Cheap I'm Afraid of Americans [US] (Music) (David Bowie, Nine Inch Nails, Ice Cube) Price

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Customer Reviews of I'm Afraid of Americans [US]

Version 1 is the best one, it's the radio version you've heard and it's a vast improvement over the album version of the song. Trent's vocals sound good with Bowie's on the chorus and his production and extra instumentation really bump the song up a notch or two. If you're familiar with "Where Is Everybody?" from NIN's The Fragile, you'll notice that it's very reminiscent of this track.

Version 2 is the next best thing, almost as good as the single version. It's got a nice bass-laden groove. Reminds me a bit of Meat Beat Manifesto and what Jack Dangers might have done had he been given a crack at this song.

Version 3 has a guest appearance by Ice Cube and becomes a hip-hop take on the song. Musically and stylistically, this track deviates so far from the original that it doesn't really make sense as part of the collection.

Version 4 begins with about 2 minutes of pointless noise and then it starts to become a little more interesting. This one is the most reminiscent of NIN, with a much darker and sinister atmosphere and vocals that are distorted to sound like they are coming through on a poor radio reception. A very minimal mix that closes with the same pointless noise it began with.

Version 5 is a a drum'n'bass take with guest production and mixing by Photek. This one is nothing special and won't appeal to you unless you're into drum'n'bass.

Now we come to the marathon length Version 6. This one nearly puts me to sleep because it's so long and droning. If you are going to make a remix that long, it needs to have some aspect that will hold the listener's attention and this mix fails to do that. It just goes on and on with no vocals and somewhat annoying beats and samples that repeat over and over.

Like NIN's The Perfect Drug Versions EP of the same year, the songs all fade in and out of each other like a mega-mix. Overall, an interesting effort, but don't search high and low for this out of print disc unless you're a hardcore Bowie or NIN fan. Especially since the best remix contained here is now readily available on recent Bowie compilation albums.