Music For Small Bedrooms But Spacious Minds

A special Dubhed selection today, featuring The The live in concert, 1989 to 2018. 

 

Fellow blogosphere traveller Strictly Rockers reached out on Friday to say hello, a familiar name not least for his impressive run of Imaginary Compilations over at The Vinyl Villain. In fact, his debut ICA inspired one of my first ICA contributions a few years later and the format of today's selection. 

 

We both grew up in Bristol, have never knowingly met but likely were at the same gigs, pubs and record shops in our callow youth. In the very full Venn diagram overlap which is our music collection, you'll find The The.

I've previously posted a mixtape that I recorded in 1989 and a late-period The The compilation but never a live selection. I've only seen The The live in concert once, a relatively intimate gig at the University of Bristol's Anson Rooms in 2000. As this selection will demonstrate, regardless of the band performing with Matt Johnson, The The live is an exciting proposition. 

I already had quite a few live songs from various singles, a collection that's been added to considerably in the last couple of years by The Comeback Special album and ongoing series of Official Bootlegs, available via The The's official website.

So, the real challenge was keeping this selection under 100 songs and twenty-odd hours! I'd (over) ambitiously aimed for 10, failed spectacularly and ended up with 16 and even then there are glaring omissions. However, I think I've largely managed to stitch the sequence into a largely seamless set and I had a lot of fun doing it. I hope you get the same enjoyment from listening to it...!

 

1) Dogs Of Lust (Live @ Palladium, Köln, Germany, 16th December 2000)

2) Sweet Bird Of Truth (Live @ Sony Music Studios, New York, 6th May 1993) 

3) Flesh & Bones (Live @ Royal Albert Hall, London, 5th July 2018)

4) The Sinking Feeling (Live @ Royal Albert Hall, London, 12th July 1990)

5) Helpline Operator (Live @ Palladium, Köln, Germany, 16th December 2000)

6) (Like A) Sun Rising Thru My Garden (Live @ Royal Albert Hall, London, 5th July 2018)

7) The Mercy Beat (Live @ Royal Albert Hall, London, 12th July 1990)

8) GIANT (Live @ somewhere, The The Versus The World tour, 1990) 

9) Soul Catcher (Live @ Royal Albert Hall, London, 5th July 2018)

10) Love Is Stronger Than Death (Live @ Sony Music Studios, New York, 6th May 1993) 

11) Armageddon Days Are Here Again (Live @ Royal Albert Hall, London, 12th July 1990)

12) Voidy Numbness (Live @ Palladium, Köln, Germany, 16th December 2000)

13) Out Of The Blue (Into The Fire) (Live @ somewhere in the USA, The The Versus The World tour, 1989)

14) Uncertain Smile (Live @ Later...With Jools Holland, BBC2 TV, 11th June 1993) 

15) Beyond Love (Live @ Royal Albert Hall, London, 12th July 1990)

16) True Happiness This Way Lies (Live @ Brixton Academy, London, 5th June 1993) 

 

1992: Dogs Of Lust EP: 15

1993: Love Is Stronger Than Death EP: 4, 7, 11

1993: Slow Emotion Replay EP: 2, 10

2021: Official Bootleg 002: 8

2021: Official Bootleg 004: 16

2023: Later... With Jools Holland (bootleg): 14

2023: Official Bootleg 007: 1, 5, 12

2023: Official Bootleg 008: 13

2023: The Comeback Special: Live At The Royal Albert Hall: 3, 6, 9

 

Music For Small Bedrooms But Spacious Minds (1:23:17) (KF) (Mega) 

 

I've refreshed links to my previous The The selections as well...

Testament To Reality (October 1989)

Truth Is Nothing But A Point Of View (August 2022)

Truth Is Nothing But A Point Of View

The ever excellent Charity Chic Music featured The The's Dusk on Monday, which referenced a 2002 review on Popmatters.com that this was arguably their last great album.

 

I definitely would not argue that the follow-up, an album of Hank Williams cover versions called Hanky Panky was in the same league as the albums that had gone before: Burning Blue Soul (as Matt Johnson) (1981), Soul Mining (1983), Infected (1986), Mind Bomb (1989) and Dusk (1993). However, as I mentioned in the comments, I have a lot of love for the 'proper' follow up, NakedSelf, which caught me by surprise when it appeared in 2000. 

Yes, NakedSelf is a very different The The album; it's also a very different The The, with Matt Johnson assembling a new all-American band and co-writing half of the songs with guitarist Eric Schermerhorn. Schermerhorn had been on board following Johnny Marr's departure from the band after touring Dusk. The originally planned album, Gun Sluts, was scrapped in the late 1990s, some of the songs surviving and evolving into the versions on NakedSelf. 

I was lucky enough to win free tickets via the Bristol Evening Post and I got to see The The play an relatively intimate gig at Bristol University's Anson Rooms in 2000, where the majority of the album was performed live. It was a fantastic night and, as such, connected me much more deeply to the album. 

 

I've been listening to NakedSelf a fair bit this week and this in turn inspired me to create a selection focusing on The The's music (mostly) in the 21st Century, a companion piece if you will to the 'classic period' mixtape that I posted almost a year ago.

 

Whilst The The has continued to release new music, it's predominantly been film soundtracks, instrumentals and spoken word pieces, with the occasional one-off single now and again. Matt Johnson has said in interviews that a 'proper' new The The album is in the works.

 

In the meantime, here's an 18 track selection of The The songs, kicking off with an excerpt from the aborted Gun Sluts album, followed by a trio of songs from NakedSelf, including a marvellous  live version of Soul Catcher from The The's Comeback Special performance at the Royal Albert Hall in London in 2018. I really wish I'd been there.

A Long Hard Lazy Apprenticeship is from The Inertia Variations and has previously featured in a Dubhed mix that I created in 2020. Here, it provides an introduction to 2017 single We Can't Stop What's Coming, recorded as a tribute to Matt's brother, Andy, who sadly passed the previous year. We Can't Stop What's Coming also features the return of Johnny Marr, James Eller and Zeke Manyika and is one of the finest songs The The has ever released.

 

Fuck Wit is a demo from the Gun Sluts sessions which eventually became Diesel Breeze on NakedSelf. For this selection, I've welded bits of both together so you get the rough, instrumental opening, followed by a vocal second half. The Gun Sluts demo has been released as part of The The's Official Bootleg series, available on CD via their online store. Another in the series - and featured here - captures an acoustic radio session in the USA, promoting the NakedSelf album. You can purchase the Official Bootleg CDs here.

 

The selection closes with a beautifully emotive piece from the soundtrack to 2014 film Hyena, directed by Matt's brother Gerard Johnson and starring his cousin Peter Ferdinando, Neil Maskell and Stephen Graham. No words, but Matt's voice carries the listener through the song and lingers in the memory long after the final note has sounded.

This selection is dedicated with thanks to Stevie (Charity Chic Music), for inspiring this post, and C (Sun Dried Sparrows) for sharing wonderful memories of her friendship with Andy.

 

1) Gun Sluts (1997)

2) Voidy Numbness (2000)

3) Salt Water (2000)

4) Soul Catcher (Live @ The Royal Albert Hall, London) (2018)

5) A Long Hard Lazy Apprenticeship / We Can't Stop What's Coming (Video Version) (2017)

6) Weather Belle (2000)

7) December Sunlight (Cried Out) (New Version ft. Liz Horsman) (2002)

8) Wargasm (2017)

9) The Whisperers (Album Version) (2000)

10) Deep Down Truth (45 RPM Version ft. Angela McCluskey) (2002)

11) Our Secret Selves (Album Version) (2010)

12) Mrs Mac (2007)

13) Global Eyes (DJ Food's Stolen Moments Remix) (2022)

14) Fuck Wit (Gun Sluts Demo N.Y. 1990's) / Diesel Breeze (Album Version) (Slipshod Re-Edit By Khayem) (2022)

15) Phantom Walls (Live Acoustic US Radio Session) (2000)

16) I Want 2 B U (Album Version) (2020)

17) Shrunken Man (Album Version) (2000)

18) Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven (But Nobody Wants To Die) (2015)

 

1997: Gun Sluts EP: 1 

2000: Naked Self: 2, 3, 6, 9, 14, 17

2002: 45 RPM: The Singles Of The The: 7, 10

2007: Mrs Mac EP: 12

2010: Tony OST: 11

2015: Hyena OST: 18

2017: Radio Cinéola: Trilogy/Midday To Midnight: 8

2017: We Can't Stop What's Coming EP: 5 

2020: Muscle OST: 16

2020: Official Bootleg 001: 14

2021: The Comeback Special: LIve At The Royal Albert Hall: 4

2022: Global Eyes EP: 13

2022: Official Bootleg 005: 15

Truth Is Nothing But A Point Of View (1:05:18) (KF) (Mega)

When Copey Met Wiggy

I loathed the BBC 1 prime time evening chat shows, including Terry 'Wiggy' Wogan, though I will confess that his increasingly drunken commentary frequently lightened up an otherwise heavy going Eurovision Song Contest.

However, it was a family viewing staple in the 1980s, mainly with the dinner-on-a-tray, sat on the sofa set up, which at least promised the hope of finishing and escaping to my room before the soaps kicked in.

There was an occasional glimmer of hope with some of the guests, although the banal banter would often be excruciating to sit through. Better was the even more occasional music performance that was an artist or song that I actually liked. 

Whoever was responsible for booking Julian Cope to perform Charlotte Anne in 1988 may not have got a promotion on the back of it (more likely the sack) but it was a rare gem in the muck.

It's an unusually restrained performance from the Arch Drude and his image at this point was about as 'mainstream' as it ever got, but it's a joy to see him, Donald Ross Skinner, James Eller, KR Frost, Rooster Cosby (RIP) and Mike Joyce on a BBC stage. 

No surprise, though, that guest Auberon Waugh thought it was utter rubbish. Wogan's comments have been lost in the mists of time.

 

Charlotte Anne (Performed on Wogan, BBC One, 5th October 1988): Julian Cope

Your Life Will Surely Change

As a follow up to Sunday's post, more The The, this time a selection of their videos, which are all rather wonderful. I still have Infected "The Movie" on VHS tape, unfortunately our video player is long dead, so I haven't been able to watch it in years. I remember seeing the whole thing on Channel 4. I loved the album but the video experience just blew me away. It was a really powerful visual and aural statement in the midst of mid-80s MTV pap.

 

Side One


1) I've Been Waitin' for Tomorrow (All of My Life) (1983)


2) I Want 2 B U (2020)


3) Pillar Box Red (2002)


4) The Beat(en) Generation (1989)


5) Out Of The Blue (Into The Fire) (1986)


6) Kingdom Of Rain (1989)



 

Side Two


1) Infected
 (1986)

2) Dogs Of Lust
 (1993)

3) This Is The Day
 (1983)

4) Sweet Bird Of Truth
 (1986)

5) We Can't Stop What's Coming
 (2017)

6) Love Is Stronger Than Death
 (1993)

 

Kingdom Of Rain features vocals from Sinéad O'Connor, who unfortunately doesn't appear in the video itself. All of the videos are taken from The The's official YouTube page, with the exception of This Is The Day.

Testament To Reality

Happy 60th birthday, Matt Johnson. 

 

Sides 1 & 2 of a mixtape, recorded 21st October 1989. Cassette sleeve 'inspired' by the cover to the Gravitate To Me 12" single. Like many, Matt Johnson's albums, singles and B-sides were the soundtrack to my teenage years.

 

Side One (45:32)

1) Good Morning Beautiful (Album Version): The The (1989) 

2) The Sinking Feeling (The Original Version): The The (1982)

3) Sweet Bird Of Truth (12" Version) ('45 RPM' Album Edit): The The ft. Anna Domino (1986) 

4) Perfect (New Version): The The (1983)

5) The Nature Of Virtue (Version II): The The (1983)

6) Gravitate To Me (Little Version): The The (1989)

7) Giant (Album Version): The The ft. Thomas Leer, Jim Thirlwell, Zeke Manyika & Camelle Hinds (1983)

Side Two (46:03)

1) Harbour Lights (Single Version): The The (1986)

2) Heartland (Album Version): The The (1986)

3) Soul Mining (Album Version) (Edit): The The (1983)

4) Song Without An Ending! (Album Version): Matt Johnson (1981)

5) Bugle Boy (Album Version): Matt Johnson (1981)

6) Slow Train To Dawn (12" Version) (Edit): The The ft. Neneh Cherry (1986)

7) Infected (Album Remix) (Edit): The The (1986)

8) Flesh & Bones: The The ft. Jim Thirlwell (1985)

9) Uncertain Smile (Album Version): The The ft. Jools Holland & Camelle Hinds (1983)

10) Beyond Love (Album Version): The The (1989)

Side One (45:32) (KF) (Mega)

Side Two (46:03) (KF) (Mega)