Customer Reviews

Early Trax

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Another great opportunity somewhat squandered, EARLY TRAX is more fruit from the joined forces of Rykodisc and Al Jourgensen, who are thankfully doing their parts to keep the seminal work by the ever-resilient Ministry canonized. And this is cornerstone material here - the band that launched a million imitators by making synth pop aggressive and creating a hipster scene in Chicago unlike any seen before or since. If you like dark (but not quite goth) dance music, cocaine, and the sound of '80s electronic production values, you simply can't pass this by. "Halloween" is a bonafide classic of the utmost caliber (even Jourgensen's lyrics, which could be laughable on paper, prove anthemic and memorable in the long run), and "All Day" and "The Nature of Love" will continue to keep your ass shaking.

However, this remastered compilation is not quite the replacement for the TWELVE INCH SINGLES compilation it could have been, so don't go selling your WaxTrax! originals... "Cold Life," Ministry's funky new wave debut single, is nowhere to be seen here, and even though it's always been the dark horse of the batch, one has to wonder what the point was in disowning it this late in the game. (Perhaps it was co-written with long-missing band members to whom Al no longer wishes to pay royalties?) However, its wonderful B-side "I'm Falling" is finally on CD here (in two forms, no less: the classic one that sounds like "We Got the Beat," as well as a gothier unreleased version). In addition, or perhaps to compensate for the absence of "Cold Life," we get three previously unheard tracks, two of which could have been on TWITCH and a third that pre-dates them all. There are definitely reasons why these tracks were buried in the past, but if you're a huge fan of pieces like "Just Like You," you will be happy to have them.

And finally, these tracks have been remastered... so beats are crisper, bass is deeper, and tape hiss is overwhelmingly present in a way it never was before. Remember those old warnings on early CD pressings that explain how digital mastering can show the limitations of analog sources? This is a great example of this. Perhaps the extra effort should have been given to clean up these tapes bit by bit like so many artists are doing nowadays; the end result is a little half-assed, but only the most discerning audiophile types will really care.

In conclusion, EARLY TRAX is a good mix of classic material and unreleased outtakes, with only adequate remastering, missing old tracks, and repetitive sequencing which renders the disc unplayable as a whole. However, this is material that needs to stay available and huge points should be awarded to Ryko and Jourgensen for that.

This is basically a remastered better version of Twelve Inch Singles and if you have Twelve Inch Singles and like it, this is definitely worth a purchase. Unlike their speed metal, their early work like this compilation is basically electronic and new wave music, with a pinch of urban elements such as funk, the drum patterns, samples, and the scratching heard on Halloween. With the exception of Cold Life and Primental, you get all the singles Ministry made for Wax Trax! As well as some solid bonus materials that some how never saw the light. The best cuts for me off this album are two great mixes of I'm Falling, a song with lyrics that remind me of NWA's **** Tha Police, but I have no idea why the inlay says the alternate take of I'm Falling was unreleased when I have it on the Cold Life EP. Overkill, a punk new wave song Ministry almost always played at the end of their concerts in the early 80s. My favorite song of all time Everyday Is Halloween, a big mid 80s hit in the Chicago underground that reached out to outcasts everywhere. And last but not least, Move and He's Angry (He's Angry is a song that was going to be a PTP track but was credited to Ministry at the last moment) are solid numbers that will probably bring back memories of late 80s Front 242, especially their Front By Front album. Don't know why they were released much earlier when they didn't sound bad at all. Their good cuts to dance and freestyle to when your in a down 80s electro mood. Overall, to fans of early industrial and dark electronic music, this is definitely a worthwhile purchase. To fans of speed metal Ministry you might want to think twice before purchase, though you may want to have this so you know where Ministry came from. Overall, this is a classic album, (let's be honest, it does has it's weak spots with some of the remixes) so cop it already!

Though not as essential to Ministry fans as it's partner disk Side Trax (which gathers together the various EP's of every non-Revolting Cocks or Lard side project of the band), this cd is a good purchase if you liked Twitch's combination of synth pop and industrial noise experimentation. "Every Day Is Halloween", "All Day" (here in a slightly different version than the Twitch one), "Cold Life" and "Nature Of Love", though all also compiled on the (apparently now out of print) 12 Inch Singles CD, are musts for anyone who wants more material in the Twitch style. As a nice bonus it also includes 3 pre-With Sympathy tracks that show how much better that album could have been if the band weren't pressured into a more commercial (and therefor now incredibly dated) synth-pop direction, the best of which is "Overkill", a driving Bauhaus-style piece of paranoid goth-rock that notably features the earliest appearance of distorted guitar on a Ministry song (a full 7 years before The Land Of Rape And Honey no less!). The remixes and alternate versions are a bit redundant; they have their moments, but I wish they had followed the format of the 12 Inch Singles compilation and put all the remixes and alternate versions at the end, so that you wouldn't have to either make liberal use of the skip button or sit through, say, 3 versions of "Nature Of Love" in a row.

...but more recent Ministry converts might want to stay away. EARLY TRAX features, well, early tracks that bear little to no resemblance to the Ministry that we know today. The essential '80s dancefloor classic "Every Day is Halloween" kicks off this collection of the band's first few singles. "All Day" and "Nature of Love" are terrific new wave rockers, and the previously unreleased tracks "He's Angry", "Move", "I'm Falling" and "Overkill" are ideal for collectors. Check out EARLY TRAX if you're looking for solid '80s rock, but be warned - this is your older brother's Ministry.

As you probably already know, this is basically 12-inch Singles + 4 more tracks & 2 remixes, which feels like a complete album... but unfortunately leaves out "Cold Life", & all the more reason to hang on to your copy of of 12-Inch Singles. I've already listened to the 1st 3 tracks way too many times. "Everyday is Halloween" is the 1st Ministry song I ever heard (early 90s for me), & I liked it cuz it was synthpop with a very dark edge. Here're my comments on the "newer" tracks:

"He's Angry" - mmmm... could this title be in reference to Al being forced to create new-wave music he supposedly didn't want to? ;-) either way, this could easily be put on the Twitch album (still 1 of my favorite Ministry albums)

"Move" - this feels a little like Thrill Kill Kult (or kinda what TKK would later make their own)... & with them both in the same Chicago Wax Trax scene, it makes sense

"I'm Falling" - whoa, is this early Cure (*cough*, Faith album with the flange)? That's what I thought when I 1st heard it... then the vocals come in, & well, not quite Curish anymore ;-) but it still doesn't even sound like early Ministry at all! Either way, if you just forget for a second who it is, it's actually a very cool song... & you can't help but bop your head along, i might add. the remix is cool too

"Overkill" - now it feels a bit like Bauhaus, Joy Division, or something like it w/ a repetitive guitar riff... vocals are more monotonous than the other tracks, but it's not bad

If this still isn't enough new/old Ministry for ya, be sure to check out Side Trax as well!

Yes, it is true this is just an extended version of 12" Singles excluding the two versions of Cold Life for some other earlier songs. I read the reviews and waited years before actually buying this as reviews often don't really reflect how something sounds. They say that With Sympathy was just a normal synth pop album pushed on to sound like that because of the record company Arista, but Halloween, Nature of Love, Cold Life, but not really so much All Day did sound pretty much like normal 80s music. I was expecting probable disappointment but I was surprisingly happy with the trax which are only available on this disc. He's Angry and Move sounded like TWITCH/BIG SEXY LAND material and I'm Falling sounds more like post-punk music with fast percussion similar to his later efforts. Overkill is like a goth rock song. All of them are pretty good and worth the time to check out. I think the disc was only about 70 minutes so they probably could have added one version of Cold Life, but record companies always do stuff like that. I have all the side tracks except the otherwise unavailable Show Me Your Spine from the RoboCop soundtrack. I guess I will get that as well.

Way back when Ministry started out their sound showed only vague indications that it would develop to their gut-wrenching industrial hymns.
What makes then this release tremendously intriguing is that you can time travel to the day when this band were experimenting with a hybrid of goth-electro beats and 80s alternative rock formulas. While you can easily hear their early influences, it's still obvious they were trying to develop coordinates of their own and did so in a rather convincing manner.

If you belonged to the alterna-"crowd" of that time you will surely enjoy this, because chances might very well be that Ministry escaped your radar back then, and if that's the case, you seriously missed out on some great music.
The tracks on this compilation have a retro quality of their own, but yet, perhaps surprisingly, the core of them are effortlessly listenable today as well.

If you, on the other hand, happen to be a Ministry fan this album attains a very special interest. Tracing the roots of one of the premier groups of all time (heavy statement i know, but it is a very easily proven fact) can be a revelation. Sure, some of the musical creations of the band from that time might sound even a bit alien but then again that's what makes it all the more intriguing. It was to me, a long time fan of this incredible band. In fact, i'd only heard a coupla scattered tracks from their early works, and they hadnt impressed me too much. I was expecting more of the same, unrefined and raw early stuff in thsi compilation, but i wound up pleasantly surprised.

The 5 stars aren't necessarily reflecting the quality of the music (allthough the music is actually on a pretty respectable level overall) but also the historical value of this CD. It was a long time overdue.

this album was hard to track down the only reason i got it because there biggest hit is titled every day is halloween

I haven't heard With Sympathy, though new wave is not my thing and Al himself even aborted that first album all together. But this was before all those side trax made throughout the 80's before twitch even. Even though I frown on most new wave/new whatever types of music, this actually sounds slightly interesting considering Ally didn't want to make this kind of music in the first place gos to show that any shumuck can mess with a synth in the 80's. the sound is primitive, drum machines and tinny synth sounds make this almost a different approach to the new wave genre. Halloween sounds like pseudo gothic synth pop, with emo lyrics (but not without the trademark Al apathy). The remix is very long but actually has more industro textures then the original and nice drum pads. All Day's from twtich and the 12 singles make an appearance, never was a fan of these though, I actually like the original moreso then twitch. Nature of love is sub-par new romantic-sounding trash, all three tracks included here are very long, boring and repetitive, even compared to the greater Halloween remix which actually is a legit sounding Ministry remix (not the same samples played over with some extra noise like most Ministry remixes but noooo Al isn't into that stuff). Cold life is absent fourtunity, I couldn't stand that funk-wave sound. ugh.

But on the last part of the comp, we're treated too some lost tracks from the lost era (84-86) of Al's hijinx. He's angry predates the Twitch noise (less of a sherwood production though) and Move also ventures off into early industrial ministry. The two mixes of I'm Falling are different, one more synthy the other sounds similar to joy Division and the first is some crappy goth prototype that was best avoided, almost post-punk at times. The last is Overkill which sounds like it belonged in a Bond movie or something, the guitar does make extra noise near the end of the song, letting all of the listeners know what ministry really was gonna sound like in the decades to come.

Worth your auditory attention.