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| Ghosts I - IV | 
 enlarge | Artist: Nine Inch Nails
Label: The Null Corporation
Category: Music
List Price: $16.98
Buy New: $8.99
You Save: $7.99 (47%)
New (52) Used (22) from $7.97
Avg. Customer Rating:  172 reviews
Sales Rank: 651
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 2
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 5.5 x 5 x 0.6
MPN: 26
UPC: 766929908628
EAN: 0766929908628
ASIN: B0015FQZ94
Release Date: April 8, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Leaves This Fan of Many Years Quite Disappointed March 4, 2008
16 out of 26 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.
 And on the seventh day, He rested April 10, 2008
16 out of 16 found this review helpful
The downward spiral away from music with any semblance of song structure continues. The God of Anger Pop, who once created the singularly perfect musical moment that was Pretty Hate Machine, must have reached his seventh day of creation: for he is clearly resting on Ghosts. This is Reznor on a lazy day, bored with nothing better to do.
Ghosts I-IV is an organized chaos of happy (and angry and sad) accidents. I imagine a herd (or pod?) of Macs and samplers, pots and pans; left to their own devices, could produce something akin to Ghosts if they tried real hard. And I suspect Trent made exactly what he intended to make.
I admit that I'm still a pathetic hold-out waiting for Pretty Hate Machine II - The Revenge. Thus, nothing less will ever truly satisfy. Ghosts is neither fixed nor broken. It's really not that bad, but it's just not that good. And for a small fistful of dollars, I shouldn't complain.
I certainly like the progressive and revolutionary distribution (a la Radiohead's Rainbows) where the evil middle-man record company is kept out of the artist's and fans' relationship. I have to give kudos to NIN for fighting the good fight. So at worst, Ghosts I-IV will take up some precious space on your iPod. At best, it's harmless background noise. NIN Ghosts is a little haunting but definitely not scary.
 Small price to pay March 3, 2008
13 out of 15 found this review helpful
A must for any NIN fan and $5 is a small price to pay to help shape the future of the music industry. PAY FOR IT and send a message loud and clear to the industry!
Sounds Like Trent Reznor's Loop Library March 4, 2008
13 out of 25 found this review helpful
Kind of disappointing. Most of this release sounds like things Trent would normally have put between songs as spacers. It just doesn't go anywhere. If you need things for your sample library it's a great download otherwise I would skip it as a "fanboy only" release.
Too redundant March 5, 2008
13 out of 27 found this review helpful
I know a lot of people are going to like this. They are hardcore fans. I think this CD is by far too redundant at times and at other times lacks coherency. The songs mostly sound alike. When they do change it is abrupt. It is hard to distinguish one Ghost from the others sometimes. I really wanted to like this because I am a pretty big fan of NIN, but this deserves a pass if you are new to NIN. One thing I do look forward to is DJs getting their hands on this and remixing them. I think with some tinkering the songs could come alive. As is, the songs are listenable, but not something that is going to keep my attention.
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