The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust was the first time I paid for digital music. It was released as a sort-of experiment of pay-what-you-like - similar to how Radiohead released In Rainbows. I think there were two options: free or $5. I'd been a fan of Saul Williams for a few years at this point so felt it was important to support him. I was also incredibly excited at the collaboration with Trent Reznor.
At this point, Radiohead still hadn't released a physical version of In Rainbows and Saul Williams wasn't planning any physical either. It was quite an exciting but strange time; would musicians really start moving away from physical media? Would these albums really never be pressed into vinyl? My own guesses to those questions formed my paying-decisions - Radiohead I downloaded for free, figuring they'd probably release a cd/record fairly soon (they did, and I bought a copy) but I was less sure about Saul Williams. A year later I found this double 12" in Spillers and was proved wrong. $5 is less than a pint, so I don't feel cheated. If I met Saul Williams, I'd definitely buy him a pint, so it's fine.
I suspect there's quite a few people for whom the same is true, but it was Trent Reznor that introduced me to Saul Williams. In July 2005 I went to see Nine Inch Nails in Brixton with Saul Williams supporting. Slightly off-topic, but it was the first I'd ever seen NIN and I was very excited. I'd just come back from Roskilde and there were only 3 days between returning from Denmark and moving to Australia for a year, but I decided to spend one of the few nights I had remaining seeing NIN. They'd played a very sold-out show a few months ago but other than that, these shows were the first NIN concerts in the UK in many years. I had tickets to the night before too, but our flights from Roskilde meant we couldn't go that night. Anyway, Trent had picked Saul Williams as the support act and, judging by the crowd, most of the people weren't that fussed. Hugh and I (and a handful of people down the front) were hugely impressed by Saul's show that night; the mix of hip hop and industrial music was really exciting and he had some mind-blowing raps. One of the things I've enjoyed most about Saul every time I've seen him since has been the intense spoken word/rap/poem moments. It always takes my breath away.
So from that day on, I was a Saul Williams fan and picked up his two albums that were out at the time. Niggy Tardust was then quite a different record to both of those. Maybe it's because my background isn't so heavily based in hip-hop, but the title of Producer on a hip-hop record means a lot more than it does in other genres. In this case, Trent is credited with writing the music on most of the songs. In a lot of cases these could basically be NIN songs with Saul rapping (and, in the case of Skin of a Drum, it apparently is). Trent Reznor has a very particular sound - when watching The Social Network I kept thinking that someone was playing NIN in the other room (less so with Gone Girl). That sound is very evident here, but that's both the albums charm and its problem.
There are some incredible songs across the 15 that make up the main album - Black History Month is a huge opener, Tr(n)igger and Niggy Tardust are two of the most notable songs on the album. There are some slower moments that lose the pace a bit too, like Raw and No One Ever Does. Generally, Saul does a lot more singing on this record than previously, which I think might be a product of Trent's involvement. In itself, that's not an issue, but I do really like the raps on the other albums, which is probably why in the years since the first two albums have had a lot more play than this one. Sometimes the collaboration does come together in great ways, like WTF!, Skin of a Drum and Raised to Be Lowered. Interestingly, Scared Money, the only song that Trent isn't credited on, has both one of the best raps and is the only song that feels it would fit on any other Saul Williams album.
Of course, no piece of writing about The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust would be complete without mentioning the cover of U2's Sunday Bloody Sunday (which has the fairly-prime position of track 4). It's just strange. I get the idea behind the song itself, but I still see it as an odd choice. There's also the fact that it's unusual to put a cover at the start of an album at the best of times, let alone when it's an album that, either by association or release method, is going to see your music reach far bigger audiences than ever before. It's a little jarring on the first few listens, mostly because it's such a well-known song, but it doesn't really hurt the flow of the album; there are quite a few ups and downs so the notion of flow doesn't really apply here.
Anyway, less than a year after the album came out, I stumbled across this copy in Spillers.I was excited to finally have a physical copy of the album - owning mp3s on their own really does nothing for me. As a nice gesture, the fourth side has some bonus tracks, mostly from the same sessions, and a version of List of Demands. Gunshots By Computer is the highlight, but it's mostly just nice that they added something extra - feels like a treat for everyone who paid to download the album. Looking at Discogs, it seems that there weren't too many of these pressed and they sell for a lot more than I paid for it, which is always nice.
Format: Double 12", gatefold sleeve
Tracks: 20
Cost: £16.50 new
Bought: Spillers Records
When: 22/07/08
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no
