2 out of 5

Label: TVT

Producer: Trent Reznor, Flood, Adrian Sherwood, Keith LeBlanc

Taking piecemeal, the releases making up this version of the Head Like a Hole single – essentially compiling the various remixes from the other singles released from PHM – range from listenable to rewarding.  All together, though, with a runtime extending beyond that of the album from which the originals are taken, the versions can blend together and it becomes something of a chore to sit through, not helped by repetitive sequencing.  We basically have three songs – the title track, Terrible Lie, and Down In It – and their remixes.  The Down In It mixes were previously released as Halo 01 with the exception of the original demo, plus some extra run-out on the ‘Singe’ mix, but nothing that makes re-owning it (if you own Halo 01) a necessity.  The demo is definitely interesting to hear, but it’s all the way at the end of album after we’ve already had our fill, so that’s that.  I haven’t read this elsewhere yet, but according to the comment on the Discogs page, two of the versions here are simply ‘down-mixed’ variations of other tracks (as in not actually re-mixed but just excess cut away – like a radio edit), which I totally buy since between our two openers – Hole remixes ‘Slate’ and ‘Clay,’ the former apparently the shortened version of the latter – I can spot a difference besides runtime.  The same is apparently true of ‘Terrible Lie’s Sympathetic and Empathetic mixes (former shortened from latter), but this fares a ton better because we get some tracks in-between there, plus the remixing on that one is compelling either way, bringing a whole bunch of new sounds to the fore.  ‘You Know Who You Are’ seems like an instrumental plucking pieces from ‘Hole.’  Not immediately danceable or for toe-tapping, but fun for fleshing out all the nuances put into the track.  The ‘Soil’ version of Hole is probably the most typical remix here in the sense that it could be a dancefloor mix, definitely opting to push the beat over all other elements.

So again – all the pieces here are good, and in terms of narrowing down all the singles onto one source, this is an easy sell… except that it is missing the unique ‘Opal’ from the UK ‘Hole’ single, which is a shame – but it’s not really a good listening experience from start to finish, with too much of the same (the ‘remix’ concept aside – more speaking to the ‘down-mixed’ cuts explained above) slowing things down and rendering what could otherwise be enjoyable a bit of a bore.