Al Jourgensen’s reactivated Ministry currently is in the midst of a short U.S. comeback tour, but could the band’s much-loved — and, famously, much-hated by Jourgensen himself — 1983 synthpop debut With Sympathy finally be receiving the expanded reissue that was first set for release back in 2008?
With Sympathy is listed for release via Eastworld Recordings on the sites of numerous retailers, including Amazon.co.uk, which had listed it as a June 18 release until changing it to “temporarily out of stock” on Sunday and, now, on Monday, shows it as released, but with a shipping delay of one to three weeks. Amazon.com shows an import being released in the U.S. on June 26.
4Worlds Media, the parent company of Eastworld, shows the With Sympathy reissue on its June schedule and links to an online store that lists it as a July 16 release. That page also reveals the tracklist, which shows the three bonus tracks — “Work For Love” (Dub Version), “I Wanted to Tell Her” (Tongue-Tied Mix) and “A Walk in the Park.” That varies slightly from the scuttled 2008 reissue on American Beat, which was to feature “I Wanted To Tell Her” (Extended Mix), “Revenge” (Remix) and “A Walk in the Park” as bonus tracks.
So is this finally happening? Fans long have felt Jourgensen will never let the long-out-of-print, pre-industrial/metal Ministry debut see release again, and he supposedly once claimed that he had destroyed the original master tapes. So if any readers in the U.K. spot this one out in the wild and can offer photographic evidence of its existence, we’d love to see it.
Tracklist: Ministry, With Sympathy
1. “Effigy (I’m Not An)”
2. “Revenge”
3. “I Wanted To Tell Her”
4. “Work For Love”
5. “Here We Go”
6. “What He Say”
7. “Say You’re Sorry”
8. “Should Have Known Better”
9. “She’s Got A Cause”
Bonus tracks:
10. “Work For Love” (Dub Version)
11. “I Wanted To Tell Her” (Tongue-Tied Mix)
12. “A Walk In The Park”
PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS
- Video: Ministry, ‘GhoulDiggers’ — second video from comeback album ‘Relapse’
- Stream: Ministry live at Misfits in Chicago, March 1982 — earliest live recordings
- 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
- Vintage Video: Ministry’s Al Jourgensen, Gary Numan sing early-’80s soda pop jingles
A truly magnificant new wave gem.
I was in Boston during the entire recording of “With Sympathy”, Al and the entire band were as happy as could be to be making a record. I do not recall any fighting during that recording. The drummer had his wedding reception at my flat. We had many a night out having a great times at clubs, pubs, and dinners. I remember Alan meeting Patty at Spit and Athena being kicked to the cub. It was a wild ride and great fun. Alan may have come to hate this record, but sorry Alan at the time, we were all pretty damn happy. I continue to love the band and Alan, I was so happy to hear of him putting his health in order. I do hope “With Sympathy” is released again, I still own the original record and love and know so many Ministry fans that love that record along with all the later releases. Be well Al speedy recovery, congratulations on surviving this wild ride and I Love You, Abbe’
It’s a good synth pop album. Personally, it’s
Not any worse than min
The bonus tracks were better the first time they tried to release this. 4Worlds recently released 3 Psychic TV bootlegs, so it might exist. I already have two mint condition copies on CD so I don’t care either way.
truly a masterpiece!
forget this, put In Case You Didn’t Feel Like Showing Up on DVD!
yes x 1.000!
The FULL 100+ minute show, including Smothered Hope, and not filtering Ogre out of the mix.
A clean copy of the pro-shot 1983 Minneapolis video would be swell too.
So, is this a bootleg? Is this what this label releases – it sure looks that way? Kinda like the Twitched release a few years back…
Best Buy, CD Universe and Amazon say it will be available Aug. 28.
I listen to “With Sympathy” more than any modern-era Ministry album…