The The

[Gavin]

The The are one of my favourite bands among the many to choose from in the 1980s. Jools Holland's piano playing, beginning halfway through this track, is something to behold :)

[Elliott]

How amazing that you should post this today. Only this morning I was listening to the Infected album and worrying about how Matt Johnston and I would get on given our vastly different political beliefs (the usual quandary).

But Johnston is certainly talented. My dad had a tape with the songs Out of the Blue and Sweet Bird of Truth on it when I was a child, so I grew up being very familiar with those two songs (oh that car stereo...). As a student I bought the Infected album and, while those are still my favourite two tracks on it, the rest are also very good, and very varied too.

I have to say I'm not as keen on The The's other albums. They're good but there's just something quintessentially and joyfully "mid 80s" about Infected. If those songs were recorded today, they wouldn't be as fun.

[Gavin]

Yes, such a lot of great songs from The The - that failsafe combination of bleak but also uplifting, along with skilled instrumentation!



I think Matt Johnson is a good lyricist but it is a shame about his politics, as you say. Not far off Billy Bragg''s it seems! Nothing a good reading of this forum couldn't fix. Mind you, in seriousness, sadly the Left are not known for being open to evidence that they may be wrong, invested as they are emotionally in their beliefs.

[Gavin]