In Praise of.....Mind Bomb by The The

That's a great image. Didn't Eddie Vedder do this literally, though?

But, dude: it's so true.

Seriously, I sold my copy, but sort of regret it now. "Gravitate To Me" was the first song I knew by them, seeing the video on 120 Minutes, I think — Johnny Marr's guitar riff on that (good descrp., btw) absolutely kills. And while he did "predict" 9/11 (as I'm sure in his heart of hearts he sees it now), the political stuff on that is hideous. At least one great song though — maybe a few others, I can't remember.

Anyway, I was always under the impression that Burning Blue Soul was the Matt Johnson masterpiece. I have it, but haven't yet waded into his, well, burning blue soul. I like Soul Mining ok, though — as Trouser Press said, I think, there are moments on that where he sounds exACTly like Ian Anderson.

Never heard Hanky Panky either.

melodramatic? fuck yes. disturbingly prescient? absolutely.

but i don't cringe when i hear / read lines like:

"Who is it?
That turns your blood into spirit
And your spirit into blood?
Who is it?
That can reach down from above
And set your souls ablaze with love?
Or fill you with the insanity of violence
And it's brother, lust?

Who is it?
Whose words have been twisted
Beyond recognition
In order to build
Your planet Earth's religions?
Who is it?
Who could make your little armies of the left
And your little armies of the right
Light up your skies tonight?"

instead, i shake my head real fast and blink, like, "wha?!?"

and re: "the niggers of the world" line - what is that all about? I gave him the benefit of the doubt that he was trying to "say something" rather than use it as a slur but i think i am too dense to "get it".

What is evil? what is love?
What is the force that possesses us?
Where is the beauty? where is the truth?
Where is the force that watches over you?

What is it that makes us ashamed to be white?
(when we close our ears to the sound of machine gun)

And while the niggers of this world are starving
With their mouths wide open
What is it that turns the coins we throw at them
Into worthless little tokens?

Why is it that anything on this earth we do not understand
We are pushed onto our knees to worship or to damn?

Those are the rules of religion
Those are the laws of the land
That's how the forces of darkness have suppressed the spirit of man

That's why human beings still walk on all fours
Whilst in the presence of their so called superiors

Somethings telling you to wake up and salute
The dangers of obedience and the violence of truth

God is evil, god is love
God is the force that possesses us
God is beauty, god is truth
God is the force that is watching over you

Personally speaking, I don't believe Johnson was using the term in an offensive way. He's decrying the world for treating these individuals like "niggers".

Also, there are far too many allusions to the situation in Africa circa 1987 for that particular "niggers of the world" to not include the specific racial overtone.

Matt Johnson is someone I enjoy and don't enjoy in almost equal measure. His career as such is so wonderfully random at points in the eighties that I'm downright amazed -- he's one of the chief collaborators on Marc Almond's brilliant, weird solo debut Untitled, for instance. My review of 45 RPM on the AMG sums up my ambiguous appreciation though it's a positive piece in general. I don't think I would need more than that comp these days, though Burning Blue Soul is the possible exception.

To my mind, the best thing Johnson ever did was the set at the first KROQ Weenie Roast in 1993, second from the top -- he started with a slow, monstrous but stripped down version of "Infected" that's better than any recorded take, and the version of "Love is Stronger Than Death" was harrowingly beautiful. Mind Bomb couldn't touch it.

If that makes any sense, which it probably doesn't.

OTM.

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. it's terrible heavy-handed student wankery, but far from the worst offender on that score across the album.

Really dark and interesting production.

nb Naked Self recorded live in studio! (Dusk too but more post-production & overdubs & whatnot on the latter)

soul mining still the best by a country mile.

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.

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!"

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)

I think you're right, Doc, actually. Apologies.

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.

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.

What do you call these? Allegorical metaphors? Johnson's quite obsessed with'em, it seems.

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

Impossible to search for The The (or there's no dedicated thread), so here goes:

http://www.thethe.com/

NEW STUFF

Abbottvision!

This is the worst The The album btw :(

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.

Jesus, that was hard.

1) GMB
2) ShrunkenMan
3) OOTB(ITF)
4) Dogs Of Lust
5) DecemberSunlight
6) Sweet Bird Of Truth
7) Slow Emotion Replay
8) August & September
9) VoidyNumbness
10) Lonely Planet

trimming it down to 10, or making it up to 10 ?

lol the former obv

Actually, there's an argument which states that BoilingPoint >> GMB, but I'm not making it here and now.

(ps: I agree that Nakedself is much, much better than Mind Bomb, even if no single song is as great as "Good Morning, Beautiful".)

guess which song is fitting my mood perfectly tonight

and its brother....lust....

my feelings towards matt johnson have been somewhat changed by the sequence of events described in the luke haines book.

Um, what sequence of events?

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.

i saw that tour.
the auteurs were fucking boring.
(and in recent times i have said as much to the cellist ..)

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 ..

goddamn this album takes a dive after that first track

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.

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.

Pretty nice write-up here: http://thequietus.com/articles/16952-the-the-mind-bomb-anniversary-review

When it came out, it certainly felt like a bit of a let-down compared to the previous two albums but it has certainly aged nicely what with the prophetic aspects and Johnny Marr's fantastic guitar.

I miss Matt.

I feel Matt peaked with the first version of "Uncertain Smile", so my fave album of his is Burning Blue Soul. I quite like "Gravitate To Me" though.

xpost Wow, what an overheated, overwritten piece. Well-suited to the album, I suppose, which like most of his stuff is so musically sharp and on-point it offsets the OTT insanity of the vocals.

I've never heard this album, should I bother?

Opening track in search of an album. Rescreen Infected or straight to Dusk imo

I don't get how one could dismiss the bulk of this so easily. I like Infected, and Dusk is my favorite, but most of this album is great.

Also, I know I've said it before, but this era of this band was so great live. Like, this is awesome, though I wish I could find the 1993 version:

htts://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6wa-qOb8eI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6wa-qOb8eI

So finally got around to listening to this. My initial impression is that the first half of the album does more for me than the second half, and some of the lyrics made me wince more than a little.

What, you don't like songs about being "all spurted out"?

Holy shit, I had no idea that Matt Johnson was getting back - or got? - together with Johnny Marr to make new music.

I am looking at the lyrics to "The Violence of Truth" again and really, it's amazing that I gave this dude any chances beyond this album because everything about that song is 100% horrorshow.

i never did get a response ..
sorry.

ha I did wonder!

imo DJP gave them more chances because he listened to Good Morning Beautiful again

An idea which just came to mind. Somehow Johnny Marr seems to like to play guitar for singers who sing in a mannered style. And his guitar really fits well with them.

Theer is a new film out, The Inertia Variations, and it includes a new song from him. And both film and song are good. I went to a screening where Matt Johnson did a Q&A afterwards, and there should be a bunch of stuff coming out soon. Not a lot of it is new The The songs, though.

The film is a documentary about Matt Johnson, I should mention :)

Thanks for the heads up, had no idea.

it has had five screenings in Sweden and one in Copenhagen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6831Y1EPoqM

kept my 7" sealed .. so not heard this yet.

ok, thats very Dusk sounding.

love it.

now lets have an album.

https://thevinylfactory.com/features/matt-johnson-the-the-interview/

The The touring the US this fall!

Is this the de facto The The thread? Because I'm seeing him live tomorrow :)

There is also this cd/sd thread:
The The: C/D, S&D