Customer Reviews

Closer To God

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Hey kids! Like to sing dirty words? Like bargains? Then this CD is for you! At $6.49, it's very reasonably priced. You get 5 VERY different remixes of Closer, plus the LP version from The Downward Spiral. You also get another remix of Heresy and March of the Pigs, and a cover of Soft Cell's "Memorabilia". When you consider that A) the UK version is sold in two parts, costing over $12 apiece, that's $25 for the set, and B) Amazon isn't even listing Part 2 right now, this is a GREAT CD to get.

Every track is different on this album. The first version, Closer To God, keeps it simple. It drops "like an animal" from the chorus, making the song seem that much more carnal. It also has heavy guitars and an equally heavy keyboard loop throughout the song. The second version, Precursor, might sound familiar to you. Seen the movie "Se7en"? This isn't the EXACT version found in the film, but it's pretty darn close. Deviation is a - *gasp* - funky, groovy version of Closer, replete with snapping fingers.

Heresy (Blind) sounds an awful lot like Heresy off of the Downward Spiral, but on mono instead of stereo. More keyboardy and drummy, less guitary. If any of those are really words, that is. Memorabilia is a good, albeit long (7:21) cover of Soft Cell's Memorabilia. A bit repetitive, but still a decent song. Internal is a REALLY cool version of Closer, tied for my favorite with Further Away on this CD. Distorted, choppy vocals, stereo shifting and tons of ambience make this a really cool, unsettling version.

March of the F***heads, a March of the Pigs remix if you can call it that, is a... hrm... instrumental thingy. It kinda feels like Adrian Sherwood cranked this out in about 5 minutes when bored one night. Nothing exciting here.

Closing the CD are Further Away and the LP version of Closer. Further Away has TONS of dark ambient sound, weird distant pig screenching noises, echoed whisperings... it's just plain CREEPY. Which makes it COOL. It sounds like it could be played in an underground goth club very easily. Finally, the LP version of Closer. Anyone who listens to rock radio, NIN fan or otherwise, should recognize this song because it received SO much airplay. So I don't have to describe this.

All of this for under $7? Unfortunately, I found this AFTER I had all the UK parts. If you're the completist, you're gonna want this and the UK version. If you're a casual listener, you're not gonna find a better bargain. Also, in case you're wondering, the UK version doesn't have any extra tracks, it's just split up into 2 CDs.

Trent Reznor through Nine Inch Nails has developed a steady habit of remixing large volumes of his work and releasing countless Halos dedicated solely to these remixes. While this is certainly a boon for hungry collectors, fans interested in the music alone are often disappointed by the paltry turnout of a lot of these remix discs. Fortunately, Closer to God is a huge exception to the rule, displaying a powerful mastery of creative and thoughtful mixing practices.

The opener and title track is strong enough to stand on its own, bringing in new recordings of all of the instruments and Reznor's vocals from the original track and giving it a house-electronica influence, but not in such a way as to remove the original spirit of the song. However, it is after this track that the CD really begins to shine. The four variations of "Closer" are what make this album truly attractive. Completely avoiding monotony, each track takes on a certain mood and corresponding genre styling that matches with its mix title. The styles range from ethereal, trip hop, and house, but again (and somewhat surprisingly in consideration of the other, less successful remix albums) without damaging the spirit of the original song. In their particular order, the variations suggest a progressive, evolving story that gives this CD single more of an album feel.

Interrupting the variations are a couple of great bonuses: a remix of "Heresy" (not far off from the original, but definitely a new take on it and just as enjoyable) and a cover of Soft Cell's "Memorabilia" (a frightening track that fits perfectly into this CD). There is also the electronic rhythm track, "March of the Fuckheads", which is interesting, but somewhat unnecessary, as well as a slightly extended version of the original mix of "Closer" that ends the CD.

While this should probably not be anyone's first Nine Inch Nails purchase, if you own most of the albums already or are a big fan of The Downward Spiral and "Closer" in particular, this CD would likely become one the most prized in your NIN collection.

This is probably one the best remix albums from NIN. You get six versions of closer, one of the better known NIN songs and three other tracks being: "heresy", "memrobilia", and "march of the f**kheads"(a personal favorite). The disc is a good length and the all the remixes are well thought out and not just thrown together. With three other tracks besides closer you don't get sick of hearing different versions of the same song. I definetly recommend this to any true NIN fan or anyone who really likes the song.

Hey! Hey! Hey! It's time to review Halo Nine: Closer To God. The second single from the Downward Spiral era. This is a rather large single containing nine tracks.

1. Closer To God 9/10: A redone version/remix with slightly different lyrics in the chorus. An impressive song.
2. Closer (Precursor) 9/10:This is the remix that is found in the opening credits to the movie Se7en, one of my favorite movies. It's not the exact version, as the one in the movie is a spliced version of this remix taking the best parts, you can find that version by browsing the internet.
3. Closer (Deviation) 9/10: A very cool slow, relaxing remix.
4. Heresy (Blind) 8/10: very cool in comparison to the original. At times its like an anthem song.
5. Memorabilia (Soft Cell Cover) 7/10: A Soft Cell Cover. It's a good song but I think it drags on for too long toward the end.
6. Closer (Internal) 8/10: The shortest remix and is also mostly an instrumental. It leans more towards the heavier side.
7. March of the F**kheads 8/10: A weird instrumental remix of March of the Pigs. Fortunately it doesn't drag on for too long.
8. Closer (Further Away) 8/10: Takes a little long to get started and is another heavy version.
9. Closer 10/10: The awesome original and clearly the best version. The ending is actually 13 seconds longer than the original.

The price Amazon is asking for is actually really good for this single. I found it in a store and paid twice what Amazon is asking for so this is a good deal. The only problem preventing this from the five stars is that you can only listen to Closer so many times until you become a little bit bored. So it's a little difficult to listen to it the whole way through. If you like the song Closer, then you'll enjoy this single, otherwise the only ones who should be interested are NIN fanatics. If you dislike the song then steer clear of the single despite the three non-closer tracks. Otherwise pick this up.

I bought this CD just because of one song - Closer (Precursor). It was the opening music to the movie Se7en, and, having purchased the movie soundtrack, I found that the song was not on it. I didn't even know what the song was titled or who it was by.

By coincidence, a friend lent me an album, The Downward Spiral. I have never heard anything like it before, but the track, Closer, seemed very similar to the Se7en movie track that I was looking for. I came to the conclusion that the Se7en track was a 'remix' version and came across this CD. Sure enough, Closer (Precursor) was the track I was looking for...

...well, a bit of a sidetrack, but anyone looking for the opening track from the film Se7en can find it here (it definitely won't be on the official Se7en soundtrack album - don't know why - probably legal reasons).

All the tracks are diverse enough to be just typical b-side fillers. Memorabilia is album quality and it builds up greatly, adding more sound layers on top of each other until it reaches an energetic climax. March of the F$$$ Heads is probably the weakest track; though it does grows comfortably on you after a few listens.

This is one of my favourite NIN records, and probably the one I play the most. Because it isn't an album, and just a collection of singles and b-sides, the general fans will not have heard of it or think that it is unimportant - but you will be surprised how well these collection of singles have been produced (each one of them could have been on the Downward Spiral album).

The "Closer" single, featuring no less than six mixes of the title track (including the album mix), two other remixes and one unreleased cover. What is amazing is that while being longer 50 minutes and having a relative lack of variety of material, this one doesn't end up being terrible.

The "Closer" remixes seem to be exercises in mood-- "Closer to God" (mixed by Reznor, Sean Beavan, and Brian Pollack) takes some of the seductiveness out of the track and exchanges it for aggression-- Reznor's vocal sounds hopped up over a staticy, overfunked beat. This same funky feel is emphasized even further on the deviation mix (by Jack Dangers and Craig Silvey), which completes reconstructs the song around a funky beat and intermittent instruments and effects. The internal mix (both it and the further away mix are by a bunch of producers/engineers) feels the most like a remix-- the original song structure is nearly abandoned into one of those sort of danceish things that I largely find completely unlistenable, although this one is brief enough not to really get in the way. The further way mix is totally bizarre, moving from ambient modes to extremely heavy, in many ways it belies the mood of the original better than the rest of the remixes, capturing a subtlety and then moving into an aggressive strain. And check out the venom in Reznor's vocal on the second verse-- wow! Where did this go in the original? Muddled up with the music or just not there at all?

The problem is that while many of these are quite good, none of them match the strength of the original mix-- its no accident that "Closer" was a hit, the song is brilliantly constructed and

Dave Ogilvie's remix of "Heresy" is like a new song-- incorporating a number of vocals (including one that sounds lifted from the demo on the Deluxe Edition of "The Downward Spiral"), the thrashy guitars are replaced with bouncy, techno synths, and double tracking electronic vocals with the chorus takes the bite away. I'm not certain what the goal was, but while its extremely listenable, it seems to totally miss the point of the song. This does flow rather nicely into the cover of Soft Cell's "Memorabilia"-- this is an interesting piece, while the beat and backing track can get downright irritating after seven minutes, Reznor's vocal is brilliantly haunting. I just wish someone would remix out the backing track. Adrian Sherwood does a mix titled "March of the F***heads" that I suppose is theoretically "March of the Pigs", but is really just nearly five minutes of a beat.

Bottom line-- this is a great value for the money, and there's enough interesting stuff on here to make it worth getting ahold of.

What can I say? Incredible song w/ great remixes. Trent Reznor rarely disappoints. March of the *uck Heads is a cool drum instrumental type thingy aswell. I mean come on. How can you not like a song with the title "March of the *uckheads"? If you enjoy NIN, buy this.

One of the better single/EP releases from NIN (which are, to be honest, usually only a matter of concern for NIN fans looking to "collect them all"), Closer to God has some excellent remixes of Closer as well as the original song. I particularly recommend Closer (Precusor) (which was used in the opening credits to the movie Se7en) as well as the title track Closer to God, which isn't so much a remix as a re-imagining, and in that respect worth considering as a song it its own right.

Really a CD worth owning if you're a fan of NIN or just the song.

As a regular greater LA Ca. radio station listener, it took me months to learn the name of the artist, let alone the song name... With a LOT of diligent research throughout all the NIN catalogue (via Amazon)as well as looking up the lyrics (just to be sure)I finally found this song, purchased this cd and have enjoyed the heck out of it ever since... Not being familiar with Trent Reznor per se or his penchant for re-interpretating his music, I was flabergasted with what I heard, but listen I did and found that the tracks represent an interesting variety of his music remixes... for me they're the foreplay to the lurid lyrics and seductive rythems of the final, ultimate "Closer" track- inf**kingcredible! Maybe not for everyone but surely this compilation is a 'must' for the open-minded. Not at all "dull", "boring" or a "rip-off" or about "barnyard animals having sex" (what WERE they listening to?) as noted by other reviewers, I have learned about and added someone new to my music library, long may he rock!

this is arguably NIN's most popular song to date and for good reason. it never seems to get old even after all this time on the radio. its just got that special feel to it. this single has alot of remixes of it