Customer Reviews

Soul Mining

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

i would recommend this cd to anyone, but be warned... the title could not be more fitting. this is not background music; it requires involvement, and preferably a dark and lonely outlook (at least for about 40 minutes). there are bands out there that convey their anger, frustration, loneliness, and hopelessness through loud, obnoxious guitars and/or screaming, scratching, and wailing vocals. not matt johnson. he scrapes the bottom of his soul (and yours) with the most simple soundscapes and understated, biting lyrics. if this music were accompanied by any one else's voice the meaning would be lost. the utter purity of emotions revealed here is staggering, and it's matt johnson's hushed and anguished voice that conveys them more effectively than anyone in pop music since. (think nin's pretty hate machine stripped to the core, and ten times more neurotic) this is the naked essence of electronic pop music. nothing johnson released subsequently stands up to this classic, but some come close. listen to it, and do so more than once.

incidentally, i have read that this was the first album to be based completely on loops and synthesizers, so it has historical value as well..

I don't remember when I heard "This Is The Day" or "Uncertain Smile" for the first time... but there are 2 things I'm certain of these days: from then on I became a devoted admirer of Matt Johnson's music and, secondly, the passion for those 2 songs has remained unhurt since then - and that's probably the attribute I distinguish most in this band: as they say about good wine, The The's music sounds even better with the passing of the years.
That uncommon magnetism for those 2 epics motivated me to purchase "Soul Mining" back in the mid 90's - as soon as I was aged for doing so. From then on, it became gradually the album I enjoy the most from all the ones I have. "Soul Mining" perfectly combines Matt Johnson's amazing song-writing abilities ("How can anyone know me when I don't even know myself" - gosh, this line is simply brilliant!!) with a universe of sounds and rhythms totally adapted to his voice and lyrics. "I've Been Waitin' for Tomorrow (All of My Life)" or "Sinking Feeling" are probably the 2 finest illustrations of this unique mixture on this album. As for my feelings about "GIANT"... there's no need to say anything - the title speaks for itself!
Although my favourite The The's song is not in here - "Out of the Blue (Into the Fire)", I've always regarded "Soul Mining" as The The's finest masterpiece and it's no surprise to see it as a best-ever album for so many people.

I can no longer recall how I stumbled upon this gem back in the mid 80s, but it was my first exposure to Matt Johnson AKA the The. Since then, I've acquired just about everything he's done. I just recently heard "this is the day" again, appropriately on a beautiful sunny day on the ski slopes, and realized I'd never bought this CD in spite of the LP sitting in my LP collection for the last 20 years and only occasionally seeing the light of the turntable. This is truly the The's masterpiece. On the surface, it's got a danceable beat through most of the album, but make no mistake, Matt Johnson probes and confronts every aspect of the Jungian shadow with incisive lyrics and genre bending musical influences. Guitars sound like synths and synths like guitars. The real beauty of this album is that it can be played as background music, or, if you dare, intimate, personal mind exploring journeys.

As the 80's drift further away into the dark recesses of public memory, it is albums like this -- Matt Johnson's debut album as The The -- that should be heralded as classics and benchmarks of brilliant songwriting and musicianship. It is a testament to some of the pure genius and creativity that arose out of the New Wave movement. There was nothing else that sounded like this album back in 1984, and it comes as no surprise that -- despite modest use of synths and dance beats -- this albums still sounds incredibly fresh. Each song is an introspective, soul baring examination of not only Matt Johnson's own life but everyman's life. Johnson's lyrics are vivid and often explicit, his vocals raw and aching. While the singles "I've Been Waitin' for Tomorrow", "This Is the Day" and "Uncertain Smile" (featuring a jaw-dropping piano solo by Jools Holland), others like "Soul Mining" and "Giant" are not to be missed. I still feel that Matt Johnson hasn't since matched the sheer intensity of this album, but I'm glad to see that he is still pushing forward, forever refusing to compromise his art.

I'll never forget the mental girlfriend who introduced me to Matt Johnson and The The back in the eighties and, like Matt's work, she has popped up again and again during the interceding years, seemly at the most opportune moments in my life, reminding me that life is sometimes good, sometimes bad but always continues to move on.
Matt's work has grown and improved over the years but this is, for me, his best work and has the unique ability to immediately bring back to mind a person I once was with complete clarity.
If you've never heard of Matt Johnson or The The, then you're missing out on possibly the finest one of the few remaining true musical artists alive.

Like the rest of the folks here, heard it in 1984, never forgot "Perfect" (ditto about NOT having the EPs of these songs released by the record industry - for shame), especially the EP of it. Sublime - "This town ain't getting like a ghost town - it's getting like hell" sure about summed up Buffalo, NY for me at the time. And that sneaky, Kraftwerk like chord that bursts through to end "Giant", which is the basic musical "theme" of the album. Had some rough times in the years when I first listened to this. Last year was the worst, and now that I am 32, I understood Matt Johnson's lyrics moreso now than I did then - "Another year older and what have I done? My aspirations have been shrivled by the sun...I've been filled with useless information spewed forth by papers and radio stations..." Matt will NEVER outdo this! Definately a "DID"!

Nevermind the "verse-chorus-verse" of today's grunge angst. "Soul Mining" paints a vivid and intoxicating musical portrait that hasn't been matched in a decade. You feel like someone has just spilled his guts all over you. This album is best played in very dark room with a good stiff drink, as it commands all your attention.

As a side note: I'm a bigger fan of the lp's remixes. The (now rare) 12" vinyl versions of "This Is The Day" and "Uncertain Smile" are more polished than the album's counterparts. Too bad they can't issue a CD compilation of remixes, so I can lay my scratchy vinyl to rest.

Since the day it came out, I've never stopped listening to this record. The incredible songwriting, the depth of feeling, the sheer exuberance and imagination, are incomparable. In my twenties, I related to the frustration and despair Matt Johnson sings about -- in my thirties, I appreciate the dry wit, and the ultimate hopefulness and acceptance which the album embraces in the end. Musically, it's a wild ride, from Jools Holland's uncredited piano flameout on "Uncertain Smile" to the quiet reflection of "Soul Mining" and the killer percussive attack of "Giant." This album is close to my heart indeed. If I could have only one record to listen to for the rest of my life, this would be it.

I bought this album in 1984 and listened to it just about every day for the next 12 years (at which time the particular form of desperation afflicting me became more aptly described by Springsteen. e.g. "Mr. I ain't a boy. No I'm a man. And I believe in a Promise Land."). If I could've put down on paper what was running through my head in my early to mid 20's, I would've written these songs. Fortunately Matt Johnson saved me the trouble (e.g.,"how can anybody know me when I don't even know myself?") Lines like, "She's cutting chunks from your heart, and rubbing the meat into your eyes," pretty much described the relationship with my psycho girlfriend back in the late '80's. This is one of my Top 2 favorite albums.

15 years since I've heard this and I can still feel it in my veins. Dark and brooding?Maybe...But I listening to this I'm still 17 driving along with the windows open with Uncertain Smile blaring as I smoked a Camel and didn't have a care in the world..or was it all the cares of the world rolled into one???? A masterpiece...Not many pieces from the 80's have lasting impact..this is maybe one of 3 recordings from that decade I'd bother with.