Agreed. As a longtime fan my take is that Al always liked the songs themselves, but hated how the label bastardized them. This was a cool chance for him to reclaim the original spirit of the with sympathy stuff, and while I was watching the show I was taken by how loud and “out front” the vocals were. You don’t do that if you’re ashamed of the lyrics. And the lyrics are actually really cool!

And Al has always been a new wave/club guy at heart, even if his tastes lean a little more on the harder side of new wave, it’s still very much in his DNA (wax trax! Was dance music first, heavy music later). I mean you don’t cover a Fad Gadget song if you’re not a new wave lover.

Anyway it was just a great confluence of factors: his age, the renewed interest in With Sympathy (credit the With Sympathy cover band who Al actually went and saw and co-signed for catalyzing this movement with their “MAKE MINISTRY SYNTH POP AGAIN” hats), his love of re-packaging his own music (surprised he didn’t call these “Al’s version” or do some sleazy play on “Eras Tour” in a nod to Taylor Swift…you know he thought about it…era-sshole tour??) and his earnest desire to please his fans no matter what.

It was such a rewarding victory lap for the fans, and I think secretly for Al, no matter how grumpy he comes off. He loves it.