Nine Inch Nails – The Fragile
Label:
Nothing Records – 0694904732,
Interscope Records – 0694904732
Format:
2 ×
CD, Album, Tri-Fold Digipak
Country:
Released:
Genre:
Style:
Tracklist Hide Credits
| Left | ||||
| 1-1 |
Somewhat Damaged
Guitar [Additional], Written-by – Danny Lohner |
4:31 | ||
| 1-2 |
The Day The World Went Away
Backing Vocals [Backing Chants - Credited To The Buddha Debutante Choir] – Christine Parrish, Fae Young, M. Gabriela Rivas*, Heather Bennett, Judy Miller, Martha Wood, Melissa Daigle Backing Vocals [Backing Chants] – Buddha Debutante Choir, The Vocals [Additional] – Kim Prevost |
4:33 | ||
| 1-3 | The Frail | 1:54 | ||
| 1-4 | The Wretched | 5:25 | ||
| 1-5 |
We're In This Together
Drums [Chorus] – Jerome Dillon |
7:16 | ||
| 1-6 | The Fragile | 4:35 | ||
| 1-7 |
Just Like You Imagined
Guitar [Additional] – Adrian Belew, Danny Lohner Piano – Mike Garson |
3:49 | ||
| 1-8 |
Even Deeper
Backing Vocals – Barbara Wilson, Di Coleman, Elquine L. Rice, Gary L. Neal, Leslie Wilson, Rodney Sulton, Stefani Taylor, Terry L. Rice, Traci Nelson, Tracy Hardin Drum Programming, Synthesizer [Additional], Written-by – Danny Lohner Mixed By [Assistance] – Dr. Dre |
5:47 | ||
| 1-9 |
Pilgrimage
Choir [Chanting] – Buddha Boys Choir, The Percussion [Additional Marching] – Steve Duda Trumpet – Cherry Holly |
3:31 | ||
| 1-10 | No, You Don't | 3:35 | ||
| 1-11 |
La Mer
Cello – Willie Drums – Bill Rieflin* Vocals – Denise Milfort |
4:37 | ||
| 1-12 |
The Great Below
Effects [Atmospheres] – Charlie Clouser Guitar [Ambiences] – Danny Lohner Guitar [End Melodic] – Adrian Belew |
5:17 | ||
| Right | ||||
| 2-1 |
The Way Out Is Through
Piano – Mike Garson Written-By – Charlie Clouser, Keith Hillebrandt |
4:19 | ||
| 2-2 |
Into The Void
Backing Vocals – Kim Prevost Drum Programming – Charlie Clouser |
4:51 | ||
| 2-3 |
Where Is Everybody?
Guitar [End Melodic] – Adrian Belew |
5:42 | ||
| 2-4 | The Mark Has Been Made | 5:17 | ||
| 2-5 | Please | 3:32 | ||
| 2-6 |
Starfuckers, Inc.
Choir – Buddha Boys Choir, The Vocals [Chanting - Credited To The Buddha Boys Choir] – Adam Persaud, Clint Mansell, Doug Idleman, Eric Edmonson, Keith Hillebrandt, Marcus London, Nick Scott (3), Nigel Wiesehan, Steve Duda Written-By – Charlie Clouser |
5:02 | ||
| 2-7 |
Complication
Guitar [Additional] – Danny Lohner |
2:32 | ||
| 2-8 | I'm Looking Forward To Joining You, Finally | 4:15 | ||
| 2-9 | The Big Come Down | 4:14 | ||
| 2-10 | Underneath It All | 2:48 | ||
| 2-11 |
Ripe (With Decay)
Piano – Mike Garson Violin – Steve Duda |
6:34 | ||
Credits
- Art Direction, Design, Photography – David Carson
- Engineer [Additional] – Dave 'Rave' Ogilvie*, Leo Herrera
- Engineer [Second] – Brian Pollack
- Engineer, Mixed By, Producer – Alan Moulder
- Mastered By – Tom Baker (3)
- Other [Fina Continuity And Flow] – Bob Ezrin
- Performer [Additional Sound Design] – Charlie Clouser
- Performer [Additional Sound Design], Programmed By – Keith Hillebrandt, Steve Duda
- Performer, Producer, Programmed By, Written-By – Trent Reznor
- Programmed By – Clinton Bradley, Paul Decarli
- Recorded By [Supplemental Drum] – Steve Albini
Notes
Supplemental drum recording at Electrical Audio.
Mastered at Precision Mastering.
Recorded and mixed at Nothing Studios, New Orleans.
Other Versions (Showing 5 of 19) View All
| Title, Format | Label | Cat# | Country | Year | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Fragile (2xCD, Album, Dig) | Universal Victor, Inc. | MVCT-3001~2 | Japan | 1999 | ||
| The Fragile (2xCD, Album, Dig) | Island Records, Nothing Records | CIDD 8091, 490 473-2 | UK | 1999 | ||
| The Fragile (2xCD, Album) | Nothing Records, Interscope Records, Universal Music Australia | 490 473-2 | Australia | 1999 | ||
| The Fragile (3xLP, Album) | Nothing Records | 0694904731 | US | 1999 | ||
| The Fragile (2xCass, Album) | Nothing Records | 0694904734 | US | 1999 |
Recommendations
-
Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral (CD, Album, Sli)
-
Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine (CD, Album)
-
-
Nine Inch Nails - Broken (CD, EP, Dig)
-
▸ show all 8 reviews
Reviews & Discussion
Review by
Nov 10, 2006
(edited over 5 years ago)
In this fourth production Nine Inch Nails accentuates the heaviness of the guitars giving them a typical treatment and the electronic textures are really amazing. In all the songs they put him that atmosphere of madness, whose theme "Into The Void" it summarizes the personal vision of Trent Reznor. I consider "The Fragile" is one of the most experimental/atmospheric works in NIN's history.
Those who would bemoan this album's variety and perceived lack of impact seem to suffer from having short attention spans and a dislike of creativity in music. Reznor worked for years on The Fragile, assisted by an extremely talented group of people (My Bloody Valentine's mix engineer Alan Moulder and Pink Floyd's co-producer Bob Ezrin among them) to make this an album that could compete with The Downward Spiral. The hard work paid off in spades. While TDS is cold, stark and abrasive, The Fragile is lush, atmospheric music on a grand scale. Near every track on the album is bathed in sonic manipulations of almost ridiculous detail, leading to the discovery of new layers and instrumentation even after ten years of listening. It's true, this is not Industrial music, but then very few "Industrial" groups fit the classification as determined by Throbbing Gristle, inventors of the term. This is Reznor at his most defiantly artistic and one could reasonably argue that he has never been this creative since. An essential album and a high-watermark in a remarkably solid discography.
I'm surprised to see people criticize this album for "inconsistency." It's true that its immediate predecessor, _The Downward Spiral_, had a more uniform emotional feel to it -- but I hardly think that's a good thing. Indeed, while I enjoyed TDS and respect it for what it is, I find it hard to listen to these days because it *is* so emotionally uniform; its bleakness, anger, and angst give it a very adolescent feel. On the other hand, The Fragile, while far from perfect, is a more mature record, and in my opinion signifies the beginning of Trent Reznor's maturation -- a transitional phase bookended by The Fragile on one end and With_Teeth on the other, and ultimately leading to the masterpieces of Year Zero and Ghosts I-IV.
The Fragile is the most ambitious NIN's work until now yes, clearly because of the expectations put on Reznor after his smashing downward spiral, I even remember him joking with Bowie in an interview about how crappy the fragile was going to be...high pressure indeed put you in a position where u need to be ironical to relax & take a deep breathe. The Fragile is a good album, but failed to reach the quality of its predecessor. Here are the flaws : perfection doesn't exist at the plural and the idea of the 2 cds set was bad in all cases : if all the good songs are collected in one cd, the other one is pointless, and if the good songs are scattered on the two cds, it's just irritating to swap from one to other. Plus the abundance of tracks here almost hide their relevance. But the most serious flaw here is the mix of too different emotions, I mean a song like "we're in this together" is an ovni, I still hardly believe this is actually a NIN song, it's so joyful and irrelevant to the general mood of the album, one thing that indeed made the success of TDS is definitely the consistency : from the scratch to the end, its all dark, dirty, angry and desperate...
Finally Reznor sometimes completely mess up, the "nanana" vocals on "the day the world went away" and on "even deeper" are a bit ridiculous, and the melody of "the big come down" as well, not to mention some fillers here and there (complication, underneath it all)
If you don't know NIN, it's better to begin with his best effort, that is "the downward spiral".
That being said, The fragile is a solid good album I still enjoy hearing.
key tracks : the wretched, the great below, the mark has been made, starfuckers & ripe with decay (that last one is completely underrated, it's maybe the only track that hasn't been rearranged on the remix.nin.com site besides)
Finally Reznor sometimes completely mess up, the "nanana" vocals on "the day the world went away" and on "even deeper" are a bit ridiculous, and the melody of "the big come down" as well, not to mention some fillers here and there (complication, underneath it all)
If you don't know NIN, it's better to begin with his best effort, that is "the downward spiral".
That being said, The fragile is a solid good album I still enjoy hearing.
key tracks : the wretched, the great below, the mark has been made, starfuckers & ripe with decay (that last one is completely underrated, it's maybe the only track that hasn't been rearranged on the remix.nin.com site besides)
The Fragile is the most brilliant and ambitious NIN album to date. Every single NIN record is top notch and easily accessible. However, this is the record that makes Trent shine. His other albums seem to contained within one particular tone or mood. The Fragile changes styles and moods track to track. One minute you'll be listening to a soft atmospheric ballad, and the next you may find yourself dancing to disco type beats. Industrial roller coasters may take you through a mess of noise core and you may find yourself puzzled with weird arrangements. This album combines the sound of past and future NIN records and has more of a personal, human based lyric style. Key tracks: The Great Below, Into the Void, Ripe, Just Like You Imagined, The Fragile, We're In This Together. 5/5
I am completely disappointed with "The Fragile". It has nothing of the devastating impact and touching humanity of the previous works, nor of their originality. This double CD monolith is much boring and uninteresting. A real pity. And, please, stop calling "industrial" this music... on "The Fragile" Nine Inch Nails play some kind of alternative rock thing, which has nothing to do with real disturbing, harsh and uncompromising industrial music.
Received lackluster reviews from those expecting something more along the lines of his earlier work. Fragile takes the NIN sound in a (mostly) new direction, with the exception of a few tracks that have the old vitriol stamped upon them. As for the new sound, we see elaborate sonic textures, intricate crescendos and fades, and all other such manner of subtle music. In some cases, the music approaches genius, and is complemented perfectly with intelligent track layout. On some of the tracks, there is an ambient quality that few artists who dedicate their entire sound to ambient can approach.
This sort of genre crossing, mixing, hashing, and destruction is just one of the things that really causes Reznor to stand out as a musician. So, while you probably couldn't form a decent mosh with most of the material on these two CDs, we find something more suitable for a listening party, or a night alone with the lights off and the audio equipment the only extension for the senses.
Is this Mr. Reznor's best work? On some grounds it is, on other grounds it fails to reach the same visceral, human level that some of his prior works did. It is debatable which is "better," and no doubt a personal decision. I for one enjoy The Fragile a great deal, and would be hard pressed to choose a best.
This sort of genre crossing, mixing, hashing, and destruction is just one of the things that really causes Reznor to stand out as a musician. So, while you probably couldn't form a decent mosh with most of the material on these two CDs, we find something more suitable for a listening party, or a night alone with the lights off and the audio equipment the only extension for the senses.
Is this Mr. Reznor's best work? On some grounds it is, on other grounds it fails to reach the same visceral, human level that some of his prior works did. It is debatable which is "better," and no doubt a personal decision. I for one enjoy The Fragile a great deal, and would be hard pressed to choose a best.
[r4405]