Nine Inch Nails - Y34RZ3R0R3MIX3D / [CD/DVD Combo]
![Y34RZ3R0R3MIX3D / [CD/DVD Combo]](/images/Y34RZ3R0R3MIX3D-CD-DVD-Combo-B000X9PNOQ-L.jpg)
|
List Price: Our Price: $10.44 You Save: $9.54 (48%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $6.61 (click here) Category: Music CD See more new music releases 
|
|---|
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
Free Music Notes for Y34RZ3R0R3MIX3D / [CD/DVD Combo]
Free Music Review: A great remix of a great album...
Hit: 4 Stars
It definitely took Year Zero a few good listens before it really set well with me. The same goes for the latest remix album under Nine Inch Nails titled Y34RZ3R0R3MIX3D. This album not only satisfies the NIN remix fans, but goes beyond that to improving on some of the original tracks in many ways.
A must buy for old and new NIN fans.
Free Music Review: Better than the regular album
Hit: 4 Stars
This remixed album is better than the original one. If you like remixes, these are the best remixes done to NIN songs since "Further Down The Spiral". A really good album.Free Music Review: Good, but not the greatest
Hit: 4 Stars
The songs start out great, but it slows down way too much at the end. I have found better remixes searching online, but it is still a good album.Free Music Review: Only for fans of Year Zero; worthwhile for them, though.
Hit: 3 Stars
I don't usually listen to remixes. But I think Year Zero is the best NIN album to date, so I took a chance on Year Zero Remixed. Unlike NIN's other remix albums, where Trent Reznor mostly did his own remixing, the arrangements here are all by other artists (though some of them are closely associated with NIN, like Saul Williams or Alessandro Cortini's Modwheelmood). The results are about as good as you could hope for -- pretty uneven, but with a few startlingly good parts.
The biggest show-stopper is Ladytron's version of "The Beginning Of The End." They take what was already Reznor's most danceable song since "Closer," and make it even more danceable. But the remix is just as gloriously doom-laden as the original, with even deeper bass, on echoing keyboards rather than guitar. Additional keyboards in the second half add a lot of ominous atmosphere. The guitar solo in the original is worked into the end of the remix, and serves as a good crescendo. It's the rare case of an alternate version that is significantly different from the original, but is every bit as good. It's also a lot better than most of Ladytron's own work.
Another attraction is Saul Williams' revision of "Survivalism." The original version was aggressive, but I always found it kind of plodding. It just didn't have the same energetic kick as, say, "The Beginning Of The End," and it didn't have anything original in the way of beats and riffs, either. The remix is completely different. The aggression is gone, replaced by trippy ambience and slower, more subtle beats. Most of the noise, including Reznor's snarling vocal, is now submerged in the murk. In the end, part of the chorus is repeated in a floating, disembodied falsetto. I really think that this version fits the paranoid, unsettling imagery of the song's video and the Year Zero concept better than the original.
These two tracks also sound great back-to-back, although they are different in style. Interestingly, the best remixes on the album tend to be the ones that take a certain element that was suggested by the original, and then take that element as far as possible. For instance, Modwheelmood's version of "The Great Destroyer" omits the drum freak-out, and leaves only Reznor's calm chanting, set to acoustic strumming in the verses, distorted and made to sound distant in the chorus. I like the original more, but the slow burn of the remix is also enjoyable.
On the other hand, Olof Dreijer's take on "Me, I'm Not" is awful. The original was a spooky trip-hop soundscape, full of looming menace. You'd figure that would be ideal territory for The Knife, but Dreijer turns in what basically amounts to "Silent Shout," minus about 95% of the synths, i.e. a house beat and some incidental noises, which go on without end. It is very boring.
Some tracks aren't remarkable one way or the other. Bill Laswell's remix of "Vessel" is pretty much the same as the original, with minor variations in the beginning and middle. The Faint clearly have no idea what to do with "Meet Your Master," so they glitch up the vocals and try to make the beat more danceable, in the process losing the dynamics of the original, while gaining nothing. The remix of "My Violent Heart" is notable for being authored by a "regular" NIN fan, but unfortunately nothing else about it is interesting -- he just takes the original song and makes the rhythm track a lot louder and more dissonant, again losing the dramatism of the original while making it much less listenable.
And sometimes, radically changing the originals just doesn't work very well. The Epworth Phones remix of "Capital G" turns the song into a flamboyant house anthem, wrapping altered samples of the screeching guitars around the dance beat. But it also has the flavour of a "typical remix" in the way it pointlessly repeats, cuts up, and alters the original vocals, which were key to the impact of the song. All told, I prefer the original, with the less conventional time signature and the vocals intact. And without the incredible, constantly mutating bass line from the original album, Stefan Goodchild's "The Warning" is not very interesting.
The last three remixes follow the same order as on the original album. Kronos Quartet contribute a straightforward reading of "Another Version Of The Truth" on classical violin, which is just as moody as the original and somewhat reminiscent of Godspeed You Black Emperor in their better moments. Christian Fennesz strips the overbearing percussion out of "In This Twilight," and with the increased emphasis on the words and vocals, it becomes clear that the song is very well-written, and probably Reznor's best ballad (better than "Hurt" -- yes, I said it!). Finally, New Order do something similar to "Zero Sum," cleaning up the hissing percussion and replacing most of it with a dark techno pulse, which accents the rueful tone of the vocals quite well. (They do the same thing for "God Given" as well, and it works there too, although that song is more obviously suited to such a treatment.)
Overall, the whole thing is worth a listen. A lot of it serves as a reminder of how strong the original songs are. The best couple of tracks, particularly "The Beginning Of The End," are good enough to take on the originals. It's fun to imagine that some of these modifications might cause Reznor himself to change his approach in the future.
Free Music Review: Leaves More To Be Desired
Hit: 3 Stars
Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D is without a doubt the fullest effort for any NIN remix LP/EP. Almost every song from the original 'Year Zero' is presented on the album (and presented only once.) One glaring negative, however, is that YZ already sounds like its been chopped, mixed, and laid out to dry already. Remixing an album that already feels remixed is something many of the artists on this LP try to overcome; some of them succeed, while others succumb to pure mediocrity.
- "Gunshots by Computer" (Saul Williams) - HYPERPOWER! with rap lyrics. Not something stunning, but something not seen before on a NIN release
- "The Great Destroyer" (Modwheelmood) - Interesting mix of acoustic strings and technology. A must-listen!
- "My Violent Heart" (Pirate Robot Midget) - Fun little dance mix, though discardable after a few listens.
- "The Beginning of the End" (Ladytron J-Type Overdrive Mix) - Horrible take on one of the most hard-rocking songs found on YZ.
- "Survivalism_Tardusted" (Saul Williams) Nice, polished mix with bass levels to die for.
- "Capital G" (Phones 666RPM Mix) - Rave mediocrity.
- "Vessel" (Bill Laswell) - Sounds like the original and totally average.
- "The Warning" - (Stefan Goodchild) - Wonderful drumming with hardly any of the guitars that carried the original. Likely the freshest track from this album.
- "Meet Your Master" - (The Faint) - Same as the 'Vessel' remix. Average at best.
- "God Given" (Stephen Morris/Gillian Gilbert) - Another average take.
- "Me, I'm Not" (Olof Dreijer) - On par with some of the worst NIN remixes in the bands history. 14 minutes of droll nothingness.
- "Another Version of the Truth" (Kronos Quartet & Enrique Gonzalez Müller) - Cool string section that could have easily been an outtake from 'The Fragile' sessions.
- "In This Twilight" (Fennesz ) - Too much distortion put into a slow-paced song. The concept could have worked with a different method, but it fails here.
- "Zero-Sum" (Stephen Morris/Gillian Gilbert) - Fun background beat, but nothing strikingly different from the original.
The album is worth getting for both the NIN faithful and casual listeners, but free open-source remixes circulating around are just as fun to listen to.