release date: Oct. 21, 1983
format: cd (1989 reissue)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,86]
producer: Paul Hardiman and Matt Johnson
label: Some Bizzare / Epic Records - nationality: England, UK
Track highlights: 1. "I've Been Waitin' for Tomorrow (All of My Life)" - 2. "This Is the Day" (5 / 5) - 4. "Uncertain Smile" (4 / 5) (live on Jools Holland) - 5. "The Twilight Hour" - 6. "Soul Mining" (4 / 5) - 7. "GIANT" - *8. "Perfect" (Bonus track)
*included on the 1984 US release and on the '86 cd issue, but the track is left out on the 2002 remaster. The track was released as a single Feb. 1983 and is also included on the '83 cassette issue.
Actual studio album debut under the name of The The and also Matt Johnson's first with new label Some Bizzare. With this songwriter, main composer, lead vocalist and primary instrumentalist Matt Johnson has gathered up with various musicians to record music under the name of The The. The album follows two years after his solo album Burning Blue Soul (Aug. 1981 - from '93 reissued under the name of The The), and it's clear that Johnson has taken a decision to make more harmony-driven music, basically leaving behind the psychedelic style and instead produced his own sound based on new wave and art rock artists associated with post-punk. Actually, Johnson had already written what was to be the follow-up to his solo debut one year earlier, but as he was about to record the album - which came by the title of The Pornography of Despair, Johnson simply went missing on an impulsive road trip together with Some Bizzare founder Stevo Pearce, and the whole album was practically shelved and remains unreleased [some of the tracks from the unreleased album were apparently re-written / re-shaped into songs on Soul Mining].
Soul Mining is a great and highly original album sitting somewhere in between established genres and styles. Johnson alledgedly spent much time in setting up the order of tracks and deciding that "GIANT" should end the album, which was like a long journey coming to its climax [as stated in his biography "Long Shadows, High Hopes" by Neil Fraser, 2018]. According to his girlfriend Fiona Skinner, Johnson is said to have been more than just a little confused when he picked up a US cassette of the original album, which had the bonus track "Perfect" to end the album.
This was my first acquisition with The The and for a long time it remained my favourite by Matt Johnson. I do however think, his very best studio album is the successor Infected (1986) but together with this, they're both very fine albums and I often find it difficult to decide which one I've played most frequently. This is undoubtedly his cleanest pop-shaped album, and I really think the title fits very well, as it obviously has a founding pop soul element. None of his albums are record breaking chart busters but his music has always been praised by other musicians and critics.
Soul Mining is enlisted in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die". The cover art is made by 'Andy Dog', pseudonym for Andrew Johnson, Matt's older brother, who has made the front (and back) covers on most of the releases by The The. In North America, the 'spliff' smoking woman was exhanged with the 'screaming man' art work by Andy Dog.
[ Record Mirror, Smash Hits 4 / 5, Rolling Stone 3 / 5, Sounds 5 / 5 stars ]
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| Portuguese and North American cover 1984 | 2002 remaster |
