Published on Mar 2, 1997
When I was in college, I dated this girl who was very heavy into
The The. And the greatest insult I ever made against her was
declaring The The was “okay” when she played “Good Morning
Beautiful” for me. Two things I learned: this relationship wasn’t
going to last much longer, and fans of Matt Johnson’s work were
almost fanatical in their devotion to The The.
Since then, I have developed a healthy respect – even a liking –
for The The. And their third album
Mind Bomb shows this band had some great potential – but
when they were off, they sucked.
“Good Morning Beautiful” turned out to be an exceptional track,
from the Islamic chants in the beginning to the building
franticness of the song, Johnson and crew have created a tough
standard for the rest of the album. The guitars of Johnny Marr (ex-
of The Smiths) are sometimes hidden in the mix, which is a shame –
he is a very good axeman.
The level of perfection is kept up throughout the entire first
half of the album. “Armageddon Days Are Here (Again)” may shock
some people with its content (was it this or the singular use of
the word “fuck” that unfairly earned this one the dreaded warning
sticker?), but is an entertaining song. “The Violence Of Truth”
takes some time to get into, but also ranks among the better
tracks. And the duet between Johnson and Sinead O’Connor, “Kingdom
Of Rain,” is simply amazing.
But this is where
Mind Bomb slips. “The Beat(en) Generation” seems to fall
apart from the beginning – the jazzy beat sounds out of place with
The The’s style on the rest of the album. “August & September”
is average, while the final two tracks, “Gravitate To Me” and
“Beyond Love,” are both subpar.
So how does
Mind Bomb stack up? To the diehard fan of The The, my mere
suggestion of weakness is enough to string me up by my manhood. But
to many people, The The is a group you have to warm up to.- it took
a relationship to implode for me to learn the truth – but you have
to sift through the bad tracks to get to the bad.
Mind Bomb is a great half-album. The rest – well, leaves
much to be desired.