Head Like a Hole

by

Nine Inch Nails

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A word to NIN collectors: This disc contains the two "Down In It" remixes (shred and singe) from that song's single, and if you own Pretty Hate Machine, you've got the "skin" mix -- so don't feel obliged to pick up the "Down In It" CD. This HLH Maxi-Single also includes the demo version of "Down In It," which is a treat: utterly unpolished (sounds like Trent fiddling around on a 4-track with a beatbox and a couple of synths), but listenable -- a glimpse into the early development of an NIN song.

The "Head Like a Hole" remixes are worthwhile cousins of the original; some dancier, some more a pastiche of the source noises. "You Know Who You Are" is a solid dose of the latter.

One of the HLH remixes here (slate? clay? I forget) ends with an unadulterated fade of the synth riff that's mixed into the beginning of "Terrible Lie" on Pretty Hate Machine. Savvy mixmasters can splice that with the album version to get a start-to-finish pristine cut. ("Terrible Lie" itself gets a couple of remixes here. Not my favorite tracks, but they don't detract from the disc as a whole.)

What's REALLY missing from this disc is the Opal mix, available on the 3-track import single, which I recommend -- you'd never think HLH could funk like that. But even with that omission, this is a worthy halo, a good 60 minutes of variations in the vein of Pretty Hate Machine.

Not essential. However, if you like the club type stuff, you'll like this. For some reason, the only "Down In it" song that was really necessary was the "demo" version. That version is kinda interesting. The original song of this does not appear here. Not all the songs are put together with what song is being remixed, but I guess that was an idea while putting the track list. There is an instrumental tune called "You Know Who You Are" which is really the same beat repeating, of HLAH. There are also two "Terrible Lie" remixes, both which are good, but then get tiresome after awhile. But I'm not a big fan of remixes, especially from around 1990. Remixes from NIN started good with Fixed, and then the remixes were basically stellar since. Not really bad though.