THE THE Controversial Subject Orig UK 7" Single 4AD Post Punk Matt Johnson Wire

	£		22
	$		29

New Page 1  

** RECORD COLLECTOR **

THE THE

Controversial Subject

Original UK 7" Single released on 4AD Records in 1980.
Picture sleeve.

AD 10 A-1   WEA T/P   BILBO'S LAST SINGLE!
AD 10 AA-1   BYE, BYE.

***CHECK OUT OUR OTHER 4AD / POST PUNK AUCTIONS THIS WEEK!!!***

In November 1977, Matt Johnson placed an advertisement in NME, asking for "Bass/lead guitarist into The Velvet Underground/Syd Barrett". Johnson later placed a second advertisement in the NME, stating his new influences as "The Residents/Throbbing Gristle".

While trying to get his band going, in 1978 Johnson had recorded a demo solo album (See Without Being Seen) which he continued to sell at various underground gigs on cassettes. In 1979, working with Colin Lloyd-Tucker (a friend and colleague at De Wolfe Music, the Soho music publisher/recording studio) Johnson recorded his first album proper, Spirits. This album remains unreleased, although the album track "What Stanley Saw" was later licensed to Cherry Red Records for their Perspectives & Distortion compilation album.

The The made their debut at London's Africa Centre on 11 May 1979, third on the bill to Scritti Politti and PragVEC, using backing tape tracks that Johnson created at his day job at De Wolfe studios for the drums and bass. The band at this point consisted of Johnson on vocal, electric piano, guitar and tapes and Keith Laws on synthesiser and tapes. It was Keith Laws who suggested the name 'The The' to Matt Johnson.

As The The was now getting underway, Johnson was simultaneously working with experimental synth-pop combo the Gadgets, a studio group he formed with Colin Lloyd Tucker, his colleague at De Wolfe recording studios.

Peter Ashworth, then known as 'Triash' and later to become a noted photographer, became The The's drummer in 1980, and Tom Johnston (also managing The The at this point and later to become a cartoonist for the Evening Standard, Daily Mirror and The Sun newspapers) was added on bass. Although both Ashworth and Johnston were credited with appearing on The The's debut single ("Controversial Subject"/"Black and White") on 4AD Records neither actually played on the recordings, which were produced by Wire members Bruce Gilbert and Graham Lewis. All instruments were played by Johnson and Laws. Johnston and Ashworth soon dropped out of The The and returned to their respective day jobs. As a duo (Johnson and Laws), The The began performing concerts with Wire, Cabaret Voltaire, DAF, This Heat, the Birthday Party and Scritti Politti.

Tracks Are :-

Side One

Controversial Subject

Side Two

Black And White

Released on '4AD Records' in 1980

Catalogue No. AD 10

Disc is in VG+ condition (light surface wear)

Sleeve is in VG+ condition (light storage wear / minor creasing)

Please contact me via Ebay Messages with any questions I will try my best to get back to you as quickly as possible.

PAYMENT BY PAYPAL ONLY

IF BUYING MORE THAN ONE ITEM PLEASE WAIT FOR COMBINED INVOICE!!!

-------------------------------------------------------------

POSTAGE RATES FOR 7” SINGLES:

UK: £2.00 – then £0.50 each extra.
EUROPE: £4.95 – then £0.50 each extra.
"WORLD ZONE 1" (USA, CANADA, JAPAN etc ): £6.00 – then £1.00 each extra
"WORLD ZONE 2" (AUSTRALIA/NEW ZEALAND etc): £6.55 then £1.00 each extra

*********DOUBLES COUNT AS TWO*********

---------------------------------------------------

COMBINED POSTAGE FOR DIFFERENT FORMATS will be invoiced at my discretion:

While I am happy to combine (for example) one or two 7” singles into one package with 12” records, sometimes it isn’t practical (like if you want me to combine one 12” record with three or more 7” records). I do not think that these combinations can be packaged together safely and securely. Therefore these will be invoiced separately as two packages.

IF YOU ARE UNSURE, please contact me before bidding!

---------------------------------------------------

Sorry but I am no longer willing to carry combined transactions beyond two weeks of auctions (see below).

---------------------------------------------------

PAYMENT

I would appreciate payment within seven days of the auction's end. If you want to bid on more of our auctions ending a week later please inform me. I will wait and issue a combined invoice at the close of the second week's auctions.

However, I am no longer willing to carry combined transactions beyond two weeks and in these cases would appreciate payment promptly after the close of the second week's auctions.

I am sorry to have to introduce these measures – I always try to be patient and allow buyers to bid on extra auctions and / or delay payment. Unfortunately some buyers have been stretching out transactions to unacceptable lengths so I have no option but to limit 'carried over' transactions to two weeks.