1983 seems like yesterday, but I guess it’s been a quarter of a century.
I doubt we will see a deluxe CD/DVD remaster from Arista complete with outtakes, demos, and interviews with the original Ministry band members, but it’s a nice (if not funny) idea.
“With Sympathy” debuted on Billboard’s Top 200 Albums chart on June 25, 1983 climbing to #96 before falling off the charts after 14 weeks. Not bad considering “Twitch” reached #194, LoRaH reached #164, and Mind reached #163.
So, as Ministry sails off into the sunset in 2008, I’ll raise my glass one last time for “With Sympathy” - a great synth-funk album that no one should be ashamed of.
I like With Sympathy.
Actually, I simply like the post punk and new wave coming out of the UK at the time and although WS cant hold a candle to a lot of that music, it was a fairly impressive early attempt at the style from the US.
Also, for better or worse, the whole WS experience is heavily responsible for the direction Ministry took later on, particularly if we look at what Chris says about Al’s attitude towards the record in his book.
Al, as it seems, is ashamed of it because it seriously harmed his credibility with the industrial/punk scene in Chicago at the time. Whether the label was really as responsible for the music on WS as he claims is something we will probably never find out. I have my own suspicions but who am I to talk?
Great synthpop album. It was my third Ministry purchase. I first discovered them through the Halloween 12", then got Twitch, then WS. I was 16, and remember asking one of my friends if Halloween was on With Sympathy, since it wasn’t on Twitch! I think because I’d heard the Wax Trax single first, WS wasn’t such a shock to me. It’s a solid album with great singles and minimal filler. I’d probably still rank it above anything Ministry did post-1989. Call me crazy.
I doubt we will see a deluxe CD/DVD remaster from Arista complete with outtakes, demos, and interviews with the original Ministry band members, but it’s a nice (if not funny) idea.
well I would say the ability of this could hinge on two things. #1 Arista still owns the rights and decides to put it out. #2 Al owns the rights and will sit on it until he gets so desperate for money that he makes up some shit about throwing the old fans a bone (that is if he really didn’t destroy the masters like he claims)
I actually think WS is better than Twitch in a way, when u listen 2 WS u really feel like u got pulled back 2 the 80’s and u dont even notice that this shit is 25 years old and in Twitch it clearly sounds outdated Twitch is something only true industrial fans can get into
Historicaly Twitch rape’s WS
That’s the first I have ever heard of that. CD audio is saved as files on the CD just like any other data. Maybe some audio CD players like your home units ignore errors when playing it back while you listen to it but I don’t think if you read it as data via a PC you will run into that problem. I think the Wikipedia entry is wrong. And considering any maniac can create a wikipedia page, I wouldn’t believe it. If you can find a better source of that information I might belive it but I looked and didn’t find a thing.
“With Sympathy” vs. later Ministry is like the 1960s Batman vs. the newer Batman. Both are identifiably Batman/Ministry, both are vastly different, and both are excellent at what they are.
Ditto. I like batman begins a lot and think the next one will be even better. Great movies! But the ones burton did were fucking class. Batman Returns was my favorite movie as a kid, and still is.
yeah, u have to appreciate Nolan’s attempt at humanizing Batman and setting him in a more realistic setting, but Burton’s Batman was still dark as fuck and had that feeling of wonder that the new Batman films lack…