― piscesboy, Tuesday, 30 November 2004 15:54 (nineteen years ago) link
Let's get this back on track. If Matt Johnson were to redo this song today, perhaps he'd write, "If the real Jesus Christ were to stand up today/he'd be run right out of the CIA!"
― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Tuesday, 30 November 2004 15:56 (nineteen years ago) link
It's utterly worthless, as is all of his post-Soul Mining work. Wretchedly heavy-handed hectoring tripe - like spending the evening with the pub-bore. Soul Mining is terrible too come to think of it.
(BTW - I think the drummer is David Palmer ex-ABC, not David Robinson)
― Dr. C (Dr. C), Tuesday, 30 November 2004 16:04 (nineteen years ago) link
― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 30 November 2004 16:06 (nineteen years ago) link
― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Tuesday, 30 November 2004 16:08 (nineteen years ago) link
I think you're right, Doc, actually. Apologies.
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 30 November 2004 16:57 (nineteen years ago) link
― Bimble (bimble), Tuesday, 30 November 2004 17:48 (nineteen years ago) link
otherwise
I love love love Soul Mining and have found the albuns since to be dimnishing returns (actually heard Infected first but after discovering Soul Mining was lost) Mind Bomb has a cpl great songs but as an album does now wear well for me.
― H (Heruy), Tuesday, 30 November 2004 19:50 (nineteen years ago) link
OTOH, it's a kind of ponderous album. Good Morning Beautiful is great though. And I still find myself humming Beaten Generation ocassionally.
But really can't compare with Burning Blue Soul / Soul Mining / Pornography of Despair stuff.
― phil jones (interstar), Thursday, 2 December 2004 20:27 (nineteen years ago) link
What do you call these? Allegorical metaphors? Johnson's quite obsessed with'em, it seems.
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 2 December 2004 20:52 (nineteen years ago) link
Mind Bomb is my least favorite of all the albums i have by The The but it does have a few songs i completely love. I am a bit disappointed by Marr's work on Mind Bomb though. Could be that i wanted some Smiths type jangle and got Ecstatic Noise instead.
45RPM is a fantastic compilation though. Nicely done
― biz, Tuesday, 7 June 2005 21:10 (eighteen years ago) link
― Duke Dubuque (Duke Dubuque), Saturday, 21 January 2006 18:02 (eighteen years ago) link
Impossible to search for The The (or there's no dedicated thread), so here goes:
http://www.thethe.com/
NEW STUFF
― StanM, Thursday, 18 June 2009 17:20 (fourteen years ago) link
Abbottvision!
This is the worst The The album btw :(
― gosh I actually dig this shit (country matters), Thursday, 18 June 2009 17:22 (fourteen years ago) link
I mean it is still really good!
"Good Morning, Beautiful" is an amazing song.
I still stand behind everything I said upthread re: "The Violence of Truth", though.
― HIS VAGINA IS MAKING HIM CRAVE SALAD. (HI DERE), Thursday, 18 June 2009 18:08 (fourteen years ago) link
I've been listening to this album for the first time in years and "Good Morning, Beautiful" (the first The The song I heard) is still as stark, evocative, bombastic and fantastic as it was in 1987.
― HIS VAGINA IS MAKING HIM CRAVE SALAD. (HI DERE), Friday, 19 June 2009 17:15 (fourteen years ago) link
That and August & September were the two main standouts for me. I'll need to listen to the whole thing again.
― gosh I actually dig this shit (country matters), Friday, 19 June 2009 17:18 (fourteen years ago) link
But the goddamn three albums either side of it are just...amazing. (The two after, sans Hank Williams cover record, not two before)
― gosh I actually dig this shit (country matters), Friday, 19 June 2009 17:22 (fourteen years ago) link
lol ok GMB is massive
― gosh I actually dig this shit (country matters), Friday, 19 June 2009 17:26 (fourteen years ago) link
"The Violence of Truth" is beyond wretched, though.
― HIS VAGINA IS MAKING HIM CRAVE SALAD. (HI DERE), Friday, 19 June 2009 17:27 (fourteen years ago) link
I can't actually recall that song to mind at all. Probably don't want to. Album takes an age to pick up again after its opening salvo. Actually, I remember "Kingdom Of Rain" not being all that bad. Maybe I'll stick it on.
― gosh I actually dig this shit (country matters), Friday, 19 June 2009 17:30 (fourteen years ago) link
It is the next good song on the album, yes.
― HIS VAGINA IS MAKING HIM CRAVE SALAD. (HI DERE), Friday, 19 June 2009 17:30 (fourteen years ago) link
haha and now I'm about to drop a rongbomb but hey who gives...
NakedSelf = awesome example of an artist releasing their best record over 20 years after they began. I'm not even joking. By a nose from Infected and Dusk.
― gosh I actually dig this shit (country matters), Friday, 19 June 2009 17:31 (fourteen years ago) link
In fact, "ShrunkenMan" is one of the 10 best songs of the decade. Flat-out.
― gosh I actually dig this shit (country matters), Friday, 19 June 2009 17:32 (fourteen years ago) link
I have NakedSelf with me, as well; I remember liking it but still thinking Infected was still the best album, mostly because of "Sweet Bird of Truth" and the awesome horns that were later sampled for a remix of Queen Latifah's "Dance For Me".
― HIS VAGINA IS MAKING HIM CRAVE SALAD. (HI DERE), Friday, 19 June 2009 17:37 (fourteen years ago) link
"Sweet Bird of Truth"
This was one of the most influential songs on my developing teenage music consciousness.
"Out Of The Blue (Into The Fire)" was even more so.
Those two tracks do nothing short of fry minds and kick asses.
― gosh I actually dig this shit (country matters), Friday, 19 June 2009 17:38 (fourteen years ago) link
http://www.last.fm/music/The+The/_/Sweet+Bird+of+Truthhttp://www.rhapsody.com/queen-latifah/all-hail-the-queen (track 13)
― HIS VAGINA IS MAKING HIM CRAVE SALAD. (HI DERE), Friday, 19 June 2009 17:39 (fourteen years ago) link
I heard (and loved) the Latifah track first, so imagine the boggling when I heard Infected approx. 18 months later...
― HIS VAGINA IS MAKING HIM CRAVE SALAD. (HI DERE), Friday, 19 June 2009 17:40 (fourteen years ago) link
haha "The Beat(en) Generation" is also kind of a dick.
Basically I am wondering why I listened to this album so much when I was 14.
― HIS VAGINA IS MAKING HIM CRAVE SALAD. (HI DERE), Friday, 19 June 2009 17:47 (fourteen years ago) link
A single 60-minute disc of The The's greatest songs would be peerless. I'm only putting the first two I mentioned from this album in it.
― gosh I actually dig this shit (country matters), Friday, 19 June 2009 17:49 (fourteen years ago) link
And nothing pre-Infected because I haven't heard anything from that period that's done much for me.
― gosh I actually dig this shit (country matters), Friday, 19 June 2009 17:50 (fourteen years ago) link
expect to hear the great man return later this year - though not in the way you'd possibly expect/want.
― mark e, Friday, 19 June 2009 17:58 (fourteen years ago) link
i was once in a pub beer garden taking it easy when i saw matt heading towards the bar.my head raced with the idea i should go and say hello, but my shaking knees said not too given he doesn't come across as the most approachable person.needless to say when my nerves were beaten into submission, the man had gone.
― mark e, Friday, 19 June 2009 18:00 (fourteen years ago) link
Jesus, that was hard.
1) GMB2) ShrunkenMan3) OOTB(ITF)4) Dogs Of Lust5) DecemberSunlight6) Sweet Bird Of Truth7) Slow Emotion Replay8) August & September9) VoidyNumbness10) Lonely Planet
― gosh I actually dig this shit (country matters), Friday, 19 June 2009 18:03 (fourteen years ago) link
trimming it down to 10, or making it up to 10 ?
― mark e, Friday, 19 June 2009 18:15 (fourteen years ago) link
lol the former obv
― gosh I actually dig this shit (country matters), Friday, 19 June 2009 18:17 (fourteen years ago) link
Actually, there's an argument which states that BoilingPoint >> GMB, but I'm not making it here and now.
― gosh I actually dig this shit (country matters), Friday, 19 June 2009 18:18 (fourteen years ago) link
(ps: I agree that Nakedself is much, much better than Mind Bomb, even if no single song is as great as "Good Morning, Beautiful".)
― HIS VAGINA IS MAKING HIM CRAVE SALAD. (HI DERE), Friday, 19 June 2009 18:46 (fourteen years ago) link
guess which song is fitting my mood perfectly tonight
― a used up cumrag who now plays NFL for the Bengals (acoleuthic), Monday, 16 November 2009 22:48 (fourteen years ago) link
and its brother....lust....
― a used up cumrag who now plays NFL for the Bengals (acoleuthic), Monday, 16 November 2009 22:51 (fourteen years ago) link
my feelings towards matt johnson have been somewhat changed by the sequence of events described in the luke haines book.
― piscesx, Monday, 16 November 2009 23:03 (fourteen years ago) link
Um, what sequence of events?
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Tuesday, 17 November 2009 02:45 (fourteen years ago) link
Haven’t read the book, but presumably the Johnson-kicking-the-Auteurs-off-a-support-slot and them calling each other grumpy pricks in the press kerfuffle that Haines milked for press back in 1993.
― zing touch me I'm (sic), Tuesday, 17 November 2009 04:33 (fourteen years ago) link
i saw that tour.the auteurs were fucking boring.(and in recent times i have said as much to the cellist ..)
― mark e, Tuesday, 17 November 2009 08:45 (fourteen years ago) link
the "niggers of the world line" I'm sure is a Lennon reference, but mainly (as Alex says) an accusation that rich westerners contributing to charity for brown people far away (or rich western rockstars organising charity?) view the objects of their largesse with patronising or contemptuous eyes.This is the _Heart Of Darkness_ argument all over again.
When you add "What makes us ashamed to be white?" to "niggers of the world", you do not get criticism of how the white people treat said brown people like niggers; you get criticism of how the white people aren't treating the niggers the way they should be treated. The patronizing contempt is inherent in the criticism and not at all addressed by the song.
― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, November 30, 2004 2:52 PM (7 years ago)
since our recent chat on the other thread re this point DJP it has been playing on my mind.i too have always been uncomfortable re this lyric, and have no recollection if matt has ever been asked and responded to the use of the word.so, via a connection, i have forwarded this point to see if he will answer, and se the record straight.
i suspect an all too typical wall of silence, but still, you never know ..
― mark e, Wednesday, 7 November 2012 20:47 (eleven years ago) link
goddamn this album takes a dive after that first track
― HAVE YOU SEEN ME? Please don't hesitate (imago), Thursday, 17 October 2013 01:11 (ten years ago) link
but what a first track!
My elder brother had this on tape so I used to listen to it. I cant remeber if I ever really liked it or not (I have a feeling I didnt) but 14 year old me thought that Jesus-CIA line was like so deep man.
― Old Boy In Network (Michael B), Thursday, 17 October 2013 10:21 (ten years ago) link
I love his earnest philosophical wrangling.
Anyway, the music and playing is so great across the board on the The The records that I can handle the lyrical stumbles.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 17 October 2013 12:04 (ten years ago) link
it has had five screenings in Sweden and one in Copenhagen
― (±\ PLO;;;;;;; Style (sic), Friday, 24 March 2017 02:15 (seven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6831Y1EPoqM
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 13 May 2017 20:38 (six years ago) link
kept my 7" sealed .. so not heard this yet.
― mark e, Saturday, 13 May 2017 20:49 (six years ago) link
ok, thats very Dusk sounding.
love it.
now lets have an album.
― mark e, Saturday, 13 May 2017 20:50 (six years ago) link
https://thevinylfactory.com/features/matt-johnson-the-the-interview/
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 13 September 2017 21:47 (six years ago) link
The The touring the US this fall!
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 3 April 2018 17:27 (six years ago) link
Is this the de facto The The thread? Because I'm seeing him live tomorrow :)
― Frederik B, Thursday, 31 May 2018 23:30 (five years ago) link
There is also this cd/sd thread:The The: C/D, S&D
― Ich bin kein Berliner (alex in mainhattan), Friday, 1 June 2018 19:27 (five years ago) link