Soul Mining
	Produced by Paul Hardiman and Matt Johnson
	Released on October 1983
	UK CHART POSITION #27
	Find it at GEMM
BFE 39266 cover [high resolution photo]

T his is the record that contains This Is The Day. It also contains Perfect, Uncertain Smile and Soul Mining. Melody Maker liked it so much, they called it the third best record of 1984. Melody Maker should have listened to more albums in 1984. Soul Mining is somewhere between Howard Jones and Shriekback: smart synthesizer pop with a dark streak. I give Matt Johnson a lot of credit for making an album this good by himself, but I’m not ready to credit him with making one of the best albums of any part of the ‘80s. “This Is The Day” and the second half of “Soul Mining” are brilliant, but that still leaves six and a half songs on Soul Mining that aren’t. Johnson seems to brood over each album, which means his music is meticulous as DIY synthesizer albums go but seldom spontaneous or fun. And there are so many songwriters influenced by David Bowie who have gone down the electronic path that The The isn’t th-that special. Take “This Is The Day” out of the equation, and Soul Mining isn’t so much better than Human’s Lib. That the song was used to peddle Dockers pants shows that its appeal is shallow (and to the agency hack who came up with that idea: hope you enjoy being a dung beetle in your next life). I like Soul Mining; it’s got a gothic/Bauhaus vibe that makes it much cooler to listen to than Howard Jones. But The The has never been a big part of my diet, given that Johnson releases new works infrequently. Critics seem to love him, but what do critics know?

BFE 39266 back cover

TRACK LISTING

1. I'VE BEEN WAITIN' FOR TOMORROW (ALL OF MY LIFE)    5:44
2. THIS IS THE DAY    4:54
3. THE SINKING FEELING    3:41
4. UNCERTAIN SMILE    6:54
5. THE TWILIGHT HOUR    5:56
6. SOUL MINING    4:40
7. GIANT    9:36
8. PERFECT    5:37
   
   Bonus EP tracks
   
9. PERFECT
10. SOUP OF MIXED EMOTIONS
11. FRUIT OF THE HEART
    
    Words and music by Matt Johnson

CREDITS

MATT JOHNSON --
Paul Hardiman -- engineer

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