REVIEW: The The, Hanky Panky (550 Music)
- Tim Kennedy
Matt Johnson of The The has carved his niche in the world of contemporary music by doing repetitive, hypnotic lush rythmic soundscapes and crooning in his Morrisonian way (or is that Lindsey Buckingham?) over the top. He has decided to make a tribute to an early influence, Hank Williams, the bloke who was copying the blues from black artists years before Elvis and his chums copied their music from black blues artists. In fact if you really want to hear great rock music of that era, Sonny Boy Williamson, Howlin' Wolf, Robert Johnson or many other bluesmen of the 20s-40s can give a far better account of their art than Hank did. Nevertheless he's not so bad, as country and western music was a joke before he came along; idiots in cowboy outfits running through maudlin ditties about four legged friends. Hank Williams gave country music a soul by imparting what he'd learned of the blues to it.
Williams' tunes are significantly edited on Hanky Panky in order for Matt's limited vocal range to be able to cope. The emphasis is thus laid on the lyrics.
Some of the bluesier covers are among the better tracks of the album. "Honky Tonkin'" has a fine blues riff right through, which saves the song despite its other drawbacks. "Weary Blues From Waitin'" shows that Matt is not incapable of giving some emotion to a vocal performance and displays a Robert Johnsonesque solo acoustic acompaniment. "Your Cheatin' Heart" has a blues motif which again rescues an otherwise drab treatment of the standard.
On the other hand, DC Collard's wheezy church organ puts in several annoying appearances. "Six More Miles", only a short piece, has just this as backing and "If You'll Be A Baby To Me" and "I Can't Escape From You" use it too. All these songs are marked by a curiously detached lounge lizard vocal performance. Why Matt feels these downhome songs need a Bryan Ferry delivery is anyone's guess. Another disconcerting feature of this group of tracks is the odd backing singing which is akin to a schoolchild singing along in harmony, set far back in the mix.
Other of the songs here more than redeem the Hank project. "I'm A Long Gone Daddy" is a menacing rock song and this time Matt's voice gives vent to the ferocity implicit within the words, which are a denial of love. Also sinister is "I Saw The Light" which recalls "I Found Out" from John Lennon's Plastic Ono Band album. This is a fine version and the production on the vocal intensifies the mood. The close of the song has echoes of late sixties garage psychedelia. The Phil Spector production on that 1970 Lennon album is mirrored in the echoey, often slightly distorted vocal on much of Hanky Panky.
Possibly the best song on the album is "I Can't Get You Off My Mind", which has a varied structure and lush sad instrumentation complete with a full band backing Matt's almost moving singing.
Too often though his singing is oddly uncommitted and the stripped- down backing serves merely to underline the incongruity of the voice and the rustic lyrical content. The way Johnson delivers "A Tear In My Beer" is so sober as to almost render it satire. "If You'll Be A Baby To Me" has a similar quality about it. If Johnson hadn't announced his devotion to Hank so loudly you might begin to wonder about his intentions.
To the neutral ear this is a reasonable modern blues/rock album with some echoes of Lennon in it. While the languid style of some of the singing lays a possible charge of dilettantism at Matt's door, there are enough songs here rendered with true feeling to make this a good record. The Ferryesque style of some of the singing and the church organ may not be to some people's taste, but it is a worthy effort overall.
