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38 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Essential for NIN fans, pointless for newcomers., January 7, 2003
Nine Inch Nails' 1995 release, Further Down The Spiral, is an album of remixes of songs from the 1994 studio album, The Downward Spiral (and one original song by Aphex Twin contains brief samples taken throughout the album), and it goes without saying that you shouldn't consider this album unless you enjoyed TDS (not just "Closer"--the remixes for that song are on a separate single).That being said, this is one of the best remix albums of all time. Most modern remix albums are nothing more than attempts to squeeze as much money as possible from the fan's pockets (i.e., Limp Bizkit's album "New Old Songs"), and thus, even the better ones, like Linkin Park's Reanimation, tend to sound rather commercial. FDTS, on the other hand, was released before remix albums were that common. Of the tracks provided, only two sound like they could be successful on commercial radio: Rick Rubin's remix of "Piggy" and Trent Reznor's remix of "Hurt" (which sounds exactly the same as the album version unless you listen very carefully). This doesn't mean that the rest of the remixes are unlistenable, it's just that the pop element that was present in TDS has been essentially removed by the remixers. What this means is that FDTS has more appeal to fans of industrial music than to fans of alternative rock in general. The tracks are very atmospheric, and often explore various aspects of TDS's songs in greater detail. The original creation by Aphex Twin should please folks who like his brand of electronica. In short, if you liked The Downward Spiral, and are interested in exploring the industrial aspect a little more, go for it. If not, spend your money on something you'll enjoy more.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the best remix albums ever made., May 25, 2005
Remix albums are often a mixed bag, invariably remixes go one of three directions-- total reinterpretations, too subtle to have any noticable difference, or dance/house/dub reconstructions. I find as a rule, I tend to prefer the former, but the material needs to have a depth of arrangement to support this, or it needs to be significantly engaging to allow a drastic change. Given that "The Downward Spiral" meets both these criteria, its little surprise that the remixes from it are quite strong-- in fact, of all the Nine Inch Nails remix material, I've found consistently high quality only amongst "The Downward Spiral" material.
Before I go on, the biggest complaint about this one is that there are tracks on here not on the UK release of "Further Down the Spiral" and vice versa. Admittedly, it'd be tight to fit them all, but for completionists, you need the UK version for four further mixes.
The remixes on here are largely exercises in mood, many of the remixes take the original moods, usually anger, paranoia, depression, and add a heavy level of anticipation to it. Take "The Art of Self Destruction, Part One" (remixed by the live Nine Inch Nails band circa 1995) or the overlong "The Downward Spiral (the bottom)" (remixed by Coil and Danny Hyde)-- both add a level of heightened anticipation to them that create a good pool of darkness from which the music can build. But even better than these moody pieces are the Aphex Twin construction "At the Heart of It All", a stunning slice of orchestral ambient darkness constructed from samples from the album (don't ask me how), the endlessly varied "Eraser" remixes from Coil/Danny Hyde, and the killer remix of "Piggy (nothing can stop me now)" by Rick Rubin, that takes the originals black mood and adds a level of aggression to it (with help of Dave Navarro's guitar) that actually surpasses the original and was added to Reznor's live set.
This is a great value as far as remix albums go, and well worth the investment for anyone who loved "The Downward Spiral".
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not as good as the import, April 1, 2000
It's an okay remix album of The Downward Spiral, but the UK version is far superior. It's better-constructed and it's more varied in the songs it draws from. A brief summary on the differences:-"Self Destruction, Part Two" is replaced by "Part Three." I greatly prefer the latter to the former, it's fresher and besides, "Part Two" is basically a shorter version of "Final." -"Hurt (Quiet)" is very very similar to the original, and I can't make up my mind whether it deserved to be on this album or not. It sounds more intimate for some reason. On the import, this is replaced by a live version. They're pretty much the same except for the crowd noises. -"Eraser (Polite)" and "Erased, Over, Out" are gone. I really don't like "E,O,O" because it's so repetitive. In fast-forward, it just says "erase me" over and over on top of the same background. "E(P)" isn't very good to begin with, just a keyboard melody over sped-up lyrics. -"The Beauty of Being Numb," a combination of a Mr Self Destruct remix and an Aphex Twin appearance, is gone. Pity, I kind of liked this one except for the Eraser outro (that's actually someone silently blowing through a tenor saxophone, by the way). -The real advantage of the import is the addition of "Heresy (Version)" and "Ruiner (Version)" by Charlie Clouser. "H(V)" is really really cool, but it cuts off suddenly. "R(V)" is a sort of trancy dance mix-type thing, quite a deviation from the original. Very nice. -Also, the Japanese version contains the bonus track "Reptilian" (a remix of Reptile) from the "March of the Pigs" single. If you can find this version (released by EastWest Japan) and it costs less than actually buying MOTP as well as the UK Further Down the Spiral, get it. This is my favourite remix from MOTP. In short: it's worth paying the extra money for the import.
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