For fans of Ministry’s early synthpop incarnation, here’s a real treat: Four tracks recorded live in Chicago at the short-lived Misfits club in March 1982, the earliest known live recordings of Al Jourgensen and Co. made nearly 30 years ago — and long before the group morphed into an industrial giant and then near-metal act.
The tracks — early singles “Cold Life” and “I’m Falling,” plus “Overkill,” which didn’t surface until 2004’s Early Trax, and unreleased instrumental “Funkamental” — were uploaded to YouTube earlier this month by TheRobSquaredShow, and, as the Wax Trax Chicago site notes, “There are some different takes of old classics..as well as unreleased material. The quality is quite good for a small club recording and is highly suggested for any early era Ministry fan.”
More than a year before the release of With Sympathy, this performance at Misfits — where Ministry played its first-ever live show Jan. 1, 1982 — featured Jourgensen on guitar and vocals, Stephen George on drums, John Davis on synths and Robert Roberts on bass synth.
STREAM: Ministry, “Cold Life,” live at Misfits, Chicago, March 1982
STREAM: Ministry, “I’m Falling,” live at Misfits, Chicago, March 1982
STREAM: Ministry, “Overkill,” live at Misfits, Chicago, March 1982
STREAM: Ministry, “Funkamental,” live at Misfits, Chicago, March 1982
PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS
- Ministry to release pro-Occupy single ‘99 Percenters’ in advance of ‘Relapse’
- Video: Ministry’s ‘The Making of Relapse’ — in the studio with Al Jourgensen and Co.
- Ministry announces Relapse Tour 2012 shows in Denver, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York
- Al Jourgensen reforms Ministry for ‘Relapse’ album, 2012 concerts in U.S., Europe
- Ministry covers Amy Winehouse’s ‘Rehab’ on ‘Every Day is Halloween: The Anthology’
- Ministry preps ‘MiXXXes of the Molé,’ ‘trance metal’ remix of 2004′s ‘Houses of the Molé’
- Vintage Video: Ministry’s Al Jourgensen, Gary Numan sing early-’80s soda pop jingles
FYI, the uploader ‘TheRobSquaredShow’ is none other than ex-Ministry synth player Robert Roberts. :)
Did not know that. Thanks…
Very early Killing Joke-ish. Shame Jourgenson disavows his original material… it’s quite good.
Even earlier: pre-Ministry Jourgensen and pre-TKK Groovie Mann as Special Affect (1980) – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5cfVheM8bo
Al should blow everyone’s expectations for a reformed Ministry and tour With Sympathy plus the early Wax Trax singles – as written, not retooled for his aggro-metal sound.
Ministry could have been one of the synth-pop greats, shame…