By 1988, Matt Johnson decided to reform a full band for The The. For this, he recruited several ex-members of previously established bands, Johnny Marr (previously of The Smiths), James Eller (previously of Nick Lowe), and David Palmer (previously ABC). Together, they entered the studio to record 1989's Mind Bomb.
The album would produce The The's highest charting single, The Beat(en) Generation, which peaked at number eighteen in the UK. Additionally, Kingdom Of Rain, would feature the vocals of Sinéad O'Connor, who was still riding the waves of her highly successful 1987 debut, The Lion And The Cobra. She would soon have her international breakthrough with 1990's; I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got. You'll of course remember that for featuring her cover of Prince's Nothing Compares 2 U.
Beyond that, there's not much to say, so let's dive in.
Everything kicks off with the unique sounds of Arabic chanting, which is met by a piano which then continues to build layers with additional instrumentation. Eventually, the voice of Matt Johnson cuts through, speaking, not singing, and mixed with reverberation and echo to distort things. It's unique, and an interesting opener, serving its purpose to excite you to hear more.
From there, things go into a unique "cover" of Sweet's Ballroom Blitz, set to the tone of blasphemy. This is honestly the tone that the previous album, Infected, took, and really turned me off. I'm all for artistic freedom, and I think Johnson is an incredibly talented musician. However, I'm not going to endorse blatant blasphemy of Christ. That's territory I'm just not going into.
Admittedly, I tuned a lot of the album out at this point, checking in mentally only periodically as the music grabbed my attention. Herein lies the most unfortunate aspect. The instrumentation on the album is superb. With different lyrics, it really could have been something special.
At the end of the day, I have to pass on this one. I just can't endorse or get behind the lyrics.
As a band, The The would follow up with the equally successful Dusk in 1993. However, after its release, Johnson would disband the group and return to going about things as a solo act. He'd bring in other musicians to help with 1995's Hanky Panky, and 2000's Naked, but then shift his attention to soundtracks between 2010 and 2020. The The wouldn't release another studio album until 2024's Ensoulment, also their / Johnson's latest to date.
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| THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS December 21, 1985 |
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