The Fragile: Deviations 1

Halo 30 - The Fragile: Deviations 1

The Fragile: Deviations 1 (also known as Halo 30) is an alternate take on The Fragile by Nine Inch Nails. It began shipping in June 2017, but was released digitally in December 2016 to those who ordered the physical product from nin.com.

On December 24, 2016, Trent Reznor stated that: "When a track from Deviations says (Instrumental), that's because at some point that track had vocals on it. Those could be finished, a demo or just an outline."

About

Announced on December 16, 2016, The Fragile: Deviations 1 contains over an hour of alternate versions, instrumental versions, and other unreleased material from The Fragile on 180 gram vinyl.

A press release announcing Deviations 1 on nin.com stated:

"A very special limited edition of The Fragile is now available for preorder in the NIN store. This unique version of NIN’s classic record was created by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross and features 37 instrumental, alternate and unreleased tracks, many of which have never been heard before anywhere."

Reznor explains, 'The Fragile occupies a very interesting and intimate place in my heart. I was going through a turbulent time in my life when making it and revisiting it has become a form of therapy for me. As an experiment, I removed all the vocals from the record and found it became a truly changed experience that worked on a different yet compelling level. The Fragile: Deviations 1 represents Atticus and I embellishing the original record with a number of tracks from those sessions we didn’t use before. The result paints a complimentary but different picture we wanted to share.'

The Fragile: Deviations 1 will not be available on any digital services and only available in this format while this limited run lasts."

Sticker on front of Deviations 1 LP release

Printed track listing from Deviations 1 LP release

Differences from The Fragile Instrumental

Many of the tracks on the Deviations 1 release differ from that of the 2015 Apple Music instrumental release:

• "The Day The World Went Away" from Apple Music features an instrumental of the (Quiet) mix, while Deviations 1 features the album version instrumental.
• "We're In This Together" from Apple Music features an instrumental of the album version, while Deviations 1 cuts the intro off and has "Missing Places" flow into it.
• "La Mer" is cleaned up and removes the audio glitch found about 40 seconds in on the Apple Music version.
• "The New Flesh", while listed as (Alt) in the Apple Music version, is now called (Instrumental) in Deviations 1 and is musically identical.
• "The Way Out Is Through", while listed as (Instrumental) in the Apple Music version, is now called (Alternate Version) in Deviations 1 and is musically identical.
• "Hello, Everything Is Not OK" from the Apple Music release is now called "10 Miles High" (Instrumental), though it is entirely the same track.
• "Starfuckers, Inc." is about 25 seconds longer on Deviations 1 with an extended outro featuring the KISS sample.
• "Ripe (With Decay)" only featured as "Ripe" on the Apple Music release, clocking in at 4:34, while Deviations 1 provides "Ripe (With Decay)" in its entirety at 7:35.
• In general, Deviations 1 sounds cleaner and more polished as opposed to the Apple Music release.

Track List

Side 1A

1. "Somewhat Damaged" (Instrumental) - 4:53
2. "The Day The World Went Away" (Instrumental) - 5:29
3. "The Frail" (Alternate Version) - 1:46
4. "The Wretched" (Instrumental) - 6:00

Side 1B

1. "Missing Places" - 1:26
2. "We're In This Together" (Instrumental) - 6:50
3. "The Fragile" (Instrumental) - 4:48
4. "Just Like You Imagined" (Alternate Version) - 3:46
5. "The March" (Instrumental) - 3:42

Side 2A

1. "Even Deeper" (Instrumental) - 6:19
2. "Pilgrimage" (Alternate Version) - 3:04
3. "One Way To Get There" - 2:44
4. "No, You Don't" (Instrumental) - 3:16
5. "Taken" - 3:35

Side 2B

1. "La Mer" (Alternate Version) - 4:54
2. "The Great Below" (Instrumental) - 5:25
3. "Not What It Seems Like" (Instrumental) - 3:30
4. "White Mask" - 3:22
5. "The New Flesh" (Instrumental) - 3:40

Side 3A

1. "The Way Out Is Through" (Alternate Version) - 4:26
2. "Into The Void" (Instrumental) - 4:44
3. "Where Is Everybody?" (Instrumental) - 4:55
4. "The Mark Has Been Made" (Alternate Version) - 4:45

Side 3B

1. "Was It Worth It?" (Instrumental) - 5:03
2. "Please" (Instrumental) - 3:30
3. "+Appendage" (Instrumental) - 3:19
4. "Can I Stay Here?" (Instrumental) - 4:25
5. "10 Miles High" (Instrumental) - 5:16

Side 4A

1. "Feeders" - 2:02
2. "Starfuckers, Inc." (Instrumental) - 5:33
3. "Complication" (Alternate Version) - 2:55
4. "Claustrophobia Machine (Raw)" - 2:39
5. "Last Heard From" - 2:06

Side 4B

1. "I'm Looking Forward To Joining You, Finally" (Instrumental) - 4:17
2. "The Big Come Down" (Instrumental) - 4:05
3. "Underneath It All" (Instrumental) - 3:21
4. "Ripe (With Decay)" (Instrumental) - 7:35

Discography

Previous release - "Not The Actual Events" Halo number: 30 Next release - "Add Violence"