Dusk
	Produced by Matt Johnson & Bruce Lampcov
	Released on January 5, 1993
	UK CHART POSITION #2 . . . US CHART POSITION #142
	Find it at GEMM
EK 53164 cover [high resolution scan]

K ronomyth 5.0: IN DARK WE LUST. I used to wonder why Johnny Marr hitched his fortunes to Matt Johnson’s burning blue wagon, and then I heard Dusk. This album delivers on all the promise pregnant in Soul Mining and after, like a smart and sinister version of The Smiths. The theme this time is love vs. lust/fear, heavy for sure but not the self-hating exercise of Infected. Johnson sees his relationships as sick cycles and pleads to break the spell, to find one love that delivers the salving satisfaction that ends the cycle. As a result, there are some genuinely romantic songs on here; Dusk is handily the most romantic album he’s recorded and the most hopeful since Soul Mining. Now, that’s romantic by The The’s dark standards, which is to say tinged with the tragic, but songs like “Lonely Planet” and “Love Is Stronger Than Death” are scads sweeter than “Armageddon Days Are Here (Again).” As for Johnny Marr, he hasn’t sounded this good in ages, providing the same unsinkable riffs that lifted Morrissey’s dark muse. I had honestly grown tired of The The, and the opening “True Happiness This Way Lies,” which opens with Johnson ranting like James Cagney on coke against a sarcastic laugh track, turned me off to Dusk immediately. Then I heard the confident “Love Is Stronger Than Death,” the irresistible “Dogs of Lust” (one of three tracks to feature Johnny Marr on harmonica) and the indigo mood of Steven M. on “This Is The Night,” and I was convinced that here was the culmination of everything The The stood forty-four. Matt Johnson’s self-examination is uncomfortable sometimes, but he strikes upon a number of miniature revelations here (e.g., try the line “Why can’t love ever touch my heart like fear does?” from “Bluer Than Midnight”) and wraps them in terrific songs. If you felt Infected and Mind Bomb were more like sore mining, then you’ll dig Dusk; it may be their brightest hour.

EK 53164 picture sleeve

TRACK LISTING

1. TRUE HAPPINESS THIS WAY LIES
2. LOVE IS STRONGER THAN DEATH
3. DOGS OF LUST
4. THIS IS THE NIGHT
5. SLOW EMOTION REPLAY
6. HELPLINE OPERATOR
7. SODIUM LIGHT BABY
8. LUNG SHADOWS
9. BLUER THAN MIDNIGHT
10. LONELY PLANET
    
    Music and words composed by Matt Johnson
    

CREDITS

MATT JOHNSON -- vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitars, treated melodica, tambourine, strings, Hammond organ, Fender Rhodes piano, harmonica, tapes
D.C. COLLARD -- Hammond organ, honky tonk piano, acoustic piano, brass arrangement
JAMES ELLER -- bass guitar
JOHNNY MARR -- electric guitars, harmonica, baritone guitar, backing vocals
Guy Barker -- trumpet (9)
Chris Batchelor -- trumpet (8)
Vinni Colaiuta -- drums (3,9)
David Lawrence -- flugelhorn/French horn (8)
Zeke Manyika -- chorus backing vocals (10)
Dave Palmer -- drums
Ashley Slater -- trombone (8)
Bruce Smith -- drums (4,6)
John Thirkle -- turmpet (6)
Danny Thompson -- upright bass (4)
Paul Webb -- chorus backing vocals (10)
Bruce Lampcov -- engineer, mixing
Martin "Max" Hayes -- additional mixing engineer
Marc "Boy!" Williams -- additional mixing engineer
Andy Johnson -- sleeve
Mitch Ikedo -- photography
Todd -- photography

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