519. The The - Soul Mining (1983)
















Track Listing

1. I've been waiting for tomorrow (all my life)
2. This is the day
3. The sinking feeling
4. Uncertain smile
5. The twilight hour
6. Soul mining
7. GIANT

Review

Well, this is a great album, it sounds very ahead of its time for 1983, although it doesn't really sound that fresh today, because there have been so many bands who have taken pointers from this.

If you can think of the spate of Techno/Jazz or even Acid-Jazz albums of the mid to late 90's, you can see what this led to, even if this album is more related to the New Wave sound of the early 80's, the dance, jazz and experimental elements are strong enough for it to be an early precursor. This is a pretty nifty album, and it is not just the music that is good or original, the lyrics are particularly good, reflecting the disappointment among some people in the Thatcherite years in Britain.

I was not familiar with The The before this, I had heard of them (he really, as Matt Johnson is the only consistent member of the group), but I hadn't heard them, and it was a pleasant surprise. Looking forward to the next The The album on the list.

Track Highlights

1. The Sinking Feeling
2. Uncertain Smile
3. GIANT
4. This Is The Day

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

There are four different versions of the album in existence. Johnson originally intended the album to finish with Giant, but EPIC insisted that 7 songs were too few and a rerecorded version of "Perfect" was added, much to Johnson's annoyance. The vinyl, CD and cassette versions contained "Perfect". The cassette version also included the 5 extra tracks listed below. For the 20th anniversary of Soul Mining, the album was digitally remastered without "Perfect", as Johnson had originally intended.

The Sinking Feeling: