's is haunting song that stays with you even after you turn the music off.
This is a CD you are either going to love or hate. I love it and hope you do too. I reccomend this CD to the first time Nine Inch Nails listener.

Honestly? I've only listened through AATCHB [meaning disc one] once or twice, so that's not why I'm here. On that subject, it's a live album, and NIN is great live, so if you can't make it to a concert, it's your only alternative... well, this or Closure.

The bonus EP, STILL, is one of the most breathtaking masterpieces of the eon. Every track on here is at least amazing, if not legendary - re-recordings and new stuff alike. Too many reviews for this, but I will bother for one reason and one reason only:

Leaving Hope.

The one that is obviously so important to Trent Reznor himself that he continues to use it for his ASCAP moniker when trademarking songs ["Leaving Hope Music, Inc"], the one that ends them all, is what gets me every single time.

From the elegant, melancholy piano work to the accurately-used electric guitars, from the heart-throttling bass to the subtlety of the sparse programming, from the nigh-invisible plucking to the ambient effects, from the somewhat-eerie "oooh" that permeates the latter half... to Trent's understated, barely audible scream of desperation and sorrow near the end, which pierces the soul effortlessly. Sadness? You can't possibly comprehend true, unrelenting anguish until you've heard this. "Leaving Hope" is perhaps the most beautiful and powerful musical piece ever created by man, and it deserves recognition as such.

If you don't own Still already... you should. It is impossible to listen to this album without feeling SOMETHING.

It seems that every band will inevitably release a live album. These are notorious for their poor sound quality and disappointing performance. While I am and will always be a devoted fan of Nine Inch Nails, and having had the opportunity to see them live on the Fragility Tour in 2000, I was both excited and apprehensive about purchasing "And All That Could Have Been". The concert itself was magnificent--surreal, even--and I was worried about being disappointed in hearing the transition of live music onto a recorded medium. But as with all Nine Inch Nails releases, I was utterly amazed.

Trent Reznor is a perfectionist, that's no secret. Listen to any NIN song: each beat, each guitar chord, each sound loop, each vocal is painstakingly sought out from hundreds of hours of material. Understandably, this is why we were forced to endure the excrutiating five-year wait between "The Downward Spiral" and "The Fragile". Hell, it took Reznor two years just to write "The Perfect Drug".

Reznor has cut no corners with "And All That Could Have Been". The sound quality is superb--better than any live recording I've ever heard. Each beat is solid and clear, vocals as crisp and clean. He went through a year's worth of concert recordings to find his best performances to collect on one album. He chose the best songs to include as well; NIN's song catalog is constantly growing, and a 'greatest hits' type of collection would be difficult (if not impossible) to make; while you have the radio hits and music videos, there aren't any songs that are less superior than the more popular ones. Meaning, none of his studio albums have any 'filler' tracks. So while Reznor has naturally included crowd favorites like "Head Like a Hole", "Closer", and "Hurt", he has wisely chosen leave out "Down In It", "Happiness in Slavery", and "Reptile", which could be considerd 'hits' for Nine Inch Nails, but are virtually impossible to perform live while still capturing the power originally created in the studio. Likewise, as this collection is from the Fragility Tour, Reznor has included many of the lesser-known songs from "The Fragile" while choosing to omit the title song, "Somewhat Damaged", "We're In This Together", and "Into the Void" (in fact, he didn't even perform these songs at the concert I attended).

The versions of "Terrible Lie" and "Sin" are particularly brilliant, while "Closer", "The Day the World Went Away", and "Hurt" are also beautiful recreations. The live portion of this record is a perfect companion to the DVD, in which the audience can also capture the stunning visuals of Reznor's performance.

* * *

Now, you must do yourself a favor and put forth the extra money for the deluxe edition of "And All That Could Have Been". When I purchased this, I assumed that the bonus disc was more live performances. What I found instead are nine NEW studio recordings, three of which are new songs that had never been released! For the NIN fans like myself who are constantly starved and tortured by the amount of time Reznor takes to release new material, this bonus disc is the perfect drug (pun intended). The new version of "Something I Can Never Have" alone is worth the price of the entire album. Since the song itself is one of Reznor's most personal, I thought nothing could top the original version (from 1989's "Pretty Hate Machine"). But this new version is even more intimate than the original. The entire performance is Reznor playing piano and singing, accompanied by a classical guitar; almost void of any electronics and distortions (although, in Reznor's brilliant style of blending beauty with the grotesque, he cannot help including a little feedback and scratching!). This is perhaps the closest we can get to a "Nine Inch Nails: Unplugged" performance. The song is now thirteen years old (can you believe it?); Trent's voice is even more fragile than before. At times, he barely rises above a whisper, his voice cracking, inducing instant-heartbreak to the listener.

I do not intend to take away from the other eight songs. Each are more 'personalized' than the original; that is, you can hear a particular delicacy in Reznor's performance. The new versions of "The Becoming" (from 1994's "The Downward Spiral")and "The Fragile" are magnicifent, and the three new songs are reminicent of the instrumental interludes on "The Fragile" (album). This album's title track (another new song) is particularly beautiful; the lyrics, as always, are both dark and enlightening, heartbreaking, fragile.

No Nine Inch Nails fan can do without this record. No matter how many times you've seen NIN live (personally, I've only seen them twice) or watched the DVD, this record will be a valuable addition to your collection.

I had high expectations for this live album, not just because I'm a huge NIN fan, but because I was lucky enough to see NIN during the Fragility tour, and I knew what Trent and that particular incarnation of the touring band were capable of. That concert was an EVENT, and one of my best experiences seeing an artist perform live.
This album does an excellent job of capturing not only the raw intensity of that experience, but also the sonic details and the nuances in Trent's singing. My feelings after listening to this album were similar to what I felt after the concert: "This is an artist who works hard at what he does, and who makes music because he needs to."

One of the things I especially love about these songs is that they are not simply live reproductions of the album versions. There are some different interpretations and added embellishments here that sound great and feel completely natural.

The bonus disc, Still, blew me away. I don't think anyone saw that coming. I have always loved NIN's instrumentals, but the new ones on this CD are a huge leap forward. I am especially fond of "The Persistence of Loss" (like the inner workings of a thermal slowly rising from a wasted summer) and "Leaving Hope." One of the new songs, "And All That Could Have Been," has vocals and some of Trent's best lyrics.
The stripped down versions of previous songs are fascinating. The album version of "The Becoming" (one of my all-time favorites) is very dense and detailed, but this rough, bare-boned version works surprisingly well. Hopefully "Still" will be available again soon. You might want to check the status on the official NIN site.

I usually never have positive expectations for a live album. This one surprised me by being so easy to listen to and so extremely powerful. Having been at the Fragility v2.0 tour, this CD is also nostalgic since the concert was awesome. My only complaint of this album is that certain great performances were left off the recording. Aside from this, And All That Could Have Been is a definite must-have in the Nine Inch Nails discography.

The EP "Still", which is included in the 2-disc limited edition is worth the extra money you pay for it. If you already bought the 1-disc version, order Still from the internet. The old songs that have been "deconstructed" sound haunting and beautiful, especially "The Fragile" and "Something I Can Never Have". The unreleased songs are mostly instrumental except for the title track "And All That Could Have Been". This song is one of the best I've ever heard from NIN. You'll find yourself thinking about this song long after you finished it.

This album is a triumph for Trent Reznor. Enjoy!

CD1:The first disc is an excellent portrayal of just how unbelievable NIN is in concert. Trent's voice is filled with emotion throughout and the band sounds excellent. The production on this disc is very well-done from start to finish. My only gripe is how unfortunate it is that a few songs had to be cut so that the performance could be fit on one disc. I especially miss "Just like you Imagined" which sounded excellent on the DVD release (and amazing when I saw the band live last summer).

CD2: The 2nd disc entitled "Still" is basically the opposite of the first disc. While the first disc is all about the energy and intensity of NIN in a live setting, "Still" is much more intimate. Instead of an arena like setting with thousands of fans, this disc is recorded in what sounds like a very small room with no fans. The music on "Still" sounds like NIN without the fancy electronic gadgets or production, just Trent & friends with a small assortment of instruments. Trent's use of the piano is especially prevelant on this disc. As someone else mentioned in a review prior to this one, this is as close as we'll probably get to a NIN "unplugged" performance. The new version of "The Day the Whole World went away" on this disc is exceptional and even better than the original version. New songs "Adrift and at Peace" and "Leaving Hope" are amazingly beautiful. I suggest listening to this cd on headphones so you can hear everything that's going on, their are quite a few sounds that are almost hidden in the background on a lot of these songs.

All in all, I am very happy with the "And all that could have been" box set and recommend it highly to any NIN fan.

I've fell in love with nine inch nails a very long time ago, and even though the releases are spaced a great distance from one another and you tend to forget why you love the nails, this is clear reminder. The live performances are swell but what I was really looking forward to was the bonus disk, Still, and I was not a bit disappointed. Although these songs could have been easily been placed on The Fragile they are probably Trent's best work, in my opinion anyway.
These songs live, breathe and caress you. Adrift and At Peace is NIN's most beautiful instrumental yet and the new track "And all that could have been" has a haunting quality to it, sort of like "The Great Below" from The Fragile. Not to mention the acoustic remakes like the intense "The Becoming" which songs much better than the original release.
Overall, you have a bit of everything on this album. Crazy, abrasive, screaming Trent on disk 1 and soothing ballads on disk 2. Simply beautiful.