Refreshed

THE THE
Soul Mining
Infected
Mind Bomb
Dusk
(Lazarus/Epic/Legacy)
The career of Great Britain's The The is a curious one. The nom de plume of singer/songwriter Matt Johnson, The The is a perfect example of an artist putting craft and heart above all other considerations, especially commercial ones. Johnson has released only seven albums (not counting comps and live records) in his 20-year career, but each one is utterly uncompromised, each record exactly the work he envisioned it to be. His music is difficult to describe, as it has no stylistic loyalty; he doesn't fit easily into any genre designation except the general one "rock." He truly doesn't sound like anybody else. He's a remarkable songwriter, smart, witty and unfailingly melodic; more importantly, he's unafraid to deal with hard emotional truths head on. He's also an ambitious arranger; epic songs lengths and layered production testify to his desire to bring the visions in his head to light as accurately as possible. It's due to this relentless perfectionism that he's released so few recordings to the public and held at least three completed albums in the vaults. His erratic release schedule means that the appearance of a The The album is an event, eagerly anticipated by a loyal cult. (It also means that his commercial fortunes have waxed and waned, not that such things concern him one whit.) In the 1980s Johnson signed with Epic Records, who put out five The The records in total, including some of his most acclaimed and popular works. Legacy has remastered and reissued four of them, giving them superb sound that leaps out of the speakers. Hopefully this re-release campaign will encourage new converts to the work of an unfairly overlooked artist unbound by anyone's expectations but his own.

While not technically Johnson's debut album (that would Burning Blue Soul, released in 1981), 1983's Soul Mining was his first under the moniker The The. Fans who came in late on Johnson's musical saga may be surprised by the synth-heavy production of Mining. The synth-bass and keyboard-rich arrangements practically telegraph the decade from which the record sprang, Johnson's voice sounds tentative and most of the songs don't quite have the irresistible power of his later pieces. But the lilting pop of "Uncertain Smile" (with its positively Joe Jackson-ish piano solo from guest Jools Holland) and "This is the Day" strike home on the strength of their indelible melodies, and lyrics like "You've been a prostitute to humility" ("The Twilight Hour") and "I'm scared of God and scared of hell/And I'm caving in upon myself" (the senior citizen's lament "GIANT") presage the fearless emotional turmoil that would come to dominate Johnson's work. Soul Mining is a promising statement that drops hints of potential genius.

Infected, originally released in 1986, is a transitional record. Real instruments, especially guitars, dominate the tracks, with the electronics used as augmentation rather than for core sounds. Johnson also becomes more interested in the chaos without then within, and many of the best songs take the 80s decay of the British way of life as the subject in what one reviewer at the time called "a savage picture of contemporary Britain." "Here comes another winter of long shadows and high hopes," Johnson croons over a harmonica-laced pop melody on "Heartland," one of his best singles. The dramatic "Sweet Bird of Truth" looks through the eyes of a soldier about to be airdropped into the field, while "Twilight of a Champion" finds a successful man engaged in painful introspection about the life he abandoned for the one he currently enjoys. Producer Warne Livesy bathes Infected in a much warmer sound than Paul Hardimann gave Soul Mining; only the brittle "Out of the Blue (Into the Fire)," a story of a prostitute's patron, sounds harsh and dated. The record's virtues are wrapped up in the instantly engaging title track, a whomping slice of provocative dance rock that's not only one of Johnson's greatest numbers but also the one that served to introduce him to American audiences. While Infected isn't necessarily The The's best album, it further develops Johnson's strengths as a writer, arranger and singer, pointing the way to the peak period to come. (more)

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