And All That Could Have Been
The biggest difference between a kick-ass studio album and a kick-ass live album? Intensity. The live albumAnd All That Could Have Been, recorded during Nine Inch Nails' Fragility 2.0 U.S. tour in 2000, provides that trait in abundance. It helps that Trent Reznor has a band, instead of just a battery of keyboards, to help him work through 16 tracks of the raging yet surprisingly listenable musical vitriol that made him a star. The live musicians, who allow him some freedom to play with tempo, help kick "Closer" up a notch and lend some atmospheric weight to a slow version of "The Frail." The band rips into older material with gusto; Reznor sounds just as pissed off performing "Head Like a Hole" as he did in 1989. The CD closes with "Hurt," which might seem like an odd choice, but somehow, after everything that's come before, it's like the denouement of a tragedy. While a CD can only capture a piece of NIN's onstage energy, their first live album is an intense, sometimes overwhelming recording, further vindication of NIN's continuing popularity and influence.--Genevieve Williams