Ministry "With Sympathy" C/D

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

or With Syphilis.

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

filth pig is fine. probably the last one you need to hear? always liked the dylan cover.

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.

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

This morning's listening confirms Dark Side Of The Spoon is a lot worse than Filth Pig

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.

Yeah, sounds great to me. Maybe it just wasn't right for the time?

I cannot work out whether this contemporaneous review is delighted or damning https://metalinjection.net/editorials/25-years-ago-today-ministry-released-filth-pig

never cared for anything much after "the mind is a terrible thing..." though Jesus Built My Hotrod was fun.