The The
Hanky Panky

This is certainly not the best work by The The, the pseudonym used by Matt Johnson for his band, but it is still a beautiful album. It was released in 1995 and is a reinterpretation of covers by the country songwriter Hank Williams, born in Alabama in 1923 and died at just thirty years old. Matt Johnson's analysis is very introspective, especially for the vocal parts, where he uses deep and breathed voices with a very closed echo thanks to the use of a vocal compressor, precisely to make the listening experience dark and heavy. Despite this precaution, his voice is always remarkably pleasant.

The pursuit of darkness in this record is precisely to get closer to Hank Williams, a singer famous throughout the United States because, unlike Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, he sided with the less affluent segment of American society. In the historical period following the crash of the last century, he portrayed the story of the poor, the hobos, and the homeless. This genre had taken hold in the United States precisely because of the high rate of poverty that had affected the entire society. Sadness is a leitmotif, a journey that recounts the experiences of this singer, who tragically died of a morphine overdose after a concert. He had a chauffeur-driven car and during the journey, he took the lethal dose, very likely by mistake. The driver found him dead at the end of the trip on the back seat with a song written on a sheet of paper whose title seemed to almost predict his tragic end, “Then The Fateful Day Came.” Incredible to think how such a chilling title is actually the reflection of the epilogue. The fascinating aspect of this singer, who had churned out as many as 12 singles at the top of the U.S. charts, is the fact that he drank more than he earned. Right after the second world war, his lifelong idol, the King of Country Mr. Roy Acuff, always told him, "You've got a million-dollar voice, boy, but a ten-cent brain.”

The reproduced songs are all minimalist with guitar, drum, and bass in the background, in some, harmonica and piano. 11 songs performed in 37 minutes or a little more, the right amount of time to decide if you like an album or not. The right time for those who experienced music on tape, in defiance of the exhausting 60, 70, or 80-minute records. A track that stands out above all others is the seventh track, “I Saw the Light.” A song with a very fast rhythm and a guitar that sways throughout. A stroke of genius. Incidentally, it was the closing piece of Mr. Williams' concerts. Since we are at it, I also suggest the opening track “Honky Tonkin'” which goes “When you’re sad and lonely and got no place to go, call me on the phone and we’ll come down to the tavern where the fun begins.”