Nine Inch Nails – Broken

This does not have a B-Side. It is literally blank…

I bought this record back in the day, new, not second hand, and there never was an extra 7"? What gives?

I don't where (on some other pressing's page? On SH Forums?) I've seen a comment saying this press was crappy but it pushed me to retrieve mine and to compare it the other versions i have (OG CD, hi-res rip of an OG 12'', the recent 12'' DE & streaming).

Knowing Brazilian pressings can be not the best (to put it midly), i was surprised it sounded that good. Weirdly enough, it was pretty close to an OG.
Even better, from what i've gathered, the BR one has tiny bit more air / feels a bit more dynamic. And it's certainly not lo-fi ('mp3 sounding' as i recall the other guy said).

The DE seems to have a bit more details in the highs & on some random parts, but it doesn't mean it's much better.
I still prefer the BR over the new one since it seems more balanced (i hate when i can hear so much the hi-hats & co). Also, the DE seems a bit more compressed.

The only bad things : the vinyl is flimsy & kinda noisy (clearly apparent on 'Help me...') even though my copy is pretty clean. I guess it all comes down to the formula the plant was using at the time.

All in all, a pretty surprising & convenient release (the 7'' might be fun but it's not the best for multiple reasons)!

Fun fact: even though the A sides on all the versions i've playtested were almost the same, once i've flipped to side B, i had to push the volume 2dB higher on the Brazilian one, which means the OG (and subsenquent releases) didn't have the same levels on each side.

its just banger after banger guy just never misses. hope this years album is vocal unlike locusts and ghosts

would love to get this sticker in the first photo or even a good scan of it

I've been listening to and saw NIN live many times since I was a kid back in the 90's and this album is probably top 2 if not number 1 in my book and to finally hear this on vinyl is like hearing it for the first time all over again. Got my hands on a NM copy and as angry as this album is I shed a tear over how good it sounded.

Sounds good and well pressed. The EQ is quite a bit darker than my CD - upper mids and upwards being much more subdued - an choice that I don't necessary disagree with. Wondering if this is related to production or mastering.

both my 12" and 7" are very crackly, which really messes with "pinion" and "help me i am in hell". the rest of the album is loud enough to blanket it but i'm disappointed in that field.

something i'm not disappointed in is the sound quality- if you can tune out the fact that this record sounds deep-fried, vinyl is the way to go for this EP. adds a whole nother dimension to that raw trent reznor early 90's angst!

side note: if you own any record cleaning apparatus that positions the record vertically, it's best to cover up the label with tape or something on the etched side. there's no grooves to catch the water so it just runs all over the label, had i not wiped it up soon enough it could have ended up somewhat damaged.

3/5, get another press of this album if you can but if this is all you can get and you're good at tuning out the sheer crispiness of the crackling then it'll do

I don't know about streaming, or if you just listen through laptop speakers or something, but honestly, this version is objectively inferior to the original CD. My record player/speakers/etc. are pretty good, so it's not that. I try to be honest about what I'm hearing, and sometimes CDs do sound better.

Try A/Bing "Last" and see how that goes. Again, this LP against the CD. The CD is sharp and clear; the LP has the guitar sounding like there's a blanket over the speaker cabinet. The packaging is really nice, and the LP is not terrible, but I cannot agree with all the praise it gets here.

Yes, it's basically noiseless, and yes, it's cool that it came with a separate 7". But, if you are looking for the best sounding version of this recording, this is not it.

What a definitive edition... the 33 rpm record sounds good, and the songs on the 45 rpm record sound even better (more detailed and dynamic), but what a disaster of packaging and pressing...

My 7" is perfect, the 12" record has pops and noise background in the first half going through the silent ages (didn't disappear after multiple washes) and came very wavy, it is clear that this is caused by the etched on side B (a waste of space that contributes nothing) or by having packed the small record together with the large one in a single jacket, having used a gatefold would have helped.
Why not put the songs on both sides at 45 rpm, taking advantage of space and the best possible quality?

They also changed the layout of the original design, such as the lettering and the opening position of the inner sleeve, which is now on the side and not at the top, forcing it to rotate and change its orientation to protect the record when storing it... The poly-lined envelopes that come for each record are so large that they don't fit in the inner sleeves, which are made of thin, cheap quality paper.
*The 7" inner sleeve isn't a 'heavy card stock' as described in the Notes, but a very thin one too....
This is an unhappy edition "meticulously prepared by Trent Reznor and NIN art director John Crawford":(