"Nine Inch Nails remix albums and singles can be hit or miss. Halo 21 "Everyday is Exactly the Same" is pretty good, if a little underwhelming.
The actual single ""Everyday is Exactly the Same" is superb and one of the strongest songs from the "With Teeth" (2005) album. With its synth-heavy industrial backbone, the song easily lends itself to a dance-remix, which sounds hauntingly cool (Sam Fog vs. Carlos D Mix). Elsewhere on the single there are industrial/dance-remixes of past singles "Only" and "The Hand that Feeds." While all of these remixes sound good, "The Hand that Feeds" remixes are available elsewhere on past singles, and their inclusion here seems to serve only as filler.
It's understandable why more songs from "With Teeth" weren't remixed in the same club-mix way that these three singles are, as the whole "With Teeth" album is, overall, more rock, less industrial leaning. Still, there are a few other songs like "Sunspots" and "Beside you in time" that could have lent themselves to some interesting interpretations. It also would have been great it the outstanding tracks "Home" and "Right Where it Belongs" (version 2.0) (both on the "With Teeth" import) had been included. This CD is labeled as a "With Teeth Remix EP" but it falls short in that regard. Past remix albums "Further Down the Spiral" and "Things Fall Apart" served as companion pieces to the studio albums and are far superior in content to this so-called "Remix EP."
In short, the actual remixes on this single are all captivating and intriguing, but the inclusion of past singles and lack of new remixes for other songs is a bit disappointing.
"
Better than nothing i suppose....
M. Randall | Allen Park, MI | 04/05/2006
(3 out of 5 stars)
"Seeing how I only paid 4.99 for this CD I guess I can't complain...
However I do think this is a pretty lazy effort. The Hand That Feeds remixes are nearly a year old and anyone who's a fan has more then likely heard/owned them by now (they were available on previous halos from 2005).
The Only remixes are new to the public and both are rather good (however these should have been on the Only single last year if you ask me). The Every Day Is Exactly The Same remix is basically just an instrumental of the normal version, stretched out and mixed up a little. One of the better tracks on here.
Seeing how this CD was marketed as the "With Teeth Remix EP" I was expecting much more... After all, Things Falling Apart and Further Down The Spiral seemed to have so much more attention put into them (they included re-mixes by Reznor himself as well as B-sides/alternate versions of songs from those eras).
All in all, worth the 5 bucks - but nothing to get too excited about."
A Somewhat Bland Release.
Andrew Estes | Maine | 10/11/2006
(3 out of 5 stars)
""Every Day Is Exactly The Same," a six-track EP for the release of the third single off "With Teeth," is perhaps one of Trent's least interesting releases. Combining a few new remixes with some you most likely already have, this is the perfect EP to irritate the hardcore Nine Inch Nails collector.
Sounds Like: Something I already bought.
The Good:
- It's fairly inexpensive.
- Three remixes are exclusive to this release.
- Those three are worth listening to.
The Bad:
- The two remixes for "The Hand That Feeds" are recycled from previous releases.
- Overall, there isn't much material.
Hits: The "Sam Fog Vs. Carlos D" remix of the title track and the Richard X remix of "Only."
Misses: "The Hand That Feeds" remixes -- while good in their own right -- are kinda pointless additions to this release.
Personally: I like the new remixes, but when you think about it, half of this EP has already been released. I'm a moderate NIN collector, and I already own that stuff. What does that say to the hardcore enthusiast? If you aren't the biggest NIN fan on Earth, it's worth picking up. But don't expect something as good as "Things Falling Apart" or "Still."
Best Listened To When: You wanna dance to some 'nails."
Surprisingly good remix EP.
Zen Station | The Graceful Swans of Never | 10/05/2006
(4 out of 5 stars)
"It might disappoint "halo collectors" when they get a hold of this, seeing as some remixes previously appeared on other singles. However, this is much cheaper and considering I wasn't big on "With Teeth", I'm surprised how much I enjoyed this.
The title track is one of the great tracks on "With Teeth". While not the straightforward, anthemic "The Hand That Feeds" or the electro-funk "Only", it stands out in its own way. It's sort of a slow-burner, but with a nice melody. The DFA remix of "The Hand That Feeds" is worth the price of this thing. It is quite the contrast of the original, this one being much more of an electro track. If you like DFA stuff like LCD Soundsystem, I think you'll enjoy the remix. Sure, it's kind of lengthy, but that ain't such a bad thing. The other remix is sort of just an extended mix of the original, although focusing more on instrumental parts of the song.
The El-P remix of "Only" is also another great one here. It gives the song an awesome trip-hop feel, which I think fits better for the spoken word first verse than the actual song itself. It's a lot of fun to listen to. The other remix of the song is okay. And then there's the awesome "Sam Fog vs. Carlos D." remix of "Every Day...", which is quite an enjoyable track. The remix is kind of interesting, although I have never thought of the song as anything I'd dance to or would.
It isn't the greatest NIN single/album, but the best we could expect. It makes me optimistic about the future of NIN since I wasn't actually as consistently impressed with a lot of the recent stuff, in spite my love for the first four albums (esp. "The Fragile") and the live performance I saw last year. I recommend it if you are a NIN fan. Not quite as good as the "Downward Spiral" singles, but it's just about as good."