just can’t get over how insanely fucking excellent the unreleased trax on TRAX-BOX are…that’s it
peace bitches!!!
These two pages of the booklet have always bothered me. It doesn’t look stylistic at all, it looks like a printing error. The green border cutting through the flyer looks odd, and the second page looks like it was shifted and cropped incorrectly. If it’s meant to be stylish, it’s not.
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These two pages of the booklet have always bothered me. It doesn’t look stylistic at all, it looks like a printing error. The green border cutting through the flyer looks odd, and the second page looks like it was shifted and cropped incorrectly. If it’s meant to be stylish, it’s not.
the left side is supposed to resemble the cover of Halloween Remix / Nature of Outtakes 12", maybe if even a bit wonky
The two photos on the right with Al wearing that hat says “Al in 1986” That can’t be right. One of the photos looks reversed too - if you look at the earring and the direction of his hair.
I completely love this box
I regret taking so long to buy it but i’d been burned by box sets a few years ago and stopped buying them completely
also the you tube demo clips sounded much worse than the actual box set ended up sounding so that put me off for a bit
I don’t own the original wax trax cd/LP’s so I have no idea if the mastering is bad in comparison
but I was glad to be able to ditch those ryko cd’s
I will say that the box version of big sexy land is much more pleasing than the ryko
the ryko sounded like 2 different albums with different EQ’s first half thin & tinny, 2nd half less so
the box set version is more coherent and less jarring
the Chicago LP is a brilliant pressing and I always loved that show anyway
the unreleased studio songs are all are strong material
as a big bootleg collector I appreciated all the live stuff in the box
love the supernaut dub mix!
anyway I love the concept of the box(1980-1990)
-that was always my fave period
I love the execution of it
happy to pay when its done well like this
if I absolutely had to find something to nit pick, i’d personally have organised the non album tracks more strictly chronological
so you had say: no devotion on the same cd as Halloween to show how Al juggled multiple projects at the same time
and so you could see how his music developed over time regardless of what name it was released under
but I know space constraints would be a problem
glad they engaged bisquito doom to get best sources,
and didn’t rape them in mastering
how different from those awful “easy action” Iggy Pop releases !
I shall be using this box as an example of how to do it properly when I post scathing reviews of crap on amazon etc
get this box plus twitch, land, mind & in case… and you’re sorted!
I will be watching Cleopatra with great interest from now
interestingly after the ministry box they put out an iggy box with top quality version of the 3 tracks Al did with iggy
I assume they acquired the masters for these when they acquired the ministry stuff
well done Cleopatra!
ps: oh yeah the booklet was awesome, loved the writing and the info in it
really meaty, you could sit down and read it properly
interestingly after the ministry box they put out an iggy box with top quality version of the 3 tracks Al did with iggy
I assume they acquired the masters for these when they acquired the ministry stuff
What three tracks were those? Fire Engine and…?
[reply]
interestingly after the ministry box they put out an iggy box with top quality version of the 3 tracks Al did with iggy
I assume they acquired the masters for these when they acquired the ministry stuff
What three tracks were those? Fire Engine and…?[/reply]
Warrior Tribe & Old Mule Skinner
hope we get more from cleo
maybe a compilation/box set of luxa/pan productions or
are there any more early soundboards they could put out?
Toronto 86 was brilliant!
I suppose a full version of the aussie show from greatest fits is legally impossible?
I don’t own the original wax trax cd/LP’s so I have no idea if the mastering is bad in comparison
but I was glad to be able to ditch those ryko cd’s
I will say that the box version of big sexy land is much more pleasing than the ryko
the ryko sounded like 2 different albums with different EQ’s first half thin & tinny, 2nd half less so
the box set version is more coherent and less jarring
The mastering is definitely an improvement over the Ryko disc releases. Those re-issues were completely half assed…bad cover art, inconsistent mastering (Side Trax was even mispressed as mono), missing tracks and bad track sequencing overall. The Trax! Box collection is the first time this material was presented correctly.
One of the guys from Die Krupps is doing the mastering for all of these early releases. I think he may have done the With Sympathy reissue from a few years back as well, the quality is pretty consistent. The mixes are louder, but not too loud. He used just enough compression to make them punchier and add an extra depth of clarity.
Most importantly, there isn’t any brickwall distortion that a lot of mastering engineers nowadays let slide for whatever reason. Undercover unfortunately suffers from it.
hope we get more from cleo
maybe a compilation/box set of luxa/pan productions or
are there any more early soundboards they could put out?
Toronto 86 was brilliant!
I suppose a full version of the aussie show from greatest fits is legally impossible?
There’s definitely some more early shows that they could release. One of which is a Chicago 82 show that has 5 unreleased songs that weren’t included in the box set. It isn’t a soundboard show, but it sounds better than a lot of stuff that Cleo released in the 90s.
I’d love to hear some unreleased stuff from the Sire days as well.
I wonder if Al has any demos or partial demos lying around that he could finish off - similar to what he did with “I’ll Do Anything For You.” Just based on tracks that were performed live between 1983 and 1984, he could still finish or release the following:
- Do You Even Like It?
- So So Life
- Ricky’s Hand
sorry to drift off onto a favourite bugbear of mine, Rykodisc have put out such utter unlistenable crap like their bowie reissues yet continue to see themselves as some kind of “specialist”
the labels say “remastered by Dr blahblah”
their arrogance is breathtaking!
one of their people had a blog and was trashing the massively superior RCA bowie cds while promoting his faulty trebly crap as the definitive cd version, I had to leave a comment kicking his ass, no idea if he ever saw it
i checked my discs and i see i haven’t kept a single Ryko release by any artist -nuff said
oh and the irrelevant generic artwork on the ministry rykos…
lazy crap like Chris Connelly appearing on Big Sexy Land even though he’s not on it
impossible recording dates - like 38 supposedly being recorded before the event the song is about happened!
early trax- obviously thrown together with no thought to the listening experience
i didn’t mind the 2 versions of Halloween back to back
-i love that remix btw 
but 3 versions of nature of love in a row!!
the Trax Box order does flow
I’d not actually bought a copy of the Trax! Box yet, but just browsing around earlier today and I came across a digital copy for less than £10 on 7digital https://www.7digital.com/artist/ministry/release/trax-box
Some might be interested that this includes a FLAC version.
I’m really enjoying the previously unreleased material here. I’m not expecting much more to come, but who knows? Maybe one day we’ll see deluxe versions of Land of Rape and Honey or The Mind Is…
I’d not actually bought a copy of the Trax! Box yet, but just browsing around earlier today and I came across a digital copy for less than £10 on 7digital https://www.7digital.com/artist/ministry/release/trax-box
Some might be interested that this includes a FLAC version.
I’m really enjoying the previously unreleased material here. I’m not expecting much more to come, but who knows? Maybe one day we’ll see deluxe versions of Land of Rape and Honey or The Mind Is…
Wow, that’s a pretty good deal…the cheapest I’ve seen so far. I hope they release a digital version of the Chicago 1982 LP somewhere down the road. I have an old bootleg of it, and I’m far too lazy to record the audio off my turntable.
I’m hopeful for some good unreleased Sire stuff. Al needs to get on that while people are still interested.
got any recording info for Move & He’s Angry?
they certainly sound “twitch-y” (my fave album)
I always thought I see red sounded like a twitch outtake but according to the other thread it was planned as a wax trax single before they signed for sire
ok back to my never ending wants list
theres the 1988 show used for the smothered hope B-side
does the constant mislabelling of live tracks as Glasgow 91 mean that Revcos Glasgow 91 was actually pro taped?
that would be a nice release, you could use all the hilarious UK headlines and news of bans etc as artwork!
“ban this sick cock band!” etc etc
the sleeve of my Detroit lp has now come apart also
but no big deal
its still the best box set since the sex pistols 2012 Never mind the bollocks box set
I just gave away the badly mastered “music on cd” 2014 version of the “work for love album” (butchered European version of with sympathy)
the box set has all my faves off that album in better quality, without having to skip do the etwa when I play it 
got any recording info for Move & He’s Angry?
they certainly sound “twitch-y” (my fave album)
I always thought I see red sounded like a twitch outtake but according to the other thread it was planned as a wax trax single before they signed for sire
IIRC, He’s Angry and Move are Twitch outtakes and came from the Adrian Sherwood sessions. Al gave those tracks to Tackhead in exchange for studio lessons, or something along those lines. Tackhead never used He’s Angry, but they did use some of the instrumental elements for M.O.V.E.
I See Red is also a Twitch outtake. It was performed during some shows during the Twitch tour. It was supposed to show up as it’s own EP on Wax Trax, then that got scrapped, probably due to Sire not wanting Al to release any Ministry material on other labels. Apathy and Better Ways were actually outtakes from the Land of Rape and Honey, and Al branded them under 1000 Homo DJs, to get around whatever Sire wouldn’t let him do. I See Red finally found a home on the PTP 12" as “My Favorite Things”
theres the 1988 show used for the smothered hope B-side
does the constant mislabelling of live tracks as Glasgow 91 mean that Revcos Glasgow 91 was actually pro taped?
Smothered Hope might be mislabeled. I think it came from the 1989 Chicago recording that was used for the “In Case” live LP.
I’m not sure on the Glasgow show. I think they came from the Indiana 1990 show, which is also a source for the “In Case” LP.
the sleeve of my Detroit lp has now come apart also
Someone else mentioned that too. I guess I lucked out, haven’t had any issues with mine so far. It’s an easy fix, just peel off the old glue and run a line of Elmer’s glue along the seems and press it back together.
its still the best box set since the sex pistols 2012 Never mind the bollocks box set
The more I think about it, Trax! Box might be my favorite box set from any artist ever. It was well thought out and nicely put together. It has better quality packaging than a lot of major label box sets. I’m also glad they didn’t throw in a lot of useless crap like posters, postcards, buttons, accessories, etc. to jack up the price. That’s one of the reasons I haven’t bought those Pink Floyd immersion box sets.
I just gave away the badly mastered “music on cd” 2014 version of the “work for love album” (butchered European version of with sympathy)
The best version of WS is the 2012 remaster, which includes the b-sides and remixes. It was on the market briefly before it was sold out or discontinued. I’m hopeful for a box set of all the Arista material, there’s a few unreleased songs from that era that have yet to see release.
tons of great info!
thanks