Ministry "With Sympathy" C/D

Flood worked on a load of things before this. And yes, he did engineering on 'Movement'.

I saw Ministry in Toronto last week (first time since 1991). It was great fun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYfH_vSGO1M

You did it again
You did it again
You did it again and again and again
Ho ho!

Certainly Filth Pig is a bigger stain on the Ministry catalog than With Sympathy...

I've never listened to With Sympathy, but I listened to Filth Pig (and Dark Side of the Spoon) for the first time yesterday, and FP is...kind of good. It's not an "industrial" or "industrial metal" album; it's more like a noise-rock album. The way the guitars and drums are mixed, it's closer to Unsane or a band on Amphetamine Reptile than anything else Al's ever done. I can understand why people don't like it - it's really ugly sounding and kind of monochromatic compared with their previous albums, and the songs are often longer than they need to be (six minutes when they should have been four), but more of it works, on its own terms, than I expected.

Spoon is ugly, too; it sounds like it was recorded through a boombox's condenser mic. But there are some weird and compelling tracks on it - the closing piece, "10/10," features an extended Charles Mingus sample that I didn't see coming.

I listen to Mind all the time.

"six minutes when they should have been four" describes almost every Ministry song recorded since A Mind...

xxp I also listened to Filth Pig for the first time quite recently (after avoiding it for years because everyone says it's shit) and I completely agree with you - do I like it as much as their 80s stuff, no, but it's really not bad at all, and your AmRep comparison makes sense. but I also agree about the songs being a bit long.

that said I also like With Sympathy! and I don't hate what I've listened to of post Filth Pig. I guess there isn't much Ministry I don't like... not that I've heard anything released after 2004

https://sonicmoremusic.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/ministry-1983.jpg

https://sonicmoremusic.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/ministry-1983.jpg

Always loved this press photo circa the With Sympathy era.

Yeah, surprised anyone would still trot out Filth Pig as a low point. Maybe ahead of their fan base with that one. Sludge/noise rock turn and they did it pretty well imo.

In Case You Didn't Feel Like Showing Up is still the prime Ministry record for me

Al seems to have made his peace with it, or really needs the $s?

https://ministryband.bandcamp.com/album/chicago-1982

There's been the odd thing here and there that would suggest that Al sees the album in a more positive light these days, but I don't think he's ever come out and said it.

they played some of this stuff at their recent live show in conjunction with the documentary premiere, but people I talked to who went said they didn't seem happy to be playing it?

They didn't play anything off this, or even off "Twitch". The nearest they got was an acoustic "Everyday is Halloween". Also, at least at the show i was at, Al seemed to be having the time of his life to the point that I can imagine him revisting even earlier stuff.

Yeah, the recent Wax Trax documentary-pegged shows were all Land of Rape and Honey/The Mind.../Psalm 69 material (none of which was on Wax Trax). Plus "covers" of Revolting Cocks' "No Devotion" and 1000 Homo DJs' "Supernaut" (which Ministry was playing live when I saw them in 2005 or so).

LET'S DANCE!

Make MINISTRY synthpop again. pic.twitter.com/pgLkORluKu

— Juan David (@jdmartinezq) July 17, 2016

So per an FB post from my friend Lyndsey Parker, who writes for Yahoo Entertainment:

OK, you guys. Deep breaths, deep breaths. So... this just happened.
I SPOKE TO MINISTRY'S AL JOURGENSEN FOR *AN HOUR* for Yahoo Entertainment, JUST ABOUT THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF 'WITH SYMPATHY,' AND HE *EXCLUSIVELY* REVEALED PLANS TO RE-RECORD SEVERAL OF THE ALBUM'S SONGS.
No, today is not April 1st. This is real. He said this all to me on video, which you can watch, seeming in a surprisingly good mood -- while I sat there in my 'With Sympathy' T-shirt, while holding my original vinyl copy of the 'With Sympathy' album, while trying not to cry or faint, like my usual zero-chill self.
Al is literally in the studio TODAY recutting "Revenge," and he hopes to play that one live. He is also considering doing an "Early Ministry Tour" and/or releasing a newly recorded 'With Sympathy" -- (Al's Version), if you will. How is this life.
Please spread the word because I don't know if I have ever been so excited to hit "publish" on a story.

And said story:

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/ministrys-al-jourgensen-to-rerecord-disavowed-with-sympathy-songs-183544523.html

He's been softening his stance for a while now — there's a WS themed shirt for sale on the band's site.

https://ministryofficial.store/product/22884/with-sympathy-grid-logo-t-shirt-black

The Thompson Twins story (and the tribute band one) are two highlights in Lyndsey's piece.

Hell froze over....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYRCjN6oXgM

Do they still play anything from Twitch? Or "Halloween" at least? I am grimly curious how that would work

i don't think they have played anything from Twitch since circa 1986 but they did revive Halloween in 2019 -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GW_Cukc34Q

This is all right? I prefer the original.

(Meaning “Revenge”, I’ve heard the redone “Halloween” and I absolutely hate it)

The muscle up front is into it. Kinda sounds like "Enter Sandman" to me.

it’s funny in “effigy” when al sings “me mum and me dad”

yup, the redone “Halloween” is pretty bad but "Revenge" is better than i expected. x post

He threatens to end Ministry with an industrial metal LP remake of With Sympathy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SU6-uMVECRE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ij1GeZGxhds

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBQay8SYPhU

i posted this before but there was no response - with sympathy 2023 version.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYRCjN6oXgM

i don't really follow al's life now and i know he has always said that he hated everything about that era/album but i wouldn't have been surprised if he had been playing those songs for years in the 21st century at casinos across the nation. better late than ever! twitch is my fave ministry album but in 1983 with sympathy was on my hit parade in a big way.

it takes him a while to get going but there is some good info in that long interview. i like that arista didn't want to have anything to do with some of his biggest songs. wax trax won big there. and then to hear how different things got in that 1986 interview. sire won big there.

I've always found the love for this record to be a mystery. I mean, it's...fine, as early '80s New Wave synth-funk goes, but everybody else (Human League, Wang Chung) did it better. Tell me you can listen to "I Wanted to Tell Her" without wishing you were listening to "(Keep Feeling) Fascination" instead. You're bullshittin'.

I'm more interested in the photo of Al laughing and smiling with Paul Barker from a few days ago than in the continual attempts to retcon this record (which retconning Al has finally decided to participate in, because if nothing else, the guy can smell a buck in someone's pocket from six blocks away). I like the photo because Al is all bandana and dreads and face tattoos and Paul looks like a college professor.

he's a little slow if he can smell a buck. people have been begging to hear these songs for years.

i mean he has to go see a with sympathy cover band to realize that people love those songs?

as far as why people love that album? nostalgia. and they have been new wave disco crowd pleasers since 1983. people are not craving wang chung at goth nite at clubs in the middle of nowhere in the 21st century.

its not like you can't listen to human league AND ministry. no need to choose. i've been listening to both for 40+ years.

nice t-shirt for Montana residents...

https://ministryofficial.store/product/25500/goddamn-white-trash-t-shirt-black

Wang Chung. Really?

tempted to get a Twitch shirt...

i have one.

i think side 1 of with Sympathy is up there for me with any early '80s New Wave synth stuff.

i totally love wang chung (i tell you 'ti na na' is such a fucking jam), but there's no way they're better than 'with sympathy', there's a funkiness to it on stuff like 'work for love' that not much other synthpop ever comes close to

i only really know the hits and their To Live and Die in L.A. soundtrack which i really dislike.

Haha, well I do like a lot of awful old shite tbf

i had never knowingly heard 'ti na na' before. i dig it!

i only really know the hits and their To Live and Die in L.A. soundtrack which i really dislike.

i think i missed an oxford comma here, or something. i like the hits but dislike the soundtrack.

from that interview above, looks like Al is really making it all up as he goes - i do not believe a single word of his recollection of the period

After only having heard Psalm and Dark Side Of The Spoon, I've been dipping in and out of the rest of Ministry's catalogue recently. Listening to the much-maligned Filth Pig right now and.... uh, what's wrong with this? It's kinda great? And not really as huge a departure from the Psalm 69 sound really. I'm pretty into it I must say

I hope he renames it With Shrimpathy or something. That would be the most Ministry thing to do.

Haha