Hanky Panky is the fifth studio album by English band The The, released on 14 February 1995. It consists of cover versions of country singer Hank Williams' songs. It reached No. 28 on the UK Albums Chart. Matt Johnson intended Hanky Panky to be the first of many albums he would record covering the work of iconic musicians. Johnson provided the liner notes to Alone and Forsaken, a compilation of Williams demos that was also released in 1995.

Production

Johnson originally planned to record an EP, and then a standard tribute album, with many musicians interpreting songs, before settling on an album of covers. Eric Schermerhorn played guitar on the album. Some songs contain only voice and harmonium. The band was more interested in retaining the meaning of the songs rather than producing musical copies of them. "Your Cheatin' Heart" was performed in a rockabilly style.

Critical reception

Entertainment Weekly wrote that "Johnson internalizes Williams' '50s despair and coughs it up as modernist melancholy." Trouser Press called the album "a tour de force tribute," writing that it "might have sunk to self-conscious gimmickry in less perceptive hands, but Johnson makes it work beautifully." The Chicago Tribune stated that it "drones with the overmiked rasp, sometime monotonous echo, and bluesy guitars that are The The's trademark." The Independent determined that, "mostly, Hanky Panky demonstrates a misapprehension of Williams's art, the greatness of which lies, in part, in his ability to disguise darkness and loneliness in redemptively light settings." The Guardian noted that "gloomy rock replaces the original relaxed melodies, and Johnson's baritone evokes only one colour from Hank's mixed palette of emotions." The Calgary Herald concluded that "as has happened with the blues and rock in the '60s, it's taken a Brit to unearth the spirit, the soul, the songs of Hank Williams."

Track listing

All tracks by Hank Williams; arrangements/re-arrangements by Matt Johnson and D. C. Collard

Personnel