''Soul Mining'' is the debut album by British
post-punk
Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...
/
synth-pop
Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s ...
band
(the 1981 album ''
Burning Blue Soul'' was originally released by the band's frontman
Matt Johnson as a solo album, but later reissues credited it to ). After a bidding war between major record labels which resulted in the group signing with
CBS Records CBS Records may refer to:
* CBS Records or CBS/Sony, former name of Sony Music, a global record company
* CBS Records International, label for Columbia Records recordings released outside North America from 1962 to 1990
* CBS Records (2006), founde ...
, Johnson began recording the album in New York City, but the initial recording sessions were aborted after the album's first two singles and Johnson returned to London where he wrote and recorded the rest of the record. Musically, ''Soul Mining'' is a
post-punk
Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...
and
synth-pop
Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s ...
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.
''Soul Mining'' was released in the United Kingdom on 21 October 1983 on
Some Bizzare Records
Some Bizzare Records was a British independent record label owned by Stevo Pearce. The label was founded in 1981, with the release of '' Some Bizzare Album'', a compilation of unsigned bands including Depeche Mode, Soft Cell, the The, Neu E ...
/
Epic Records
Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America
Sony Corporation of America (SONAM, also known as SCA), is the American arm of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group ...
and included versions of the singles "Uncertain Smile", "Perfect", and "
This Is the Day". Although the album received positive reviews, its initial sales were modest, reaching number 27 in the UK and charting in a number of other countries, but in 2019 the album was certified gold in the UK. ''Soul Mining'' was reissued in June 2014 as a two-disc 30th anniversary deluxe version on vinyl, attracting retrospective reviews which universally praised the record, with critics describing it as both Johnson's best work and one of the best albums of the 1980s.
Background and initial New York recording sessions
Following the release of ''Burning Blue Soul'' (1981) Johnson had started work on a follow-up, provisionally titled ''The Pornography of Despair''. Although ''Burning Blue Soul'' had been released on the
4AD record label, had also released a one-off single, "Cold Spell Ahead", in 1981 on the
Some Bizarre label run by
Stevo, and major record labels were expressing interest in Some Bizarre's acts following the worldwide success of
Soft Cell
Soft Cell are an English synthpop duo who came to prominence in the early 1980s. The duo consists of vocalist Marc Almond and instrumentalist David Ball. The band are primarily known for their 1981 hit version of "Tainted Love" and their plat ...
.
Johnson and Stevo decided that the best way to achieve commercial success was to record a new version of "Cold Spell Ahead". Stevo verbally agreed a singles deal with
London Records
London Recordings (or London Records and London Music Stream) is a British record label that marketed records in the United States, Canada, and Latin America for Decca Records from 1947 to 1980 before becoming semi-independent. The London nam ...
, and in May 1982 the label sent Johnson to New York to record the new version of the song, now retitled "Uncertain Smile", with Soft Cell's producer
Mike Thorne
Mike Thorne (born 25 January 1948) is an English record producer, arranger, composer, engineer, and musician. He started playing the piano at the age of 10. After studying physics at Hertford College, Oxford, in the late 1960s he worked as a ta ...
at Media Sound studios. The song followed Johnson's original
demo
Demo, usually short for demonstration, may refer to:
Music and film
*Demo (music), a song typically recorded for reference rather than release
* ''Demo'' (Behind Crimson Eyes), a 2004 recording by the band Behind Crimson Eyes
* ''Demo'' (Deafhea ...
, with a
Roland 808
The Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer, commonly known as the 808, is a drum machine manufactured by the Roland Corporation between 1980 and 1983. It was one of the first drum machines to allow users to program rhythms instead of using preset patt ...
providing the drumbeat and Johnson and Thorne playing guitars, bass and synthesizers. While in New York, Johnson visited
Manny's Music
Manny's Music was an American music instrument store in New York City on Music Row (West 48th Street, between 6th and 7th Avenues), Midtown Manhattan, where musicians from beginner to professional could buy their instruments and meet each other. ...
store on West 48th Street, and was fascinated by a toy xylimba that he saw there. He bought the instrument and returned to the studio with it, using it to create an
intro
Introduction, The Introduction, Intro, or The Intro may refer to:
General use
* Introduction (music), an opening section of a piece of music
* Introduction (writing), a beginning section to a book, article or essay which states its purpose and ...
for "Uncertain Smile". On the recommendation of a friend Thorne also brought in Crispin Cioe of the Uptown Horns to play flute and alto saxophone on the record.
When Stevo took the finished song back to London he reneged on his verbal agreement with London Records and initiated a bidding war, eventually won by
CBS Records CBS Records may refer to:
* CBS Records or CBS/Sony, former name of Sony Music, a global record company
* CBS Records International, label for Columbia Records recordings released outside North America from 1962 to 1990
* CBS Records (2006), founde ...
, and were signed to CBS's
Epic imprint. The single became 's first release on Epic, released in October 1982 and reaching number 68 on the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
.
Thorne was unhappy at the underhand way in which the deal had been conducted.
Johnson and Stevo returned to New York in October 1982 to record a second song with Thorne. The track was "Perfect", which was a reworked version of a song written for ''The Pornography of Despair'' and originally titled "Screw Up Your Feelings".
Johnson wanted a harmonica on the record, and Thorne suggested his friend
David Johansen
David Roger Johansen (sometimes spelled ''David Jo Hansen''; born January 9, 1950) is an American singer, songwriter and actor. He is best known as a member of the seminal proto-punk band the New York Dolls. He is also known for his work under ...
of the
New York Dolls
New York Dolls were an American rock band formed in New York City in 1971. Along with the Velvet Underground and the Stooges, they were one of the first bands of the early punk rock scenes. Although the band never achieved much commercial succe ...
. However, the second session at MediaSound did not go as smoothly as the first one had. In the intervening period Johnson had gone from being unemployed to receiving a rumoured £80,000 advance from CBS.
With his new-found wealth Johnson was keen to experience what New York had to offer, disappearing from the studio to explore the Lower East Side and take drugs, which left him in an unfit state to record. Johnson and Stevo also decided to make a road trip to Detroit, with Johnson saying that he had felt compelled to visit the city during the recording of "Perfect" because he felt he was being inauthentic singing the song's lyrics about down-and-outs unless he had experienced it personally, and that "although I hadn't lived there, I knew that I'd seen more than virtually any of the other bands in the charts so I had no reason to feel bad about it".
The relationship between Thorne and the visitors deteriorated as a result of Johnson and Stevo's actions, and disagreements over the songs' production. Thorne wanted to use his new
Synclavier
The Synclavier is an early digital synthesizer, polyphonic digital sampling system, and music workstation manufactured by New England Digital Corporation of Norwich, Vermont. It was produced in various forms from the late 1970s into the early 1 ...
unit, but Johnson preferred the sounds of his far cheaper
Omnichord
The Omnichord is an electronic musical instrument introduced in 1981 by the Suzuki Musical Instrument Corporation. It typically features a touch plate known as "Sonic Strings", preset rhythms, auto-bass line functionality, and buttons for ma ...
. Eventually a mutual decision was made to abandon the recordings, and Johnson returned to London in November.
The original New York-produced 7" single versions of "Uncertain Smile" and "Perfect" were included on 's greatest hits album ''
45 RPM: The Singles of The The'' in 2002, while the two 12" versions were included on the second disc of the 30th anniversary reissue of ''Soul Mining'' in 2014.
Composition and themes
Having returned to London with only two songs, CBS asked Johnson if he had any other material that could be used. In response, Johnson began to re-record his unfinished album ''The Pornography of Despair'', but he was not happy with the new versions of the songs, feeling that they lacked impact. He abandoned the album entirely, and decided to write a new album from scratch instead, with "The Sinking Feeling" being the only song retained from ''The Pornography of Despair''.
The rest of the songs for ''Soul Mining'' were written during 1983, either in Johnson's
bedsit in
Highbury
Highbury is a district in North London and part of the London Borough of Islington
in Greater London that was owned by Ranulf brother of Ilger and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Roads.
The manor house was situ ...
or in the flat of his girlfriend Fiona Skinner, in Braithwaite House in
Finsbury
Finsbury is a district of Central London, forming the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Islington. It borders the City of London.
The Manor of Finsbury is first recorded as ''Vinisbir'' (1231) and means "manor of a man called Finn ...
. Johnson's preferred method of writing was lying on the floor with a pencil and notepad, spending hours writing and rewriting the songs, and his demos were recorded using a guitar, drum machine, synthesizers and a
Portastudio
The TASCAM Portastudio was the first four-track recorder based on a standard compact audio cassette tape. The term ''portastudio'' is exclusive to TASCAM, though it is generally used to describe all self-contained cassette-based multitrack rec ...
that Johnson had bought.
Although Johnson had learnt how to create tape loops and overdub tracks during his job as a tape operator at De Woolf studios when he was a teenager, he did not have a sequencer, so he would play the lines for each instrument over and over – for the longer tracks like "I've Been Waiting for Tomorrow (All of My Life)" and "Giant", this could mean playing for up to ten minutes at a time.
In an interview with ''
Melody Maker
''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...
'' in May 1983, five months before the album's release, Johnson shared fragments of the lyrics that he was working on, and said that many of them were based on mental images and states of mind. He explained one image, "I'm floating into harbour in a soggy cardboard box", saying, "I've always had this weird thing about the sea, incredibly deep and cold". He also quoted another lyric in progress: "The sun is high and I've been out on the verandah sitting in life's proverbial rocking chair, blanket over my knees", and then explained that "I've always had these images on my mind, very strange dreams. The idea of a clear blue sky, a ''massive'' sky in the desert with this little American hut, a verandah, a guy in a rocking chair watching planes flying across the sky, philosophising about his past life". However, he stated that another line, "I'm in the corner of an overgrown garden, head between my knees, trying not too breathe too loudly" (an early version of the opening lines from "I've Been Waitin' for Tomorrow") was based on a real incident from his childhood, when he had broken into a house – when the police arrived, he had fled into the garden and hidden in a chicken hut.
In interviews for the 2014 reissue Johnson stated that some of the earlier songs such as "Uncertain Smile" and "The Twilight Hour" had the theme of "unrequited love", although as he had fallen in love with Skinner while writing the album, the later songs explored other themes. "I've Been Waitin' for Tomorrow (All of My Life)" was about the cognitive dissonance and confusion created by media propaganda. He rejected his reputation for writing depressing lyrics, saying that they were "supposed to be uplifting, but thoughtful. A poignant reflection."
Recording
Following their return to London from New York, Stevo recommended that Johnson should contact Thorne's former engineer
Paul Hardiman
Paul Hardiman is a British record producer. He worked with Lloyd Cole and the Commotions (on their debut ''Rattlesnakes'') and Lloyd Cole's solo career. His other production credits include Chris de Burgh's most commercially successful albums '' ...
to act as his new producer. Hardiman's first job for Johnson was to remix "Perfect" for release as a single, keeping only Johansen's harmonica from the original New York recording. The remix was done on Christmas Eve 1982, which Hardiman recalled had caused some friction with his wife. The remixed version of "Perfect" was released as a single on 11 February 1983, reaching number 79 in the UK.
While the songs for the album were being written, Johnson and Hardiman set about looking for a recording studio in London. Although the only two studios credited in the liner notes for ''Soul Mining'' are Advision and Sarm, Johnson has since stated in several interviews that the majority of the album was recorded at the Garden studio in
Shoreditch
Shoreditch is a district in the East End of London in England, and forms the southern part of the London Borough of Hackney. Neighbouring parts of Tower Hamlets are also perceived as part of the area.
In the 16th century, Shoreditch was an impor ...
, east London.
Throughout May 1983 held a weekly residence of concerts at
the Marquee
The Marquee Club was a music venue first located at 165 Oxford Street in London, when it opened in 1958 with a range of jazz and skiffle acts. Its most famous period was from 1964 to 1988 at 90 Wardour Street in Soho, and it finally closed whe ...
club in central London, featuring many of Johnson's musician friends from the British post-punk scene. Johnson used these concerts to decide which musicians he wanted to contribute to the forthcoming album. These included
Orange Juice
Orange juice is a liquid extract of the orange (fruit), orange tree fruit, produced by squeezing or reaming oranges. It comes in several different varieties, including blood orange, navel oranges, valencia orange, clementine, and tangerine. A ...
drummer
Zeke Manyika
Zeke Manyika (born 23 February 1955 Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland) is a drummer, vocalist and songwriter.
Career
Manyika was born in Zimbabwe, but has lived in Britain for most of his life. From 1982 to 1984 he was a member of the pop gro ...
, do-it-yourself synthesizer pioneer
Thomas Leer
Thomas Leer (born Thomas Wishart, 1953, Port Glasgow, Scotland) is a Scottish musician. He has released a number of albums and singles as a solo artist, and was also one half (the other being Claudia Brücken) of the 1980s electropop band Act (ba ...
, and the experimental Australian musician
Jim Thirlwell
James George Thirlwell (born 29 January 1960), also known as Clint Ruin, Frank Want, and Foetus, among other names, is an Australian musician, composer, and record producer. He is known for juxtaposing a variety of different musical styles.
...
, credited on the album as one of his early
alias
Alias may refer to:
* Pseudonym
* Pen name
* Nickname
Arts and entertainment Film and television
* ''Alias'' (2013 film), a 2013 Canadian documentary film
* ''Alias'' (TV series), an American action thriller series 2001–2006
* ''Alias the ...
es "Frank Want", and who would go on to achieve some degree of recognition recording under the name
Foetus
A fetus or foetus (; plural fetuses, feti, foetuses, or foeti) is the unborn offspring that develops from an animal embryo. Following embryonic development the fetal stage of development takes place. In human prenatal development, fetal develo ...
.
"Uncertain Smile" was re-recorded for the album, keeping the xylimba intro but replacing Crispin Cioe's saxophone solo with a lengthy piano solo by
Jools Holland
Julian Miles Holland, (born 24 January 1958) is an English pianist, bandleader, singer, composer and television presenter. He was an original member of the band Squeeze and has worked with many artists including Jayne County, Sting, Eric C ...
. The idea to include a piano solo resulted from the Garden studio having a Yamaha C3 baby grand piano, and it was suggested to Johnson that Holland would be a good choice to play it. Johnson recalled that Holland had turned up on a hot summer's day in full motorbike leathers, listened to a couple of minutes of the song as a run-through, and then played his solo in one take, with a second drop-in afterwards.
In his 2007 autobiography ''Barefaced Lies and Boogie-Woogie Boasts'' Holland recounted that when he first listened to the track he had expected to hear his contribution used as an instrumental break in the middle of the song, only to discover that Johnson had edited together the two solos and used them as the song's
outro instead.
Artwork
As with many of 's early albums and singles, the original cover artwork was created by Matt Johnson's brother
Andrew
Andrew is the English form of a given name common in many countries. In the 1990s, it was among the top ten most popular names given to boys in List of countries where English is an official language, English-speaking countries. "Andrew" is freq ...
, aka "Andy Dog". The UK album cover featured a painting of one of the wives of
Fela Kuti
Fela Aníkúlápó Kuti (born Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti; 15 October 1938 – 2 August 1997), also known as Abami Eda, was a Nigerian musician, bandleader, composer, political activist, and Pan-Africanist. He is regarded as the p ...
smoking a joint, adapted from a photograph Andy had seen in ''
The Face
The face is a part of the body, the front of the head.
Face may also refer to:
Film
* ''The Magician'' (1958 film) or ''The Face''
* ''The Face'' (1996 film), an American television film
* ''Face'' (1997 film), a British crime drama by Antonia ...
''.
Johnson liked the painting, feeling that its colours and African connections fitted with ''Soul Mining''s musical style, and insisted on using it for the album cover, despite Andy's reservations about its suitability.
Andy had made a second painting featuring Johnson's head in profile and apparently screaming while being attacked by hammers, which was used for the cover of the US release. In a 2014 interview with ''Electronic Sound'' Johnson stated that his brother had been correct, and it would have been better to have used the second painting for the cover of the album in all territories.
The 2002 remastered CD reissue replaced the original cover art with an early photograph of Matt Johnson.
Graphic designer Fiona Skinner, who had become Johnson's girlfriend in 1982, created the bespoke typeface used on ''Soul Mining''.
The album and the single "This Is the Day" marked the first appearance of the band's logo, which also used Skinner's font, and which would be used on the majority of 's subsequent releases.
Release and promotion
"This Is the Day" was released ahead of the album as a single on 2 September 1983, but like the previous singles, it performed poorly in the UK, peaking at number 71.
''Soul Mining'' was released on 21 October 1983. The album was released with several different track listings, depending on the format and the territory. In the UK and Europe the album had seven tracks and ended with "Giant", as Johnson had intended. Early pressings of the original UK vinyl album included a free 12" single of an extended remix of "Perfect", with "Fruit of the Heart" and "Soup of Mixed Emotions" as the B-sides (catalogue number XPR 1250). However, in the US a record company executive decided that seven songs was not enough for a full album, and a re-recorded version of "Perfect" was added to the US version of ''Soul Mining'', as well as some versions of the Canadian release, much to Johnson's annoyance. This extra track was also included on the album when it was first released on CD in June 1987, in both the UK and the US. In Australia and New Zealand, the album contained nine tracks, with "Fruit of the Heart" closing side one and "Perfect" at the end of side two. It was not until 's early albums were remastered and reissued in 2002 that Johnson finally succeeded in having ''Soul Mining'' reissued without "Perfect", as originally intended.
The US cassette version also included extended mixes of "I've Been Waitin' for Tomorrow (All of My Life)" and "This Is the Day" added on to the end of each side of the cassette. The UK cassette version contained the original seven-track album on side one, and "Perfect" and five other extra tracks on side two, which had originally been recorded for ''The Pornography of Despair''. "Three Orange Kisses from Kazan" and "Waitin' for the Upturn" were released as B-sides on the "Uncertain Smile" single, "Mental Healing Process" was on the B-side of "This Is the Day", and a version of "The Nature of Virtue" appeared on the B-side of "Perfect". "Fruit of the Heart" was an instrumental track. To date these five songs have never appeared anywhere on CD.
The 2014 2-LP "30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition" boxset of ''Soul Mining'' includes an authentic vinyl reproduction of the 1983 release, with audio remastered in 2013 (overseen by Matt Johnson at Abbey Road Studios), and is expanded with a second vinyl containing alternate versions, 12"'s and remixes, intended to complete a "purist album experience".
Critical reception
The album was well received on its release. Don Watson of ''
NME
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
'' said, "In days when the pop song has been reduced to the reiteration of catch-phrases, Matt Johnson flexes a rare literary flair. More importantly he has the command of music's immense possibilities to carry them through without self-indulgence. Ignore this LP if you must, but you'll be ignoring one of the year's rare heart-stopping moments." In ''Melody Maker'' Steve Sutherland said, "As you return to ''Soul Mining'' again and again, there will be times when you discover it was the last thing you really wanted to do. It will sound mawkish, almost absurd, like a voice crying wolf over and over ... Then again, there'll be times when it will sound obscenely close to the bone, as if
ohnsonwere invading and defiling your most private thoughts and emotions ... In other words, you'll use ''Soul Mining'' as a barometer to your day and if that's the principal function of great pop, then surely ''Soul Mining'' is great pop." Dave Henderson of ''
Sounds
In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid.
In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...
'' called the album "a classic slice of everyman's everyday music, ready made for the radio, the dancefloor and those thoughtful interludes late at night".
In ''
Record Mirror
''Record Mirror'' was a British weekly music newspaper between 1954 and 1991 for pop fans and record collectors. Launched two years after the ''NME'', it never attained the circulation of its rival. The first UK album chart was published in ''Re ...
'' Jim Reid wrote that Johnson was "not always able to find a soundtrack to complement his lyrical angst" but that "if ''Soul Mining'' is not the complete Matt Johnson it is an intriguing first taste".
In the US,
Kurt Loder
Kurtis Loder (born May 5, 1945) is an American entertainment critic, author, columnist, and television personality. He served in the 1980s as editor at ''Rolling Stone'', during a tenure that ''Reason'' later called "legendary". He has contribute ...
of ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' praised Johnson's "sense of structure and his unerring ear for sonic definition" and highlighted "Uncertain Smile" and the "entirely gorgeous piano solo by the exceptionally talented Holland", but had reservations about the "obsessively self-absorbed lyrics... Youthful ''angst'' and anomie are fine in their place, but not all over the place." However, Loder concluded, "Johnson creates pop music with an agreeably individual stamp: In the current sea of
synth-pop
Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s ...
sludge, ''Soul Mining'' stands out".
The release of the 30th anniversary deluxe edition in 2014 received universal praise from music critics. Michael Bonner of ''
Uncut
Uncut may refer to:
* ''Uncut'' (film), a 1997 Canadian docudrama film by John Greyson about censorship
* ''Uncut'' (magazine), a monthly British magazine with a focus on music, which began publishing in May 1997
* '' BET: Uncut'', a Black Enter ...
'' described the record as a "masterpiece" and said, "Released in the interzone between
post-punk
Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...
and synth pop, and reflecting both, ''Soul Mining'' thrums with ideas, tension and dread. Johnson's enduring lyrical concerns – social alienation, political disillusionment and troubles of the heart – are all present and correct, but unlike the industrial/psychedelic adventuring of ''Burning Blue Soul'', they are here given a glossier sheen... Certainly, for an album of heavy themes, ''Soul Mining'' is musically surprisingly light." He concluded, "''Soul Mining'' is arguably Johnson's defining work: ambitious, strange, exciting. And, 30-odd years on, remarkably fresh."
In ''
Q''
Peter Paphides
Peter Paphides (born 1969 as Panayiotakis Paphides or Panayiotis Paphides) is a British journalist and broadcaster.
Early life
Paphides was born in Birmingham to a Greek Cypriot father, Chris, and a Greek mother, Victoria. He has an elder broth ...
described the album as being "like one long distress signal from someone being held against their will inside a
Sartre
Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism (and phenomenology), a French playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and litera ...
novel". He stated, "The years might not have been quite so kind to ''Soul Mining'' were it not for the inspired guest performances that Johnson teased out of his collaborators", singling out Holland's piano solo as "a high point on an album full of them".
Alexis Petridis
Alexis Petridis ( el, Αλέξης Πετρίδης; born 13 September 1971) is a British journalist, head rock and pop critic for the UK newspaper ''The Guardian'', as well as a regular contributor to the magazine '' GQ''. In addition to his mus ...
of ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' also noted Holland's "genuinely astonishing performance" and said, "The lyrics contained the occasional hint of histrionic gaucheness – 'the cancer of love has eaten out my heart' seems a pretty melodramatic way to say you got dumped – but more often they're strikingly precocious: 'Uncertain Smile's brilliant drawing of a confused relationship, 'The Twilight Hour's painfully accurate depiction of self-obsession... More striking still is the ease with which Johnson marshals a kaleidoscopic array of musical influences into something coherent and unique. Quite aside from Holland's boogie-woogie piano, over the course of ''Soul Mining''s seven tracks, you variously hear folk fiddles and accordion, the popping basslines of contemporary funk, punishing industrial beats, electronics derived from New York's then current club music... But ''Soul Mining'' never sounds disjointed, never feels like an exercise in smart-alec showboating: Johnson's songwriting holds its disparate elements tightly together." He concluded, "''Soul Mining'' is a brilliant and very idiosyncratic album. Maybe that's why it's never really cited as an influence these days: you can't hope to mimic something this personal and unique."
Legacy and accolades
''Melody Maker'' placed ''Soul Mining'' at number three in its critics' list of the best albums of 1983 and the ''NME'' placed it at number 25 in its own list the same year. In 1989 ''Record Mirror'' and ''Sounds'' both included the album in their critics' lists of the albums of the decade, ''Record Mirror'' ranking it at number eight and ''Sounds'' ranking it at number 24.
Reviewing the remastered reissue in 2002, ''
PopMatters
''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...
'' said, "It may not make the list of best records of the '80s, but it's damn close, and would definitely stir some intense debate over its inclusion." A supplement entitled "80 from the 80s" in the August 2007 issue of ''
Mojo
Mojo may refer to:
* Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in voodoo
Arts, entertainment and media Film and television
* MOJO HD, an American television network
* ''Mojo'' (play), by Jez Butterworth, made into a 1997 film
* ' ...
'' included ''Soul Mining'' as one of only four albums from 1983 to make its list of the 80 best albums of that decade, and three months later in November 2007 ''The Guardian'' included ''Soul Mining'' in its list of ''1000 Albums to Hear Before You Die'', where it stated that Johnson's "artful pop ... hides an underlying menace at odds with the chart-toppers of the time".
The album was also included in the books ''
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die
''1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die'' is a musical reference book first published in 2005 by Universe Publishing. Part of the ''1001 Before You Die'' series, it compiles writings and information on albums chosen by a panel of music critics ...
'' and ''Fear of Music: The Greatest 261 Albums Since Punk and Disco'' by journalist Garry Mulholland, who described it as "a hidden masterpiece".
Track listing
All songs written and composed by Matt Johnson.
Vinyl LP
Side one
# "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
# "Fruit of the Heart"
(Australia and New Zealand releases only) – 1:57
Side two
# "The Twilight Hour" – 5:58
# "Soul Mining" – 4:50
# "Giant" – 9:36
# "Perfect"
(Australia, New Zealand, Canada and US releases) – 5:36
UK and Europe cassette
Side one
# "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
Side two
# "Perfect" – 5:36
# "Three Orange Kisses from Kazan" – 4:27
# "The Nature of Virtue" – 5:50
# "Mental Healing Process" – 3:45
# "Waitin' for the Upturn" – 4:30
# "Fruit of the Heart" – 1:57
US and Canada cassette
Side one
# "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
# "I've Been Waitin' for Tomorrow (All of My Life)"
pecial Mix– 7:36
Side two
# "The Twilight Hour" – 5:58
# "Soul Mining" – 4:50
# "Giant" – 9:36
# "Perfect" – 5:36
# "This Is the Day"
2" Version– 5:22
CD
# "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
* The original 1987 CD release of ''Soul Mining'' added "Perfect" at the end of the album after "Giant". The 2002 remastered reissue removed the track, thus leaving the album's track listing as Matt Johnson originally intended.
2-LP 30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition
Disc one
Track listing as the original UK vinyl version.
Disc two – "Recollected"
Side one
# "Uncertain Smile" (New York 12" Version) – 10:00
# "Perfect" (New York 12" Version) – 9:01
Side two
# "This Is the Day" (12" Version) – 5:26
# "Fruit of the Heart" – 1:54
# "Perfect" (London 12" Version) – 5:41
# "I've Been Waitin' for Tomorrow (All of My Life)" (12" Mix) – 7:39
*Note: On all versions of the album, the track "Giant" is stylised in
all caps
In typography, all caps (short for "all capitals") refers to text or a font in which all letters are capital letters, for example: "THIS TEXT IS IN ALL CAPS". All caps may be used for emphasis (for a word or phrase). They are commonly seen in ...
.
Personnel
*
Matt Johnson – vocals, synthesisers, percussion, instruments on all tracks, chant on "Giant"
*
Harry Beckett
Harold Winston "Harry" Beckett (30 May 1935 – 22 July 2010) was a British trumpeter and flugelhorn player of Barbadian origin.
Biography
Born in Bridgetown, Saint Michael, Barbados, Harry Beckett learned to play music in a Salvation Army ...
– 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
Paul Hardiman is a British record producer. He worked with Lloyd Cole and the Commotions (on their debut ''Rattlesnakes'') and Lloyd Cole's solo career. His other production credits include Chris de Burgh's most commercially successful albums '' ...
– 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
Julian Miles Holland, (born 24 January 1958) is an English pianist, bandleader, singer, composer and television presenter. He was an original member of the band Squeeze and has worked with many artists including Jayne County, Sting, Eric C ...
– piano on "Uncertain Smile"
*
David Johansen
David Roger Johansen (sometimes spelled ''David Jo Hansen''; born January 9, 1950) is an American singer, songwriter and actor. He is best known as a member of the seminal proto-punk band the New York Dolls. He is also known for his work under ...
– harmonica on "Perfect"
* Keith Laws – melodica on "Three Orange Kisses from Kazan"
*
Thomas Leer
Thomas Leer (born Thomas Wishart, 1953, Port Glasgow, Scotland) is a Scottish musician. He has released a number of albums and singles as a solo artist, and was also one half (the other being Claudia Brücken) of the 1980s electropop band Act (ba ...
– synthesisers on "I've Been Waitin' for Tomorrow (All of My Life)", "The Twilight Hour" and "Giant"
*
Martin McCarrick
Martin McCarrick (born 29 July 1962) is an English cellist, keyboardist, guitarist and composer. Aside from being a live and recording artist, he is also a teacher and visiting lecturer in music.
Career
His first recording in the pop/rock ar ...
– cello on "The Twilight Hour"
*
Zeke Manyika
Zeke Manyika (born 23 February 1955 Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland) is a drummer, vocalist and songwriter.
Career
Manyika was born in Zimbabwe, but has lived in Britain for most of his life. From 1982 to 1984 he was a member of the pop gro ...
– 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
Steve James Sherlock (born 1953) is a British composer, musician, saxophone player who was a founder member of Neu Electrikk, joined Matt Johnson in the Post punk band The The and notably Marc Almond in Marc and the Mambas.
Career summary
Sh ...
– 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
Wix may refer to:
Computing
* WiX (Windows Installer XML Toolset), a software toolset
* Wix.com, an Israeli software company providing cloud-based web development services
Places
* Wix, Essex, United Kingdom
* Vicques, Switzerland, formerly
O ...
– accordion on "This Is the Day"
Artwork
*Andy Johnson – artwork
*Fiona Skinner – typography
Charts
Certifications
References
Bibliography
*
{{Authority control
1983 debut albums
Albums produced by Paul Hardiman
Epic Records albums
Pop albums by English artists
Post-punk albums by English artists
Some Bizzare Records albums
Synth-pop albums by English artists
The The albums