Ministry - Covers. Up.

Discussion
24

Sorry for the grainy webcam pic.

I know that’s not going to help his rep here, but for what it’s worth he was completely cool to us. He was on his way to the bus and saw a small group of us waiting and he got this big smile about how anyone cared about him enough to wait. He turned to whoever he was walking with and said “I’m going to go and take care of all of these motherfuckers!” and came and chatted with us for a good while. I left after around 30 minutes as I was starving. He made a funny comment about the ice cream truck being crack dealers or something. He also posed for a pic with someone for a good minute or two as I was trying to take the picture but his camera phone was being gayzors on me and would exit out. Al joked about it and said if this guy(referring to me) would ever take the damn picture. He was also completely wasted as expected.

I should try to track down Paul and get him to sign the same pic.

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I thought this thread was going to be about yet another Ministry remix album too.

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That would be funny if Paul signed it and scratched out Al’s face.

funnier if he scratched out his own face

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Even funnier if he took the pen off you and started actually drawing all over your face while laughing hysterically and then running around in circles and finally banging his head on the pavement.

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I got the chick from Flogging Molly to sign my CD and she scribbled all over her face and muttered something about hating that photo. Drunk Irish ladies, gotta love 'em!

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She’s shouldn’t worry. She’s totally hot.

And I second the motion that Deftera should get Paul to autograph the same CD. I suspect it would then become the greatest Ministry memento in existence.

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And I second the motion that Deftera should get Paul to autograph the same CD. I suspect it would then become the greatest Ministry memento in existence.

Word.

[laugh]

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With Sympathy - I don’t have much to say about this one, not a huge fan of it, extremely 80s looking…didn’t age well. You know what you’re probably going to hear by looking at the cover. 2/10

12" Singles - It’s got a very clean look, hard to date it. 5/10

Twitch - The haunting statue like imagery of Al on this cover with his mouth open gives good indication of the aggressive imagery soon to come in Ministry’s career. The cover is simple yet very effective and one of my favorites, very Gothic, dark and rough looking. 9/10

Land of Rape and Honey - I didn’t know what what was on this cover for the longest time. But its very brutal and the fact that the image was electronically processed just adds to the flavor of the albums sound, an electronic, sampling and guitar furious non-stop attack of Industrial perfection. 10/10

The Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Taste - This was the first Ministry album I saw, all I can say is its pretty simple but affective. It fits with the music well. 8/10

In Case You Didn’t Feel Like Showing Up - meh, nothing too interesting here honestly, good live album. 4/10

Psalm 69 - very drugged out, deathish looking album cover. I own a t-shirt of this album cover, even though I honestly have no idea what the fuck is on the cover, I love it. 9/10

Filth Pig - This one really didn’t do it for me, album is underrated but the cover just plain sucks 2/10

Dark Side of the Spoon - lol 6/10

Greatest Fits - Can’t say much, it’s just a baby. 5/10

Sphinctour - pretty cool looking 7/10

Animositisomina - This one was pretty cool, definitely classic Ministry style 7/10

Houses of the Mole - Was the beginning of a trilogy that just got boring after awhile, but this album cover works 7/10

Rantology - This is retarded 1/10

Early Trax/Side Trax - Nothing great, looks fine though 5/10

Rio Grande Blood - It is a pretty kickass cover with bush, but it’s going to age horribly. 5/10

Rio Grande Dub-Ya - lol 6/10

The Last Sucker - The whole bush thing got old fast, shitty president?, yes. Do I want to hear about him and see him all the time?, no. The lizard hologram shit is pretty neat though 5/10

Cover Up - Not much to say about this one, I like it 6/10.

Adios Put Madres - This is actually my favorite live album cover, cool picture of Al and some other weird shit… 7/10

Last Dubber - Just no… 2/10

1 Like
33

I decided to update my post from 2009 with all the stuff that’s come out since then:

  • Relapse- * Ha ha! The fat guy threw up in front of a garish Photoshopped background and logo! The hilarity!

  • From Beer To Eternity - ** Al with muscles? A bunch of naked chicks in a net? At the time, it was accurately compared to something Spinal Tap would do. I gave it one extra star for the brass balls it took to put out something this stupid looking.

  • Amerikkant - ** (Note that from here on out, I’ve only gotten the digital versions of Ministry’s albums, so I can’t speak to the internal art) The Ministry-adjacent Tackhead did this same concept better in 1989 on “Friendly As A Hand Grenade”. Two stars instead of one, because at least it’s not gross.

  • Moral Hygiene - ** Looks more like a Lard cover than a Ministry cover. Meh.

  • Hopiumforthemasses - *** I’m a sucker for a white field with a splash of color in the middle, so points for that. However, the closer you look to the image you see that it’s kind of sloppy. A good concept, marred by looking like it’s hastily assembled.

  • The Squirrely Years - * WTF is this shit? The brown slipcase with the squirrel logo is way better than the normal version, but I’m not awarding it any bonus points since it’s non-standard.

3 Likes
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I was fascinated by the artwork and photography behind the “Twitch” album cover and the “Over The Shoulder” 12-inch single jacket. The Brian Shanley curated exhibit in LA in 2015 was really cool. There were a number of photos and contact sheets from those sessions in 1985-86 with alternative takes. I was never entirely sure that it was Al depicted on the cover of “Twitch” until I saw the full collection of photos at the exhibit.

2 Likes
35

Animositisomina, totally my fav cover, merch, font, production, performance.

This is ministry attempting and perfecting raw no polish no nonsense PUNK.

No other band or man can match the sheer power this release manifested.

The absolute standout in the entire ministry catalog.

Houses of the mole deserves another recording /tweaking with paul on board.

Down with Squirrely stuff…leave the 80’s alone, the coolest decade of all time needs no opinions.

1 Like