Greatest Fits
Greatest Fitsspans many years of the band's history, from their industrial dance breakthrough "Land of Milk and Honey" to a pair of previously unreleased 2001 tracks. In that sense, this 13-track compilation is a great overview that careens from one jagged sonic peak to another, including the dizzy "Jesus Built My Hot Rod" (with guest vocalistGibby Haynescalling out his nonsensical lyrics like he's at a nuthouse square dance), rarities (a dark, charged live version of "So What," the spare efficiency of "Reload"'s 12-inch remix), and the '90s MTV fodder of "Just One Fix" and "NWO." But those tracks also underscore the fact that while Ministry may have evolved dramatically from '80s synth-poppers to a pioneering '90s industrial powerhouse, their formulaic mix of thrash guitar riffs, monstrous mechanized bass and drum grooves, and occasionally clever samples seemingly ran out of gas mid-decade. And if one doubts Ministry's troubling cliché potential, check out Steven Spielberg'sA.I.; when mainstream cinema's most successful director wanted a sleazy house band for the film's WWF-meets-SRL Flesh Fair sequence, he turned to Al Jourgensen and company to essentially play themselves. Ironically, their contribution to the film, "What About Us?" (along with a new cover ofBlack Sabbath's "Supernaut") offers some hope; the group's ever-assaultive take on the Ministry sound is at once stripped down, better structured, and--dare we say it?--more accessible. Why, we're whistling it right now.--Jerry McCulley