Delving Into MINISTRY’s Vault for Early Concert Favorite ‘Dancing Alone’

Hot on the heels of last year’s Squirrely Years deep dive into the early days of industrial superstars MINISTRY, Al Jourgensen’s youthful repertoire resurfaces once more with a supercharged remaster of a song known only from the band’s live show.

Remixed by Die Krupps mastermind Jurgen Engler, “Dancing Alone” originally appeared in the band’s live set in the aftermath of their debut album With Sympathy in 1982.

Yet it has little in common with the synth tones of that record, as Jourgensen struggled to free himself from the gravitational pull of “Work For Love” etc.

Instead, it points towards the dancier, heavier sound evinced on the singles that followed the band’s arrival at Wax Trax… in other words, the future starts here, even as the accompanying kaleidoscopic video transports you back to the early 80s club scene from which Ministry arose.

This is not the song’s first release. A straightforward live version of “Dancing Alone,” recorded in Chicago in 1982, appears on Ministry’s 2015 Trax! box set of rarities and unreleased material, and again on the Chicago/Detroit 1982 compilation.

Here, however, it has been brought solidly into the band’s future, a wild 177bpm electro stomp whose 4 minute running in time is jam-packed with raucous riffs, aggressive rhythms and a sassy Jourgensen vocal that is scarcely reconcilable with the familiar growl of later years.

Yet still it instantly identifiable, a magnificent missing link that recaptures the past, even as it then points you towards Ministry’s unforgettable future. The Squirrely Years roll on!

SINGLE: https://orcd.co/ministry_dancingalone