I got live mp3s from '92 - 2000. Al’s voice is up to par and at times very good. Since 2003 (Animositisomina Tour) until last year tour, Al’s vox is awful. He sings off key, forgets words, goes too deep in gutteral range, comes in late/off cue. I had to delete all those live mp3s 'cause although instrumentation sounds awesome, Al’s vox is absolutely atrocious.
He parties too much and you can hear it when he staggers and stammers through most of the songs. I’m definitely saving my money for NIN or maybe I’ll donate it to a drug recovery center…wink wink, nudge nudge, Mr. Jourgensen.
I can’t believe I’m saying this but Ministry & Revco suck LIVE because Al’s voice has gone to shit from abusing the hell out of himself (booze, cigarettes, blow, crack, smack…fuck, I wouldn’t be surprised if he sniffs glue.)
He is so still doing drugs 'cause his ass sounds like shit when he’s on the road…and that’s when the drugging goes down, I bet—Angie can’t control him when he’s in that element.
hmm when ive seen them recently his vocals indeed had a tendency to be more gutteral and perhaps an octave lower (well, he’s screaming through vocal effects, its not easy to really tell the difference when they’re blasting their music at the volumes they usually do live). as far as i could tell, he wasnt forgetting lyrics, going off key or messing up the timing.
its reasonable to think that Al might be back on drugs considering his history; however, at least from the single time that I’ve met him, i didnt get the impression that he was still using. He was drinking and smoking constantly though, and both those things mess the voice box more than drugs would… oh - and hes getting old too
interesting that you have such a negative opinion about their live shows considering how much you praise them in other threads
Al doesn’t sing with Revco - they put on a decent show last time around, with only three songs from the new “album” performed, and Josh Bradford filling in quite nicely for Connelly (which I never thought I’d say).
I love the affect this place has on people…took all of ten minutes to go from a raving sycophant to completely denouncing the band. Good times.
Oh, and I know that, as of 2004, Al was at least still smoking pot. But fuck, I don’t even count that.
Right, so your basing your opinions from live mp3s. All bootlegs. Maybe you should try a real gig, soak up the atmosphere and also watch the performance, hearing it live before you make a full assesment. I rarely even like official live recordings as they can never capture the feeling of a full show.
EVERYONE I know that saw Revco on the last tour was more than impressed, especially with Josh. And the recent live version of Beers Steers and Queers to my mind was far better than any of the recorded ones I have.
2006 revco was very good, yes. but they played Attack Ships On Fire in a different way.
bootlegs or no bootlegs, it’s easy to hear that al either just can’t sing like he could in the old days (at least of Sphinctour quality wich by the way has great vocals even on audience recorded bootlegs, and i’ve heard six or seven Sphinctour bootlegs) or either too lazy to bother.
i mean, that Unsung live in 2003 sounds so badass until he goes “did they touch the god/did they touch the sun” which sounds like a dying elephant or something like that.
and the situation doesn’t get any better with the following tours. i don’t bash al, i’m just stating facts.
come to think of it, that may be the reason why they didn’t release the live cds from 2004/2006 tours and aborted the planned live track downloads during the tour.
I thought Ministry did a great and rather exciting show for HOTM with Al jumping around like a hyperactive pirate. Rio Grande wasn’t as good but damn The Revolting Cocks more than made up for it. Massively fun show and the band actually deserved the name Revolting Cocks which, quite frankly, I didn’t expect.
I’ve really enjoyed the last two Ministry tours. Didn’t notice any major problems with Al’s voice - maybe I was just too into the show. The biggest criticism I’ve got is the setlist - he really needs to mix the old and new up a little. Even fans of HotM and RGB get bored when the first 45 minutes of the show are nothing but stuff from those two albums.
RevCo was bad-ass, much better than I expected. I really hope they do a headlining tour in the next year or two, before Al retires from the stage.
