1983s Soul Mining is the peak for me. In fact, it's a contender of my favorite album of all time. To understand The The, you have to start with 1981s Burning Blue Soul, the debut album of Matt Johnson. An album using tape loops and soundscapes. At once, a mix of synth pop, post punk, dance and industrial. It was immediately a favorite of mine once I picked it up when it was re-released in 1993 as a The The album.
The only bad thing I can say about Burning Blue Soul is that it was improved upon by Soul Mining.
Soul Mining adds some catchy hooks and really nails a timeless sound. “This is the Day” has become a new wave nostalgia radio standard.
1986's Infected remains their top charting album in the US. It is probably the album that nails the band's ideas most. It is overtly political, intimately psychological and in many ways, succeeds despite itself. It at once feels “of the time” and yet, I can only speak of it in positive terms. It's definitely a shot at the Reagan Era. Though their certainly were other bands with similar sentiments (New Model Army, Midnight Oil) sounds (Depeche Mode, New Order) and similar tone (Nick Cave, Echo and the Bunnymen), The The were a distinct niche.
The next album was 1989s Mind Bomb keeping some of the same gang - producer Warne Livesay (Foetus, Coil, Julian Cope) and drummer David Palmer (ABC) and adding ex-Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr, bassist James Eller (Julian Cope), pianist Wex Wickers (Paul McCartney) and for one song, guest vocalist Sinead O'Conner.
Mind Bomb was like “Infected” on Steroids. My intro to the band was the first album I bought with an “explicit lyrics” label. Also in “The Beat(en) Generation” one of their greatest songs.
Four years passed, and much of the same group returned for 1993's Dusk.
With adding keyboardist DC Collard (Subway Sect, The JoBoxers) and Marr more embedded into the band, Dusk is the band at its most commercial. The local alt rock station played tracks of it and to my surprise, now I could turn on commercial radio and hear the band. They also opened on some dates for Depeche Mode's 1993 Devotional Tour.
It's the kind of pinnacle that in retrospect looms over the remaining decades. With a new group of Eric Schermerhorn (who was in between gigs with Iggy Pop and They Might Be Giants) and (for a time) Bowie bassist Gail Ann Dorsey.
The 1995 follow up Hanky ??Panky was a covers album. Although I really liked the version of “I Saw The Light” and the songs selected probably couldn't be much more fitting, I am not really a fan of the album.
In theory, 1997 should have seen the much hyped Gun Sluts. Johnson was planning on following up Hanky Panky with a series of cover albums. That never materialized and Gun Sluts never did either.
In 2000, Johnson released an instrumental track (which to date is the only evidence we have heard of the album) and in 2010, mentioned another “lost” late 90s album with Schermerhorn called 2 Blocks Below Canal.
Instead, the band was dropped by Columbia Records. Now signed to Trent Reznor's Nothing label, they released 2000s Naked Self. Naked Self is flawed insomuch as it isn't necessarily a bad album, but it's not a particularly memorable one. Johnson had never been accused of being boring, but despite a glowing review from Pitchfork, I struggle to defend it.
We didn't hear from The The for awhile. Johnson made film soundtracks but they were often released with little fanfare.
So I was as excited as anyone when The released a new album in 2024 called Ensoulment. At the same time, I was a bit tempered in my expectations.
Ensoulment may not quite be Dusk or Infected, but it does capture the band's essence which was what I was afraid wasn't possible.
It would be nice if it had a killer single (opening track “Cognitive Dissident” comes close but doesn’t quite nail it) but on so many songs, like closer “Rainy Day In May” or “Some Days I Drink My Coffee By The Grave of William Blake “ in particular capture the feel of those classic album tracks like “Helpline Operator”.
“Zen and the Art of Dating” is the sexual politics song here. It could have been a failure but isn't.
“Kissing the Ring of POTUS” is of course, political, but isn't as memorable as anything on Infected or Mind Bomb. It isn't a bad song though and reminds me of Portishead which is a connection I hadn't thought of prior.
It probably helps- Johnson brings back many key contributors from the band's history- Livesay, Collard, Eller and adds Barrie Cardogan (former Primal Scream) on guitar, who has been with the band since 2018 on recommendation of Johnny Marr.
Ensoulment isn't as good as Dusk, but it sounds like a follow up (which I suppose in many ways it is) and hardly disappoints in that regard. Though songs here aren't as distinctive as Dusk, at least the album hangs together in the way of a front to back listen like that album.
Matt Johnson always had us guessing so I am not sure if he will have another album out soon or we will have to wait, but at least this is proof he still has it.
