If Al had a dollar for every time he referred to WS as “an abortion”, he might have enough money to make yet another crappy album.
That said, any doubts that Al has always been a self-absorbed douche have been completely erased. I can only imagine what a pain in the ass he was during the Arista period. Seems like he’s always felt bigger than the band he’s leading. After all these years of good-to-atrocious interviews, the only thing that’s really changed is his level of coherency. Even in the '83 Skinner interview, the guy is kinda full of it.
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Totally agree! As much as I love the earlier material it’s hard not to see all those character traits that make Al an annoyance now were there all along. Must have been a total joy to work with the dude back in the day…
“I do all my work in Europe.” Fuck you!
he’s such a card. pretty damn good interview. I’ll have to watch the second part later.
“buy the new stuff, it’s better” mischievous grin
oh Al!
“Family entertainment, e i e i o”
Late,
grmpysmrf
He’s always been advertising his new stuff… Always. The only record I think he didn’t really care for in publicity was Rantology, maybe Greatest Fits… All other releases he’s always put in a good word for them.
“Sex-O is the best album I’ve ever done ever… Way better than Big Sexy Land”
…A year later
“Got Cock is WAYYY heavier than Sex-O, way more cowbell!”
Even in the way he toured, the setlists were always out with the old, in with the new. And (I hope I don’t get shot for saying this) with CULaTour while it didn’t play all the songs we were all dying to hear again, it followed the basic Ministry formula of playing the new album and a few albums behind it at most. Pslam tour, SpincTOUR, CliTOURus, they all did it…
Although FornicaTOUR seemed like it was fucking awesome.
All in all, I guess it’s just his business tactics.
I’d swear he started shit talking the WS album as early as 84. I remember an interview from that time, and he was totally trashing arista in it. It’s probably here.
But I really wonder how Nash enjoyed Al calling his label his own.
And (I hope I don’t get shot for saying this) with CULaTour while it didn’t play all the songs we were all dying to hear again, it followed the basic Ministry formula of playing the new album and a few albums behind it at most. Pslam tour, SpincTOUR, CliTOURus, they all did it…
I think people would have been more OK with that if he hadn’t talked it up as playing “the jukebox of hits” BEFORE the tour, doing almost nothing but new songs, and claiming “I’m not a fucking jukebox” AFTER the tour.
If he’d gone out saying “We’re gonna play mostly Bush trilogy stuff” we would at least have gotten what we expected.
[reply] And (I hope I don’t get shot for saying this) with CULaTour while it didn’t play all the songs we were all dying to hear again, it followed the basic Ministry formula of playing the new album and a few albums behind it at most. Pslam tour, SpincTOUR, CliTOURus, they all did it…
I think people would have been more OK with that if he hadn’t talked it up as playing “the jukebox of hits” BEFORE the tour, doing almost nothing but new songs, and claiming “I’m not a fucking jukebox” AFTER the tour.
If he’d gone out saying “We’re gonna play mostly Bush trilogy stuff” we would at least have gotten what we expected.[/reply]Believe me, I totally agree. I was in Taiwan when they had their last tour, and would of gone regardless (even though the WA shows didn’t have So What). I was just as pissed as everyone else, but that post was just a statistical thing. I wasn’t expecting anything from WS, but LORAH onward… Maybe some Twitch stuff.
awesome find. thanks for the hook up.
He looks like a flasher.
He looks like he could do with a hot meal and shower.
But yeah, good interview.
Thanks for posting the link to this interview. Great stuff.
Sire records was a pretty decent record label back in the late 80s. Their “Just Say Yes/Mao/Da…” compilations were always a must have.
Hook up a track list for one of those comps
Jusy Say Mao is the only one in that series I own but it’s pretty swell. I mean, where else are you going to find Depeche Mode, Underworld (the original iteration), the Tom Tom Club, k.d. Lang, Ice-T AND Morrissey on a single CD?
In fact, some of the artists (Ice-T in particular) appear on nearly every entry in the series.
I have the one with the live version of “Breathe” on it, but that’s it.
I saw that yesterday on Wikipedia, how is that live version? Quality?
It’s as good as, if not better than the In Case… audio.
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it’s the same version that is on in case, except the drum intro is edited, and it’s in cd quality
To be clear, Breathe is not on the In Case… album. Just the video, and that’s what’s on the comp.