Al’s silliest song ever.
miami sound machine. fitting.
What He Say live. It was posted on the 7th.
You should really check out the main page every now and then.
Yes, a good choice.
Also, does anyone know where I can get that live ‘Time to melt’ that was available some time ago?
god, when i downloaded it i thought it was 2 mb… then… 27mb later… [:/]
Somehow I don’t think that Al has ever been to any clubs in Swaziland. [;)]
Al’s silliest song ever.
Wait, i thought Arista wrote that for him?
You know, gun to his head, blah blah blah.
They took him into another room, beat him senseless until all logic was gone. And one of the few words he was able to mumble, “what he say”. But that’s only SOME of the songs. He actually did write some of them according to most.
They took him into another room, beat him senseless until all logic was gone. And one of the few words he was able to mumble, “what he say”. But that’s only SOME of the songs. He actually did write some of them according to most.
Ha! He coudn’t convince me - we all know what he wrote…
Does anyone know what “Do the Etawa” is/was/means?
Was the Etawa some kind of short-lived dance fad in the Chicago or Boston clubs in that time period? Is it an acronym?
Or does it have something to do with Swaziland?
(For those not in the know, “Do the Etawa” was what this track was bizarrely renamed for the European pressing of With Sympathy (ie “Work For Love”)
Good new song DL, by the way. Always glad to see the obscure cuts, even ones like this that are considerably lamer than the rest of Al’s output from that era.
Thanks Bisquit!
Great soundboard recording for 25+ years old!
What else was played during this concert? I’m kind of surprised Al was still touting “the album” in 1984.
Well, Bisquit has stated here and on the Tours page on the site the '84 tour was the send-off of the Arista-era material.
I’d love to have a full gig soundboard recording of some of the later '84 material. You still have the synthpop stuff alongside the Wax Trax singles, some unreleased gems (Do You Even Like it, I’ll Do Anything For You). the Ricky’s Hands cover and then that cool proto-Hizbollah instrumental track that was performed at least twice or so.
Just imagine if there had been any '85 live gigs–early Twitch material combined with the last of the poppy stuff!
Props on the new mp3. Who was rockin’ the mic for the backup vocals? That was the most painful scream of “WHAT HE SAY!!1” ever.
[laugh]
Good stuff. I hate the song, but that synth breakdown is damn tasty.
Glad you guys like it. Yeah, it’s easily the cheesiest song ever released under the Ministry name. I was very fortunate to get hooked up with part of this live show and a few 84 demos, but unfortunately the 4 live songs were my least favorite from the era. Anyway, beggars can’t be choosers. I’ll take whatever I can get.
As for the rest of the setlist, I think the setlists from this period (early 84) were pretty much the same as the 1983 With Sympathy tour. Half the band left after the last WS show, so I think Al was busy putting together any lineup he could to do some touring. The later material like I’d Do Anything For You or Do You Really Like It probably wasn’t written until mid-84, though since these 4 songs I just got are the only real documentation of any live shows between June 83 and October 84, that’s really just conjecture.
As for the players, this is probably the Jourgensen/George/Chamberlin/Gage/Hallen/Soroka lineup.
Yeah thanks dude, a fine job you do. Will you be putting the other songs from this gig up as downloads?
Does anyone know what “Do the Etawa” is/was/means?
Was the Etawa some kind of short-lived dance fad in the Chicago or Boston clubs in that time period? Is it an acronym?
Or does it have something to do with Swaziland?
I always assumed it had something to do with that weird sounding voice that appears in the song. Probably the only person that knows for sure is Al (since this is one of the songs he wrote when he was away from Wempathy and the rest of the band) and he ain’t telling.
everytime early live stuff pops up here i have only one thought in my mind - “gieve all the unreleased early studio stuff!!”
[reply]Does anyone know what “Do the Etawa” is/was/means?
Was the Etawa some kind of short-lived dance fad in the Chicago or Boston clubs in that time period? Is it an acronym?
Or does it have something to do with Swaziland?
I always assumed it had something to do with that weird sounding voice that appears in the song. Probably the only person that knows for sure is Al (since this is one of the songs he wrote when he was away from Wempathy and the rest of the band) and he ain’t telling.[/reply]
Indeed, Al wrote this one in Boston around the Holidays in '82 when I was back in Chicago. The first time I ever heard it was when I went out to Boston after the Holidays. Note that Al nicked part of the melody of the Christmas standard “Carol of the Bells” at the 1:50 mark. I remember him joking about it and to this day when I hear “Carol of the Bells” I still think of “What He Say”.
The funny voice is Ziv Gidron, who was an Israeli living and attending school in Boston at the time. Ziv used to run errands for and hang out with the band. He even accompanied us on a couple of gigs around the Boston area and if I remember correctly even got on stage once or twice to sing his part. Ziv was great, and hilarious and spoke with a very thick, deep accent.
I used to play the bass synth part live but didn’t play it in the studio. It took a couple of hours alone in the rehearsal room with Stevo for me to get the syncopation down. For a goofy song, it’s actually kinda hard to play.
Not sure where the word Etawa comes from. I think that Ziv has something to do with it.