Matt Johnson, the lead singer and songwriter behind The The, began recording the album in New York City, after a bidding war between major record labels resulted in the group signing a recording contract with CBS Records.
The initial recording sessions were aborted after the album's first two singles, however, and Johnson returned to London where he wrote and recorded the rest of the record.
Musically, Soul Mining is a post-punk and synth-pop album with influences of the early 1980s New York club scene, while Johnson's lyrics focus on relationship insecurities and social alienation, with imagery derived from dreams.
The The has always only really been the brilliant Matt Johnson with an all-star cast, that I maintain to this day is one of the most overlooked U.K. bands of the 80’s. Soul Mining was easily the best album Johnson ever recorded, and contains some of the richest new wave to ever come out of the U.K., period.
I use the new wave title loosely here, as this collection of a mere seven songs has more musical range than most boxed sets. One of the things I can most appreciate about this album, even as someone who prefers the concrete to the abstract, is its artistic calibre. I can’t think of too many albums that seamlessly move from accordion-laden sophisto-pop (This is the Day) to epic everything (Uncertain Smile) to plucky dark synth (The Sinking Feeling) to electro-awesomeness (GIANT).
Out of all of the albums I will be featuring in this review series, I think Soul Mining is the most intellectual and least heart-wrenchingly emotional in terms of establishing its pulse/connection with listeners.
There’s a slight political bent to some of these songs, but my most favorite tunes are the ones with labyrinth-like arrangements that gently ruminate about this thing called life. Think broad compared to narrow. These songs feel mammoth, epic, and lush with, might I add, the most brilliant use of xylophones ever. There is a bittersweet optimism about the album that can sway either way. As one listener has pointed out, it can sound equally happy or sad depending on your mood. I’m in a great mood today (or maybe that’s just the Robitussin talking), so these songs sound like they’re flying off the Prozac charts.
Uncertain Smile is at the very core of Soul Mining, and for me exemplifies everything that a nearly seven minute song should aspire to be. There’s something about this song that is on my list of “happy places” (Fleetwood Mac’s “Everywhere” is at the top of this list, never failing to appease the cranky monster).
No matter how much of a funk I’m in, Uncertain Smile always manages to slip me a musical quaalude by taking me to a rock out with your cock out place of epic proportions.
But just like everything else on this album, it’s way more couth than that. As I age, I tend to pay less attention to lyrics, but Uncertain Smile achieves that perfect balance of quasi-philosophical without being the least bit pretentious. Part of its appeal is its ambiguity: “A broken soul stares from a pair of watering eyes, uncertain emotions force an uncertain smile” could easily apply to heartbreak, or any number of other things.
Jools Holland’s piano solo on this song is in such epic proportions that it is deserving of being a standalone song, and to date is my favourite piano solo of all times. You never want it to end and it almost never does, tapering out with just the right amount of whimper. In fact I’d say that pretty much every song on Soul Mining ends gracefully by fading out into a watercolour bleed.
This is the Day is more bittersweet, and might woefully be more widely identified as “that song in that M&M commercial”. More importantly, it proves that accordions may have a rightful place in pop music after all. Sometimes, it’s hard not to associate accordions with anything other than lederhosen and Eastern European polka music.
Still, This is the Day manages to ride that dual wave of being nostalgic while being forward thinking; happy and sad at the same time.
The Sinking Feeling and GIANT are other standouts.
The album was also included in the books 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die and Fear of Music: The Greatest 261 Albums Since Punk and Disco by journalist Garry Mulholland, who described it as "a hidden masterpiece".
Tracklist (CD Version)
- "I've Been Waitin' for Tomorrow (All of My Life)" – 5:45
- "This Is the Day" – 5:01
- "The Sinking Feeling" – 3:44
- "Uncertain Smile" – 6:52
- "The Twilight Hour" – 5:58
- "Soul Mining" – 4:50
- "Giant" – 9:36
- "Perfect" (1987 release only) – 5:36
Personnel
- Matt Johnson – vocals, synthesisers, percussion, instruments on all tracks, chant on "Giant"
- Harry Beckett – trumpet on "Perfect"
- Paul Boyle – fiddle on "This Is the Day"
- Andy Duncan – drums on "This Is the Day", "Uncertain Smile", "Soul Mining" and "Perfect"
- Paul Hardiman – chant on "Giant"
- Camelle G. Hinds – bass guitar on "I've Been Waitin' for Tomorrow (All of My Life)", "Uncertain Smile", "The Twilight Hour", "Giant" and "Perfect"
- Jools Holland – piano on "Uncertain Smile"
- David Johansen – harmonica on "Perfect"
- Keith Laws – melodica on "Three Orange Kisses from Kazan"
- Thomas Leer – synthesisers on "I've Been Waitin' for Tomorrow (All of My Life)", "The Twilight Hour" and "Giant"
- Martin McCarrick – cello on "The Twilight Hour"
- Zeke Manyika – drums on "I've Been Waitin' for Tomorrow (All of My Life)", "The Twilight Hour" and "Giant", chant on "Giant"
- Jeremy Meek – bass guitar on "The Sinking Feeling"
- Steve James Sherlock – flute and saxophone on "Three Orange Kisses from Kazan" and "Waitin' for the Upturn"
- Anne Stephenson – violin on "The Twilight Hour"
- Frank Want – sticks on "Giant"
- Wix – accordion on "This Is the Day"
Artwork
- Andy Johnson – artwork
- Fiona Skinner – typography
Notes
Released: 21 October 1983
Recorded: 1982–1983 Studio Mediasound (New York City) / The Garden (London) / Advision (London) / SARM (London)
Genre: Pop, post-punk, synth-pop
Length: 47:34
Producer(s): Paul Hardiman, Matt Johnson
Label - Some Bizzare / Epic
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