In Case You Didn't Feel Like Showing Up is still the prime Ministry record for me
― circa1916, Saturday, 27 April 2019 05:35 (four years ago) link
Al seems to have made his peace with it, or really needs the $s?
https://ministryband.bandcamp.com/album/chicago-1982
― stirmonster, Monday, 13 May 2019 18:23 (four years ago) link
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.
― Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Monday, 13 May 2019 20:26 (four years ago) link
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?
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Monday, 13 May 2019 20:45 (four years ago) link
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.
― stirmonster, Monday, 13 May 2019 22:16 (four years ago) link
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).
― shared unit of analysis (unperson), Monday, 13 May 2019 23:28 (four years ago) link
LET'S DANCE!
― Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Thursday, 6 June 2019 16:31 (four years ago) link
Make MINISTRY synthpop again. pic.twitter.com/pgLkORluKu— Juan David (@jdmartinezq) July 17, 2016
― Elitist cheese photos (aldo), Thursday, 6 June 2019 20:38 (four years ago) link
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
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 16 June 2023 20:17 (nine months ago) link
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
― but also fuck you (unperson), Friday, 16 June 2023 20:23 (nine months ago) link
The Thompson Twins story (and the tribute band one) are two highlights in Lyndsey's piece.
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 16 June 2023 20:25 (nine months ago) link
Hell froze over....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYRCjN6oXgM
― stirmonster, Tuesday, 29 August 2023 22:58 (seven months ago) link
Do they still play anything from Twitch? Or "Halloween" at least? I am grimly curious how that would work
― Doctor Madame Frances Experimento, LLC", Wednesday, 30 August 2023 18:10 (six months ago) link
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
― stirmonster, Wednesday, 30 August 2023 18:55 (six months ago) link
This is all right? I prefer the original.
― the new drip king (DJP), Wednesday, 30 August 2023 19:11 (six months ago) link
(Meaning “Revenge”, I’ve heard the redone “Halloween” and I absolutely hate it)
― the new drip king (DJP), Wednesday, 30 August 2023 19:12 (six months ago) link
The muscle up front is into it. Kinda sounds like "Enter Sandman" to me.
― j.o.h.n. in evanston (john. a resident of chicago.), Wednesday, 30 August 2023 19:28 (six months ago) link
it’s funny in “effigy” when al sings “me mum and me dad”
― brimstead, Wednesday, 30 August 2023 19:57 (six months ago) link
yup, the redone “Halloween” is pretty bad but "Revenge" is better than i expected. x post
― stirmonster, Wednesday, 30 August 2023 20:34 (six months ago) link
He threatens to end Ministry with an industrial metal LP remake of With Sympathy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SU6-uMVECRE
― scott seward, Saturday, 23 September 2023 00:46 (six months ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ij1GeZGxhds
― scott seward, Saturday, 23 September 2023 00:52 (six months ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBQay8SYPhU
― scott seward, Saturday, 23 September 2023 00:58 (six months ago) link
i posted this before but there was no response - with sympathy 2023 version.
― stirmonster, Saturday, 23 September 2023 05:43 (six months ago) link
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.
― scott seward, Saturday, 23 September 2023 13:20 (six months ago) link
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.
― read-only (unperson), Saturday, 23 September 2023 13:50 (six months ago) link
he's a little slow if he can smell a buck. people have been begging to hear these songs for years.
― scott seward, Saturday, 23 September 2023 14:34 (six months ago) link
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.
― scott seward, Saturday, 23 September 2023 14:37 (six months ago) link
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.
― scott seward, Saturday, 23 September 2023 14:38 (six months ago) link
nice t-shirt for Montana residents...
https://ministryofficial.store/product/25500/goddamn-white-trash-t-shirt-black
― scott seward, Saturday, 23 September 2023 14:47 (six months ago) link
Wang Chung. Really?
― stirmonster, Saturday, 23 September 2023 14:48 (six months ago) link
tempted to get a Twitch shirt...
― scott seward, Saturday, 23 September 2023 14:48 (six months ago) link
i have one.
i think side 1 of with Sympathy is up there for me with any early '80s New Wave synth stuff.
― stirmonster, Saturday, 23 September 2023 21:16 (six months ago) link
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
― NickB, Saturday, 23 September 2023 21:40 (six months ago) link
i only really know the hits and their To Live and Die in L.A. soundtrack which i really dislike.
― stirmonster, Saturday, 23 September 2023 23:23 (six months ago) link
Haha, well I do like a lot of awful old shite tbf
― NickB, Sunday, 24 September 2023 04:25 (six months ago) link
i had never knowingly heard 'ti na na' before. i dig it!
― stirmonster, Sunday, 24 September 2023 08:04 (six months ago) link
i think i missed an oxford comma here, or something. i like the hits but dislike the soundtrack.
― stirmonster, Sunday, 24 September 2023 08:06 (six months ago) link
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
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Monday, 25 September 2023 09:02 (six months ago) link
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
― ...eh you get the gist of it (dog latin), Wednesday, 27 September 2023 09:08 (six months ago) link
I hope he renames it With Shrimpathy or something. That would be the most Ministry thing to do.
― peace, man, Wednesday, 27 September 2023 09:31 (six months ago) link
Haha
― ...eh you get the gist of it (dog latin), Wednesday, 27 September 2023 09:32 (six months ago) link
or With Syphilis.
― stirmonster, Wednesday, 27 September 2023 11:12 (six months ago) link
I haven’t tried to listen to Filth Pig in about 20 years but I also hated Psalm 69 so I don’t expect to find much to enjoy
― the new drip king (DJP), Wednesday, 27 September 2023 12:21 (six months ago) link
filth pig is fine. probably the last one you need to hear? always liked the dylan cover.
― scott seward, Wednesday, 27 September 2023 12:28 (six months ago) link
The difference is that Psalm 69 was great and filth pig is shite. The fact that it might still be better than what came after, shows how low they sunk after the amazing run of Twitch to Psalm 69.
― Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Wednesday, 27 September 2023 12:28 (six months ago) link
when filth pig came out i was living with a girlfriend who had an ex-roommate who didn't have a phone so people would call for her at our apartment. one of those people was Al. my girlfriend's friend was a very very big, uh, music fan. when she was younger she had followed Nelson around the country and then later...Collective Soul. we had fun listening to Al's unintelligible phone messages.
#this90smoment
― scott seward, Wednesday, 27 September 2023 12:34 (six months ago) link
This morning's listening confirms Dark Side Of The Spoon is a lot worse than Filth Pig
― ...eh you get the gist of it (dog latin), Wednesday, 27 September 2023 12:47 (six months ago) link
I've never understood what everyone's problem is with Filth Pig either. OK I do if you didn't like Psalm 69.
I've only listened to 3 post-Filth Pig albums and while none of them are great or even good, they all have a couple of songs I like on them.
― Colonel Poo, Wednesday, 27 September 2023 12:55 (six months ago) link
Yeah, sounds great to me. Maybe it just wasn't right for the time?
― ...eh you get the gist of it (dog latin), Wednesday, 27 September 2023 13:16 (six months ago) link
I cannot work out whether this contemporaneous review is delighted or damning https://metalinjection.net/editorials/25-years-ago-today-ministry-released-filth-pig
― ...eh you get the gist of it (dog latin), Wednesday, 27 September 2023 13:57 (six months ago) link