Unfortunately I don’t have it, but one of you lucky bastards beat me to it…
Let me know when the authenticator tells you it’s a fake . . . .
“Sorry, Son! This ain’t real. Ya see, everyone knows ‘Uncle Al’ signs all of his stuff with this here lil’ unreadable scribble thingy and then draws a couple nifty anerky and peace signs on it! I’m afraid you got sumthin’ forged by some Alan feller, whoever the heck that is!”
It’s possible, but I compared it to my autographed I’m Falling 12" and the signatures look like the real deal.
I wasn’t serious about it being fake.
I do think it’s funny that he changed his signature to something more totally badass, though.
That’s Al for ya, with every album he is “bigger and badder” than ever before! lol
It’s true, Dude! Check out this promo copy of RELAPSE he signed for me! It’s so friggin’ badass!!!
Looks legit to me. [laugh]
cool stuff
Wow that looks very rare. I wonder how Al Jourgensen would react if you approached him today and asked him for an autograph on that album. Would he get mad?
Wow that looks very rare. I wonder how Al Jourgensen would react if you approached him today and asked him for an autograph on that album. Would he get mad?
He says “I don’t sign that one anymore.” That’s what he told my wife when she asked him to sign it at the cu latour. I thought would be the perfect time to get him to sign it because he was bragging about ministry’s legacy.
I’ve also heard reports that if you bring him the whole cd he will pull the cd out and sign the data side so it becomes unplayable. I was smart, I had my wife take the disc out and just show up with the case but alas he said no.
Late,
grmpysmrf
One of my old Piss Army buddies met up with Al and Angie before one of the “CU LA Tour” shows and brought a “Cover Up” CD. He handed it to Al, data side up, along with a dirty nail, and said, “Can you carve your name in this CD with this nail?”. He said he didn’t know how he was gonna react but Al just chuckled and then proceeded to carve his name into it. I thought that was pretty cool.
Cool stories. I met Barker after a show in 2003 and I had the entire discography (just the CD booklets) with me. Paul was cool enough to sign everything from Land to Animositisomina. Al wasn’t feeling well after the show, so he went directly to the bus. Paul said Al probably wouldn’t be up for signing anything. I did ask if Al hated the early stuff (anything pre-Land) and Paul mentioned that it’s just WS that he doesn’t like. It is nice to hear that Al is civilized about it, I’ve heard tons of rumors of what Al does when people try to get that album signed.
He says “I don’t sign that one anymore.” That’s what he told my wife when she asked him to sign it at the cu latour. I thought would be the perfect time to get him to sign it because he was bragging about ministry’s legacy.
I understand Al’s frustrations with the final version of the album, but he should at least acknowledge it. It was a big step in his career, he got his foot in the door on a major label. With Sympathy was moderately successful even though it didn’t have any huge hits. It did make a name for Ministry, and I highly doubt Warner Bros would have picked up Ministry if it hadn’t been for that album.
Cool stories. I met Barker after a show in 2003 and I had the entire discography (just the CD booklets) with me. Paul was cool enough to sign everything from Land to Animositisomina. Al wasn’t feeling well after the show, so he went directly to the bus. Paul said Al probably wouldn’t be up for signing anything. I did ask if Al hated the early stuff (anything pre-Land) and Paul mentioned that it’s just WS that he doesn’t like. It is nice to hear that Al is civilized about it, I’ve heard tons of rumors of what Al does when people try to get that album signed.
I don’t get it. He wouldn’t sign WS but he would sign Twitch? Few of the songs on that wouldn’t feel out of place on WS.
Also he wouldn’t sign WS but would he sign the Cold Life EP, All Day/Everyday is Halloween 12", Nature of Love 12"???
I don’t get it. He wouldn’t sign WS but he would sign Twitch? Few of the songs on that wouldn’t feel out of place on WS.
Also he wouldn’t sign WS but would he sign the Cold Life EP, All Day/Everyday is Halloween 12", Nature of Love 12"???
Al doesn’t have any issues with Twitch or the Wax Trax era material. (see Early Trax). His gripe with With Sympathy isn’t because it’s synth pop, it’s because Arista had a lot of say in it. If you listen to the live versions of many of the WS songs, you may notice they are longer, contain extra lyrics and may have some musical differences. Arista edited the songs down and had a lot of input on how they should be arranged.
Also, they rejected songs like Same Old Madness and America and pressured Al to write more melancholy love songs. I’m shocked they let Here We Go slide. Al did release 12" versions of Revenge, I Wanted to Tell Her and Work For Love, those mixes, along with the live songs will give you an idea of how Al wanted the record to sound.
I understand why Arista suggested changes, because it is rare that major labels will let a debut slide without investing everything in it. They promoted the hell out of the album and promised Al a bright future. It was successful, but overall was a commercial failure. Al did record a few songs for a follow up, but they were rejected. It ended in a messy court case with Al signing his rights away to make up for lost funds and to terminate his contract. He technically doesn’t own the album anymore. These are the reasons he hates it, not because it’s a synth pop album. However, I doubt Warner Bros would have picked them up if he hadn’t already had some success on a major label. So while it made his career messy early on, it was a huge stepping stone.
Al did release 12" versions of Revenge,
When? All I could find is this demo.
It can be found on the remastered CD of With Sympathy. It was submitted in 1983, but was not released until last year.
[reply]I don’t get it. He wouldn’t sign WS but he would sign Twitch? Few of the songs on that wouldn’t feel out of place on WS.
Also he wouldn’t sign WS but would he sign the Cold Life EP, All Day/Everyday is Halloween 12", Nature of Love 12"???
Al doesn’t have any issues with Twitch or the Wax Trax era material. (see Early Trax). His gripe with With Sympathy isn’t because it’s synth pop, it’s because Arista had a lot of say in it. If you listen to the live versions of many of the WS songs, you may notice they are longer, contain extra lyrics and may have some musical differences. Arista edited the songs down and had a lot of input on how they should be arranged.
Also, they rejected songs like Same Old Madness and America and pressured Al to write more melancholy love songs. I’m shocked they let Here We Go slide. Al did release 12" versions of Revenge, I Wanted to Tell Her and Work For Love, those mixes, along with the live songs will give you an idea of how Al wanted the record to sound.
I understand why Arista suggested changes, because it is rare that major labels will let a debut slide without investing everything in it. They promoted the hell out of the album and promised Al a bright future. It was successful, but overall was a commercial failure. Al did record a few songs for a follow up, but they were rejected. It ended in a messy court case with Al signing his rights away to make up for lost funds and to terminate his contract. He technically doesn’t own the album anymore. These are the reasons he hates it, not because it’s a synth pop album. However, I doubt Warner Bros would have picked them up if he hadn’t already had some success on a major label. So while it made his career messy early on, it was a huge stepping stone.[/reply]
That’s really interesting. So he would sign the Nature of Love single??? [;)]
Listening to All Day lately makes me wonder if those lyrics are about Arista and really just about corporations in general. With Sympathy,despite Arista’s involvment, really isn’t a bad album. I bet deep down Al likes those songs. Also what if the album had been a major success?? Would Ministry have stuck with the synth-pop sound longer??? In an alternate universe I always imagine Ministry sticking with synth-pop and Depeche Mode became metal instead.
I didn’t discover WS until the mid 90s. I wish I would have known about it in the 80s because it’s such an awesome album. I do have a very vague memory of looking at the album cover at K-mart when I was little. I thought it was scary lol.
That’s really interesting. So he would sign the Nature of Love single??? [;)]
I’m sure he would sign the Nature of Love if you asked him. It’s probably one fans don’t ask him to sign that often. It might be because his ex-wife is on the front cover.
Listening to All Day lately makes me wonder if those lyrics are about Arista and really just about corporations in general. With Sympathy,despite Arista’s involvment, really isn’t a bad album. I bet deep down Al likes those songs. Also what if the album had been a major success?? Would Ministry have stuck with the synth-pop sound longer??? In an alternate universe I always imagine Ministry sticking with synth-pop and Depeche Mode became metal instead.
I think All Day and Here We Go are about his experience with Arista. I’m shocked that Arista released Here We Go on the album, Al confirmed that song was about Arista in the interview with Richard Skinner.
With Sympathy is an awesome album. It’s one of my favorites. I think Al knows deep down that it is better than anything after Dark Side Of The Spoon. I think he would have done more if it were successful, he did start another batch of songs (a cover of Roxy Music’s Same Old Scene, Let’s Be Happy and The Game is over) but Arista didn’t want to release them. The later Wax Trax songs were written around the same time.
He claims some of the material on Twitch was written before With Sympathy, but Arista didn’t want use any of that material either. I could see All Day and The Angel as earlier songs. You may want to check out all of the live songs from 1982-1983, there are a ton of tracks that didn’t make it on With Sympathy.
Depeche Mode is another favorite of mine. They have had an interesting career as well. I’m glad Al took the paths he did. If he continued down the electronic pop routes, he would have just been in Depeche Mode’s shadow the whole time. They did open for Depeche Mode in 1982. Which is kind of cool.
I didn’t discover WS until the mid 90s. I wish I would have known about it in the 80s because it’s such an awesome album. I do have a very vague memory of looking at the album cover at K-mart when I was little. I thought it was scary lol.
It was the late 90s for me, but I agree, I wish I would have found it earlier. I’m not a huge fan of the cover art. The marble floor with the roses looks cool, but the hand is a bit weird. I’m not sure if it’s supposed to suggest the flowers were thrown on the floor, or if it is supposed to represent the darker, relationship themes of the album. The cover art was done by the same guy who did all of the Ministry album covers up to Psalm 69, interestingly enough.
He claims some of the material on Twitch was written before With Sympathy, but Arista didn’t want use any of that material either.
so far we officially had only twitch/12singles era tracks that are “move” and “he’s angry” and they are dating as early as 1985 or maybe early 1984?
in 1984 they used that live intro music which is actually what became “hizbollah” on LORAH, but they just had like synth tracks playing only (no arabic or w/e singing and music samples in it).
and the only WS-era track officially released was Overkill which wasnt really different to the live version. as well as for other 82-83 period live songs they sure had some darker ‘edge’ to them but they were all also with-sympath’ey (i never asked for nothing, love change, so-so life, america, overkill, ill do anything for u, do u even like it, etc)…
so i dunno why al states that he had alot of twich stuff written “before” WS. cold life single kind of proves otherwise - OKAY maybe I’m falling is sort of darker but its still aint Twitch style.
i think al’s change in direction was getting a bit harder sound in 1984 on “halloween/all day” - ok thats granted, but i think after he actually hooked up with Luc and Rich23 for revco’s Big Sexy Land (1985) which they did for fun on Al’s fairlight II, that kind of influenced him further and such releases like Nature of Love 12" were made.
and then he teamed up with sherwood… that was final transition from the “poppy” area, which remained in the form of All Day (which apparently is a remix - but the only thing u notice is that the vocals are actually distorted to match the feel of twitch i guess?) and The Angel.
also Wempathy posted some really cool shit Ministry was playing live in 1982 but none of that is close to anything on Twitch.