Soul Mining

Product Information

In retrospect, the eighties have often been greeted with an air of sarcasm. The mainstream audience tends to scoff at anything that was released in the era. However, there has been an apparent increase in the popularity of the fluorescent dance music of the eighties in alternative music culture, with artists such as M83 and Chvrches spawning a fresh new interpretation. While the influence may only be stylistic, the sound of The The seems to resemble this trendy new eighties resurgence more than most other groups of the era. This is perhaps due to the fact that The The’s stark, eccentric sound has dated rather modestly, considering the amount of stylistic conventions that are used in this album. The juxtaposition of sounds and themes in The The’s music is obviously a positive addition to their overall sound, creating a unique touch. The sleeve features a ‘2 faced’ double cover to mirror the audio content – THE THE’s Andy Dog artwork features on one side, and DJ Food’s illustrative interpretation of the artwork on the other, and a top opening makes this sleeve entirely non-preferential. This record fits snugly inside the Soul Mining 30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition Boxset to complete the collection.

A subsequent session, again in New York with Thorne, and featuring David Johansen of the New York Dolls, resulted in ‘Perfect’, yet both sessions, and the deal with London Records, were subsequently scrapped when THE THE made an audacious switch to CBS Records and decided to start the album afresh. Zeke Manyika – drums on "I've Been Waitin' for Tomorrow (All of My Life)", "The Twilight Hour" and "Giant", chant on "Giant"

95 Reviews

Graphic designer Fiona Skinner, who had become Johnson's girlfriend in 1982, created the bespoke typeface used on Soul Mining. [1] [15] The album and the single "This Is the Day" marked the first appearance of the band's logo, which also used Skinner's font, and which would be used on the majority of the The's subsequent releases. Originally released on 21st October 1983, the recording of Soul Mining began in the spring of 1982, when the then 20-year old Matt Johnson, financed at this point by London Records, de-camped to New York to record ‘Uncertain Smile’ with producer Mike Thorne. Ever since hearing 'Giant' for the first time in a Berlin club, this album has accompanied me through my life and has constant rotation several times a year. In the meantime you may be curious to read about the making of Soul Mining in the following interviews in Quietus and Monocle

Soul Mining is a relic of the 80s that went mostly unasummed when it first got released, but has since been hailed as one of the best albums the new-wave craze had to offer. As for “Uncertain Smile”, well, what a triumph of songwriting and storytelling. The whole ideology of The The was there in the name, an amorphous collection of musicians tailored for each song, and while Johnny Marr didn’t sign up for another decade, he and Matt Johnson were already musical soulmates in the early 80’s (it sure sounds like Marr on guitar here). The guitar riff is a mellifluous lilt and the words are simply heartbreaking (“I’ve got you under my skin/where the rain can’t get in/but as the sweat pours out, just shout/I’ll try to swim and pull you out”). It actually gets even better when Jools Holland appears with his boogie-woogie shuffle. Recorded in one take, he lifts the song into the stars. In the newspaper that accompanies the box set, Matt Johnson correctly describes it as “Possibly the finest piano solo in British pop music over the past 30 years.” Throughout May 1983 the The held a weekly residence of concerts at the Marquee club in central London, featuring many of Johnson's musician friends from the British post-punk scene. Johnson used these concerts to decide which musicians he wanted to contribute to the forthcoming the The album. These included Orange Juice drummer Zeke Manyika, do-it-yourself synthesizer pioneer Thomas Leer, and the experimental Australian musician Jim Thirlwell, credited on the album as one of his early aliases "Frank Want", and who would go on to achieve some degree of recognition recording under the name Foetus. [7]

For as much as I try to expand my taste, I invariably find that the early 80s largely defines it. As such, I've had great success mining that period of music for "new" discoveries, and Soul Mining falls squarely in that camp. What makes it such an exciting find is that its confluence of new wave, synth pop and post punk elements manages to sound unlike anything I've ever heard. One key development of the musical eighties is the phenomenon I would call 'Rundgrenism': the pop-auteur, a solitary force of nature in the studio, crafting an ural universe practically single-handed. These had existed in the pre-punk seventies, e.g. the aforementioned Todd R., or Brian Eno, but it was the general adoption of synthesised sound that heralded the Princes, Peter Gabriels, and Kate Bushes of the world. The The, really one Matt Johnson, is one of these. His debut record aims for the sort of eccentric singularity that propelled Bush's 'Dreaming' or Gabriel's 'Melt', and in a sense Johnson manages a similar sense of vision. The closer “Giant” is a perfect summary of the album’s manifesto. An incredibly serious piece of music and an existential musing upon the nature of the self - “How could anyone know me when I don’t even know myself?” - it’s a theme Matt Johnson would revisit on the majestic ‘Slow Emotion Replay” from 1993’s Dusk. Holland, Jools; Vyner, Harriet (2008). "Mushroom Men". Barefaced Lies and Boogie Woogie Boasts. Michael Joseph. pp.212–213. ISBN 978-0-14102-677-0.

a b Bonner, Michael (August 2014). "The The – Soul Mining 30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition". Uncut. No.207. pp.86–87. Archived from the original on 10 August 2015 . Retrieved 26 March 2016.Amongst the goodies in the box is a ‘news-poster’ which contains extensive notes written by Johnson that detail the making of the album. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. Australian Chart Book. p.307. ISBN 0-646-11917-6. To coincide with this event, we have managed to obtain 15 Soul Mining vinyl box sets to offer for sale, personalised and signed by Matt. MJ: It was just because of practicalities. We didn’t want to rush to hit the Christmas thing. We looked at my schedule, Sony’s schedule, Cally’s schedule, and this was the only time that everything fitted in. Additionally, you can opt out of some of these services by visiting the Digital Advertising Alliance’s opt-out portal at: http://optout.aboutads.info/.