The Perfect Drug (US)

Carson gave this album on2008-08-29.

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The Perfect Drug - or Halo 11, if you prefer - is an anomalous single for a number of reasons.

First, unlike Nine Inch Nails' other singles that just have remixes of one song Head Like a Hole (UK) or Down in It, the remixes of "The Perfect Drug" all sound completely different. Second, the original version is not present on the single; which, while unusual for Nine Inch Nails, is not unheard of. Finally, there are more versions of this song than on the single than on most other singles; Sin, Down in It, and Head Like a Hole (UK) each contain three versions of their title track, Head Like a Hole (US) contains either four versions or five (if you count "You Know Who You Are"), March of the Pigs (US) and March of the Pigs (UK) have two and three versions respectively, and the rest of the singles pretty much follow suit.

The Meat Beat Manifesto and Plug versions are very electronic sounding with the former feeling right at home on Fixed. The Nine Inch Nails mix gives the impression of "Reptile" and "The Becoming" from Closer smashed together; this is a great blending - and is similar to other music from Trent Reznor during this period - but is much too long. The Spacetime Continuum mix is my favorite one and emphasizes stereo effects while subduing the vocals. Lastly, The Orbit mix features heavy distortion, ample stereo separation, high reverb on the vocal but, for all of that, is musically uninteresting.

Because of the entirely different sound from one track to the next, The Perfect Drug is playable from start to finish without getting tired of it. The only complaint that I have is that the original version of the song does not appear on the single.

Track	Name		Carson	Katherine		Track	Name		Carson	Katherine
1	The Perfect Drug (Meat Beat Manifesto)					4	The Perfect Drug (Spacetime Continuum)
2	The Perfect Drug (Plug)					5	The Perfect Drug (The Orb)
3	The Perfect Drug (Nine Inch Nails)