Ghosts I - IV - Dark Publications

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Editorial Reviews:

Album Description
Japanese three CD pressing of the Industrial band's 2008 release features a bonus CD that contains commentary on the album by band leader Trent Reznor. Ghosts I - IV is a 36 track instrumental collection, almost two hours of music composed and recorded over an intense ten week period in the fall of 2007. Ghosts I - IV sprawls Nine Inch Nails across a variety of new musical terrains. Hostess.

Customer Reviews: Read 169 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

Amazon forgot to include the 40 page PDF booklet March 3, 2008
91 out of 106 found this review helpful

What a diverse album! Amazon didn't include the PDF with the download, but you can get it directly from nin.com -- http://ghosts.nin.com/main/pdf

4 out of 5 stars

Good stuff. Thanks Trent! March 5, 2008
72 out of 82 found this review helpful

Some reviewers have complained that Ghosts i-iv meanders on and on with brooding instrumentals, it gets old, etc. I would disagree. First of all, you have to realize that this is not one mega-album to digest in one sitting--it's best to listen to each "ghost" separately as a 30-minute body of work. Quite frankly, I never thought Reznor excelled in the lyrics department, ("I'm the one without a soul/I'm the one in this big f--king hole!") so this comes as a refreshing two-hour opus sans all the verbal angst he trademarked in the 90s.
For five dollars, I'd encourage the skeptical to give it a try. This is great music for a rainy day, or for working on homework (I'm in college). After several spins, there's nothing here that strikes me as never-play-again awful, and a majority of it is quite memorable (especially #28). Ghosts i-iv sounds like the musical cousin to The Fragile instrumentals or the Still disc from 2001. So if you dug that stuff, go ahead and dive into this. And in any case, by downloading this album, you're taking part in a revolutionary concept in music marketing that you can tell your kids about decades from now (if that really matters to you!)

4 out of 5 stars

A soundtrack for daydreams March 15, 2008
30 out of 32 found this review helpful

Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor, infamous for long delays between albums, sure has been productive lately. 2007 saw Reznor release the critically acclaimed "Year Zero" and its' follow-up "Year Zero Remixed." In addition, last year Reznor produced Saul Williams' "The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust." Now, out of nowhere, with no advance notice, Reznor is back with NIN's sixth album, the instrumental "Ghosts I-IV."

"A soundtrack for daydreams," is how Reznor sums up the new album...and that, I feel, is the best way to appreciate the new NIN. Rather than listening to this album as background music while driving or doing housework, "Ghosts I-IV" is best appreciated with relaxed, yet concentrated listening. Lie in bed or on the sofa, relaxed, and immerse yourself with this CD. Just sort of daydream--meditate, think about whatever...and let "Ghosts I-IV" be the soundtrack...

And as the mood of the album changes, allow your mood to flow with the album...try to get lost in the music.

Some have commented that "Ghosts I-IV" sounds similar in style to the instrumental music from "The Fragile," (1999) but I don't know if it's all that accurate to say that. While the instrumental music from "the Fragile" sort of held the vocal compositions from that CD together like glue, "Ghosts I-IV" is a little more "out there." It can, therefore, be seen as a mosaic--of several different styles--piano compositions, industrial beats, the avant-garde--all mixed together, with no real dominant flavor overpowering the rest. And while the album is all-over-the-place, treading many territories, everything works; "Ghosts I-IV" takes so many twists-and-turns-its always interesting. At the same time, with almost two hours of music to absorb, "Ghosts I-IV" is best appreciated with repeated listens--to fully appreciate all its' rich textures and intricacy.

4 out of 5 stars

A soundtrack for daydreams April 8, 2008
18 out of 20 found this review helpful

Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor, infamous for long delays between albums, sure has been productive lately. 2007 saw Reznor release the critically acclaimed "Year Zero" and its' follow-up "Year Zero Remixed." In addition, last year Reznor produced Saul Williams' "The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust." Now, out of nowhere, with no advance notice, Reznor is back with NIN's sixth album, the instrumental "Ghosts I-IV."

"A soundtrack for daydreams," is how Reznor sums up the new album...and that, I feel, is the best way to appreciate the new NIN. Rather than listening to this album as background music while driving or doing housework, "Ghosts I-IV" is best appreciated with relaxed, yet concentrated listening. Lie in bed or on the sofa, relaxed, and immerse yourself with this CD. Just sort of daydream--meditate, think about whatever...and let "Ghosts I-IV" be the soundtrack...

And as the mood of the album changes, allow your mood to flow with the album...try to get lost in the music.

Some have commented that "Ghosts I-IV" sounds similar in style to the instrumental music from "The Fragile," (1999) but I don't know if it's all that accurate to say that. While the instrumental music from "the Fragile" sort of held the vocal compositions from that CD together like glue, "Ghosts I-IV" is a little more "out there." It can, therefore, be seen as a mosaic--of several different styles--piano compositions, industrial beats, the avant-garde--all mixed together, with no real dominant flavor overpowering the rest. And while the album is all-over-the-place, treading many territories, everything works; "Ghosts I-IV" takes so many twists-and-turns-its always interesting. At the same time, with almost two hours of music to absorb, "Ghosts I-IV" is best appreciated with repeated listens--to fully appreciate all its' rich textures and intricacy.

2 out of 5 stars

Leaves This Fan of Many Years Quite Disappointed March 4, 2008
16 out of 25 found this review helpful

To give a sense of perspective for the purposes of this review, I have spent many years as a Nine Inch Nails fan and I've attended several of their concerts. I consider "The Fragile" to be the prime-ultimate Nine Inch Nails work and, in fact, one of the great albums of modern music history. Considering all of this, I was surprised by what I heard upon first listening to this new offering.

"Ghosts I-IV" should definitely be filed under the title of ambient music. I, like several others, immediately heard similarities between this album and the Aphex Twin ambient albums. To put it bluntly, "Ghosts" is a stark departure from previous Nine Inch Nails work. It has little of the climactic crescendo's which are a Trent Reznor trademark. Nor does this album contain the kind of deep, enthralling soundscapes that can be found in songs such as "Leaving Hope" from the Still album. The growing clamor of the song "Just Like You Imagined" off of "The Fragile" (as made famous by the '300' trailers) is non-existent. Also, the stunning beauty of "La Mer" (also from "The Fragile") is absent as well. The music on "Ghosts" doesn't leave the listener with the same haunting feeling that can be experienced when listening to most of Trent's other work.

Part of the reason for these flaws is due to Trent's choice of instrumentation. This has been a growing trend over the course of the past few albums. He has been using more electronic, keyboard-based music of late - the increasing use of which can be heard on "With Teeth" and "Year Zero". In my mind, the synthesized sounds which he has been using are different from those that can be heard on his early albums. The sound is too refined... too perfect. Part of the charm of "The Fragile" was the raw, unapologetic, and even imperfect sounds created using a whole host of classical instruments such as Violins, Cellos, Pianos, etc. The sounds created on "Ghosts" sound altogether inhuman. It sounds as if Trent created this album on the road where he had different filters for his portable keyboard.

The songs on this album are as ambiguous as the individual titles suggest. They are wholy unremarkable and lacking of any real narrative or compelling aural concepts. When an interesting musical theme seems to emerge, it is prematurely ended much of the time.

One reviewer pointed out that it sounds like the "guys" have taken this album in a new and exciting direction. I completely disagree based upon the fact that it hardly sounds as if any "guys" had much of a hand in making this album. Instead, it sounds like the product of a possessed, depressed Casio keyboard.

To be fair, this album may go over well with fans of ambient music. I read an interview with Trent a few months ago where he mentioned that if he felt that his writing no longer fit into the Nine Inch Nails mold, he would abandon the name and create something new. With an album like this, he seems to be drifting ever further in that direction.

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