Sunday 27 July 2014

The The Mind Bomb


The The Mind Bomb

Get It At Discogs
The The is a great band name that used to refer to one guy, Matt Johnson, who enlivened drum machines with his raw piano and gravelly vocals on the 1984 classic debut Soul Mining. But now the The is an all-star New Wave lineup featuring former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr, bassist James Eller and former ABC drummer Dave Palmer. And in many ways, Mind Bomb lives up to the just-jeans-and-a-T-shirt image that Johnson and company seem to be trying to project. Palmer's trap kit is so fresh, puncturing the Hammond organ on "The Violence… Read More of Truth" and laying down a "Ballroom Blitz"-like beat on "Armageddon Days Are Here (Again)," that it sounds like he's in your living room. "The Beat(en) Generation" and "Kingdom of Rain" (a duet with Sinéad O'Connor) also have a homespun feel. But just as Tin Machine seems like a David Bowie album, Mind Bomb is still very much Matt Johnson's record. His mug hogs the album cover, his maniacal whisper is ubiquitous, and he wrote all of the songs except the best one, "Gravitate to Me," which he wrote with Marr. "Gravitate" is aggressive, not didactic, but left to himself, Johnson can get pretty preachy. Every good lyric ("If you think Jesus Christ is coming/You got another thing comin'") is nullified by a dumb one ("If the real Jesus Christ were to stand up today/He'd be gunned down cold by the C.I.A."). Nevertheless, Mind Bomb is a step in the right direction. "Beyond Love" is Johnson's most beautiful song ever. It's just that forty-five minutes of God, love and war make this album's title just a bit too apt. 

4 comments:

Iano1 said...

Taking on more homework I see!! Talking about your favourite album is like choosing your favourite child! There are so many to choose from and all for various different reasons.
I haven't listened to these pair. Must come highly rated if they are your first two posts. Thanks again for the Echobelly CD1s.
Good look! Only 999 to go!

Aid00 said...

Yer 2 Top Albums I Highly Rate

Roisin O Shea said...

Great blog again and great posts which are a great occasion to listen to great records. Among my favorites there is the first Drugstore and It's A Shame About Ray by the Lemonheads, This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours by the Manic Gerge Best by the Wedding Present, the first Victorian English Gentlemen club or the first Morcheeba;

Aid00 said...

Yer Roisin All Great Albums

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