Ministry - With Sympathy

Before they went down the route of industrial metal music, the American band Ministry released With Sympathy, a synth-pop dance album. This 1983 debut peaked at number 96 on the US Billboard Hot 200. In Europe, the album was re-titled Work for Love with the order of the tracks completely shuffled around. Today (May 10th) marks the thirtieth anniversary of that record’s release.

At the core for this album were Alain Jourgensen (vocals, guitar, keyboards and drums) and Stephen George (drums and percussion). They also got additional assists from John Davis (keyboards), Vince Ely (percussion and keyboards), Brad Hallen (bass), Robert Roberts (keyboards and bass), Martin Sorenson (bass), and Bob Suber (saxophone). Additional vocalists included Doreen Chanter, Shay Jones and Marybeth O’Hara.

Ric Ocasek - Beatitude

Today (December 30th) marks the thirtieth anniversary of the release of Beatitude, the first solo album from American rocker Ric Ocasek, lead singer and primary songwriter for the Cars. Joining him on this 1982 record were Jules Shear, Stephen Hague, Greg Hawkes, Fuzzbee Morse, Stephen George and others.