Ministry : "the Squirrelly Years Revisted"

 

The joke about back when Ministry sounded like Depeche Mode wore thin on Uncle Al, as he had begun to polish off the early songs for live sets even before releasing their last album. This is a re-recording of the songs from the "Twitch" and "With Sympathy" era. The vocals are more in line with how Al sings now. Sometimes the guitars are providing more heft, but on a song like "Here We Go," things are pretty much like they were back in the day, with the more new wave leaning dance beats driving the hot rod that Jesus built. In some cases, this works just well enough. 

"All Day" keeps the classic dance groove in place, and almost feels like Al of the present doing karaoke to the band of the past. It is, however, a reminder that these songs were not half bad to begin with. The new version of "Everyday is Halloween" has been out for a minute, so it is not going to be a surprise.  The 80s sounds are still intact, with the guitar accents, bringing them more closely aligned to the band they became. This is clearly one of the best goth anthems ever.   

"Revenge" is one of the songs that works best when adapted to this format.  "I'm not an Effigy" has a more driving drum sound and sounds more organic in this context, which also makes it sound more like Killing Joke, who is obviously a huge influence on Ministry. "I'm Falling" highlights the more post-punk roots, which, when it gets to the chorus, also leans heavily toward Killing Joke. "Same Old Madness" is a more frantic take on this style. You can hear traces of the punk side of the post-punk side of the equation. Though the layered sounds give it more depth. 

The more Depeche Mode brunt of the joke can be heard on "I'll Do Anything For You," which pokes fun at the conventional pop love song of the day while flowing a bastardized version of the blueprint. "Just Like You" has more punch to its synth pop groove and the lyrically bleaker tone, making it not fit in with more radio-friendly artists doing the "Reflex" at the time. "We Believe" has a droning yet more aggressive pulse that was an indicator of what was to come. This closes with "Over the Shoulder," which has always been one of Al's most bizarre vocal performances, and he stood by it with this version. Musically you can hear where Revolting Cocks would evolve from this. 

The trend of rerecording your past work feels like creative entropy, and while more preferred than a greatest hits album, it's warming up leftovers. However, if this were Uncle Al's last album, it would be cool that they came full circle with this. He has been talking about hanging up his cowboy hat more often, more recently,y and it would be better for him to take a bow gracefully at 66 rather than being forced to do so in the next five years, if he lives that long. So I will around this up to a 10 as it's evident tweaking these songs a but was all that was needed to prove they stand the test of time.It makes perfecgt sense for Cleopatra Records to have rleased this.  

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