The the-Soul Mining

The The-Soul Mining(1983) If there was ever an artist from the 80s that has been overlooked a lot then it would have to be The The's Matt Johnson. From humble beginnings and some critical acclaim on 4AD and the earlier work. The 1983 album 'Soul Mining' is a brilliant album in terms of songwriting, lyrics and of course music and the production also. For me its the classic 80s album right up there with Prefab Sprout-Steve McQueen. What Matt Johnson did was write about things that affected most people without being a bit self indulgent, for instance the first two tracks are called 'I’ve been waiting for tomorrow all of my life ' and this is followed up with 'this is the day'. So he has been waiting for tomorrow to happen, then when he does it is in fact the day when all else follows on from. I imagine in the 80s in university bedsits there was people that could relate to these lyrics. Its quite a clever album in terms of its imagery in terms of the classic single 'Uncertain smile'. This track featured some of key piano work care of Jools Holland. What gets me about the album is the production. All tracks sound clear and all instruments are clear in the mix. In fact it sounds better in sound overall to the follow up which was 'Infected'. The tracks on this album especially the title track would not have been out of place on that album. Of course 'Infected' was a film/video and well constructed album. This was then followed up with the 'Mindbomb album which was not as classic as this album. The fact he was on the some bizarre label gave him that element to experiment, but in some ways the sounds are not avant garde, in fact they can be classed as classic pop sounding. The last few tracks are quite laid back on this album after the striking first few tracks. Matt Johnson was capable of musical tracks of such striking songwriting and lyricism that he should be getting more recognition for the legacy of his 80s output.