"I've been filled with useless information, spewed out by papers and radio stations. I've been hounded by fair weather friends, sowing the seeds for my discontent". And so begins the major label career of Matt Johnson, the tortured blade of spleen, controversy and blue-drenched adrenalin that has, for the last 20 years, been The The.
The 'London Town Box-Set' is a four CD compilation of Johnson's (vaguely) capital-based and centrally-recorded quartet of albums between 1983 and 1993, that soundtracked the emergence, championing, vilification and ultimate mellowing of a now somewhat marginalised but unique figure.
Rebounding from his actual recording debut - 1981's fiercely inventive, electronic and radical 'Burning Blue Soul' - Johnson inked a whopping contract with Epic in 1983, resulting in 'Soul Mining', the opening salvo here. Considered by many to be his finest moment - although all The The records have bulging veins of genius throughout - 'Soul Mining' is a blunt incision into a spirit-mangled vessel of a soul, that burns brightly with a vibrant, melodic, twisted pop edge.
Wasting no time and preparing us for the vitriolic political bile that would infuse later records, tracks such as 'The Sinking Feeling' - "I'm just a symptom of the moral decay, that's gnawing at the heart of the country" - is primarily a disturbed exercise in moral self destruction and catharsis. Particularly notable for perhaps the finest piano solo, courtesy of Jools Holland, in contemporary recording history - the masterful 'Uncertain Smile' - and a drum solo of equally thrilling proportions on the battered personal cataclysm of 'GIANT' - this record is the only place to start when contemplating a lifetime with The The. (9)
Clearly not one to compromise, Johnson managed to wretch his ravaged body and soul onto far broader issues three years later on 'Infected', the album that marked his emergence as a commercial force and musician of single-minded, limitless socio-political destruction. The album's title track - "infect me with your love" - broached the profoundly thorny subject of AIDS, 'Sweet Bird Of Truth' captured a US fighter pilot on the verge of a nervous breakdown mid-mission, while 'Heartland' is a pop song in name alone, as Thatcher's Britain and the UK's insane consumption of US culture are assassinated in four minutes straight.
After completing 'Infected', Johnson, whose drug consumption during this period has done everlasting physical damage, convinced Epic to fly him around the world to film videos for every track, resulting in the rather unlikely image of Neneh Cherry strapped to a rail line on the accompanying film to 'Slow Train To Down'. Either way, 'Infected' was the album that - rightly - broke Matt Johnson, whilst also virtually breaking the man himself. (9)
By 1989, Johnson had completed a long-term ambition in bringing former Smiths guitar hero Johnny Marr into The The to play on the ensuing 'Mind Bomb', building a four-piece of considerable power and force who toured the world under the telling umbrella of 'The The Versus The World'. By now though, Johnson had also become utterly intoxicated by the overwhelming burden of his mission, confronting religion and politics like a deranged preacher, perhaps rather crassly - "if the real Jesus Christ were to stand-up today, he'd be gunned-down cold by the CIA" '(Armageddon Days (Are Here Again)'.
But while his incarnation as a slightly comical foreboder of imminent world doom on the likes of 'Good Morning Beautiful' and 'The Violence Of Truth' did irk many and dilute the message with the furious extremities of Johnson's delivery, 'Mind Bomb' still packs a furious punch and has sonic bounty aplenty in the likes of the sublime 'The Beat(en) Generation' and 'August & September' and 'Beyond Love', two of Johnson's most disarming and heart asunder love songs. (8)
The final album in the collection is 'Dusk', which marked an almost total retreat from chest-beating and sloganeering, in the wake of the death of his brother, prompting a very introspective, but glorious mirror into his forever troubled soul. Consequently, 'Dusk' contains a number of The The high-water marks, including a rabid, harmonica-fuelled 'Dogs Of Lust', a transcendent, exultant 'Love Is Stronger Than Death' and 'Slow Emotion Replay', the archetypal blueprint for Matt Johnson's ongoing wrestle with himself. All in all, this is another classic. (9)
The chorus on 'Slow Emotion Replay' - "Everybody knows what's going wrong with the world, I don't even know what's going on in myself" - betray a battle that Johnson's been grappling with for some 20 years in a very personal but public torture chamber. And that's why Matt Johnson has become such a revered figure - because we know exactly what he's going through. Life of the most twisted, but beautiful and painfully real form.
