Nine Inch Nails - The Fragile

Did this really need to be a double album? I mean, seriously, Trent, the fact that you have so much art coming out of you (rather like puss from an open sore…) is great, it really is. But have you ever heard of the philosophy “less is more?” Wouldn’t it have been better to keep it concise, and in the process save your listeners a little money?

Double albums are a little bit tricky, because you need to do several things with them. First off, you need to make sure that you have enough to say to actually fill two album-lengths. Secondly, what you have to say better be pretty freaking important. Thirdly, you have to keep your listener’s attention through the entire 90 to 120 minutes of the proceedings. Bands usually do this by switching it up a lot, like on those two masterpieces, Mellon Collie & the Infinite Sadness and The White Album. Other times, they do it by having an honest-to-God story, like on Tommy and The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway.

Nine Inch Nails’ The Fragile falls just short on the first two things, but remarkably succeeds at the third, but not in either of the previously mentioned ways. No, The Fragile holds your attention by being so gosh-darned interesting that you can’t look away for long. I don’t think, however, that that feature makes it worthy of being a double album. It could have been every ounce as interesting if it had been an ordinary, 55-minute, single-disc album. Not only does The Fragile not have enough to say, it doesn’t even say anything new. Reznor basically covered the area of “my life sucks” ad nauseum with his first three albums. Like I said in my review of With Teeth, the main reason The Fragile was such a disappointment over The Downward Spiral was my age. I was 14 when The Downward Spiral came out, and 18 for The Fragile. That four years made a world of difference. I had grown up in the intervening time, and at a much faster rate, apparently, than Reznor. He was still stuck in the “oh woe is me” stage, though he had gotten a little subtler and smarter about it. The one leap forward he made, however, was that he no longer saw suicide as cool or romantic, as he said in interviews.

When you zoom out and look at The Fragile as a whole, you see that it’s a pretty ambitious effort that really pays off in its own weird way. It’s when you look too closely at individual moments that it starts to break down. But it’s a double album, so it has enough absolutely great moments to balance out the ho-hum and bleh ones. It takes quite a bit of effort (not to mention a sizable time commitment) to get much out of it, though. There’s really no sense in highlighting individual songs, since most of them have the same emotional color. The dirgy crunch and cold industrialism of this type of music is surprisingly aided by this album’s increased use of guitars and other stringed instruments. Trent Reznor has said that stringed instruments are imperfect, unlike computers, which will execute what you tell them to without error. That element fell exactly in line with what he was trying to accomplish with this album, and Reznor really has some intriguing sounds on it. Taken as a whole, The Fragile is a very good addition to NIN’s discography, even if it’s really long-winded and not very lyrically original. But to really enjoy it, you can’t think too hard about it. Trent wins points for expanding the definition of “music” a little, but loses a lot of them for not knowing what to keep and what to discard.

Prime Cuts:
Into the Void
The Wretched
Where is Everybody?
We’re In This Together
Just Like You Imagined

22 Rating: 7

(Incidentally, today is the first birthday of Drop 22!)

Jet - Shine On

It does this old soul some good to see an old-fashioned rock n’ roll band out there, especially when so many bands nowadays are rock bands plus something else. Don’t get me wrong; I like all the frills and complications that modern groups bring to the table, or at least most of them. But it’s also good to get back to basics every once in a while, and that’s exactly what Jet does with their sophomore album, Shine On.

It doesn’t get off to a great start, though. The opening track, which is just 23 seconds long, is also the first 23 seconds of the closing track, lifted precisely from it. I don’t see why it’s necessary. The first real song, “Holiday,” sets the tone for most of the rest of the album, which is simple, gritty, and down-home rock and roll. Unfortunately, “Holiday” has kind of a clunky chorus, and is not powerful enough to be a good opening track. The next one, “Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is,” more than makes up for it, however. In my opinion, the album really starts here. This is a blazing rock song with an awesome groove and vocals done with utter conviction. When it’s over, you want to hit repeat and play it again. Things follow in the same pattern until “Kings Horses,” which is a softer side of the band, but not very memorable.

Then we have “Shine On” at the mid-point of the album. This song combines a good melody with soulful delivery, and one can tell that a lot of emotion and feeling went into the recording. Nic Cester wrote this song from his father’s point of view after he had passed away, as a sort of message to all those that he left behind. It’s a beautiful sentiment, but the sentimentality of it doesn’t diminish the band’s muscle or machismo.

“Come On Come On” and “Stand Up” are good Stones-esque rockers, and “Eleanor” is a sweet ballad that has very strong echoes of the Beatles. Indeed, those same echoes are present throughout the album. I’m struck by how similar Jet is to Oasis, another band that idolizes the Beatles. They both have brothers in them, one of which is the lead singer. The first single from this album is called “Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is,” and Oasis had a song on Standing On the Shoulder of Giants called “Put Yer Money Where Yer Mouth Is,” that had generally the same tone to it. Also, “Shine On” seems to be an amped up and just plain better version of the recent Oasis song “Let There Be Love.” The big difference is that Jet represents Australia, and Oasis is so British it hurts. Their similarity is noted by the bands, as well, as they toured together a few years ago.

While Shine On is a good slice of simplicity in a not-so-simple rock music world, it has its problems. For one thing, it’s a bit too long. I think the album could have benefited from shortening a few of the songs, cutting some songs out, or both. Much of it seems like filler, and that’s not necessary. With a band like Jet, where rock and roll is a very down-to-earth, accessible thing, the wiser choice would be to keep it short and sweet. Still, though, Shine On is a breath of fresh air, and an album I will retreat to when things get too complicated.

Prime Cuts:
Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is
Shine On
Come On Come On
Eleanor

22 Rating: 8