The The- Soul Mining FULL ALBUM REACTION AND REVIEW
Added 2024-11-29 17:28:34 +0000 UTCComments
Love me some Scritti Politti!!!
Jennifer L Kellow
2025-01-25 07:43:00 +0000 UTCOMG!!!!! I can't believe I've come across someone else who listened to that show!!!!!! It was on 89.9 I think? Weekends you had Night Lines. ;)
Jennifer L Kellow
2025-01-25 07:41:54 +0000 UTCI lived in Detroit and they had some goth/punk places that played his music, but I remember listening to Brave New Waves - what a blast from the past.
Eileen Castine
2025-01-18 06:20:30 +0000 UTCI think Naked Self is one of his best albums.
Eileen Castine
2025-01-18 06:07:51 +0000 UTCI knew and loved the two big hits, especially loving Jools' piano. The final song was perfect, as were several others. Grazie prego.
MrWondrous David Beckwith
2024-12-25 20:13:42 +0000 UTCSo many catchy songs on this album though overall Dusk is my favorite of theirs. I had a ticket to see The The last month but sadly couldn’t make it. 😔
Falcongal
2024-12-07 16:56:55 +0000 UTCYes, growing up in Western NY I listened to CFNY "the spirit of radio" from Toronto. Also, suny at UB had a radio station. I have the original 12" of uncertain smile but have haven't listened to it in a very long time.
steven engler
2024-12-07 14:52:00 +0000 UTCLove this album, I actually blind bought this album without hearing any of it simply from reading an article about it in rolling stone mag.
steven engler
2024-12-07 14:45:26 +0000 UTCInteresting.. I only ever owned this as a disc, I liked Perfect. Funny, back when Soul Mining and Infected came out - the alternative station I listened to referred to the band as The The/Matt Johnson, usually in the same breath. Always thought that was odd - as in "why does he give himself a band name if it's only him?" but I was 15 at the time- now it makes more sense. It's like Massive Attack - a project with some interchangeable members.
Jennifer L Kellow
2024-12-01 02:32:03 +0000 UTCWell said!!!
Jennifer L Kellow
2024-12-01 01:57:49 +0000 UTCI LOVE Uncertain Smile - A staple of early 80s music if you lived in city with alternative radio. In America, at this time, if you didn't live in a college town or a big city, it was tougher to find this music. I was lucky to live near the Canadian border in NW Ohio, which meant I got CBC radio - and every weeknight midnight to 4 am I was listening to Brave New Waves which played REALLY out there, underground stuff. I was in High School so you know I wasn't getting a lot of sleep going to bed at 1:30 am and leaving a cassette on record to tape the rest. I should've known this was Holland on the piano. He's a VERY famous pianist - as others have said. One of the interesting things about this era is - at the time - there were worries syth would ruin musicianship, much the way we more rightly are worried now, but generally that music is tempered with traditional instruments. This song is a good example. I think that's the difference between then and now - when I actually am worried people won't see the point in learning to play. From the notes about this song on Wikipedia, it's obvious that Johnson knew how to play or had some formal training (note he was 22 at this time !) because he owned a baby grand. I've never heard the single version with the Sax. Wonder if anyone here has? Can't imagine this song without the incredible piano.
Jennifer L Kellow
2024-12-01 01:06:53 +0000 UTCOooooh.. this is a good album. I always get Soul Mining and Infected confused. Soul Mining I have a copy of, though they're both good. So much nostalgia here!
Jennifer L Kellow
2024-12-01 00:12:21 +0000 UTCCommercials too - can't remember if it was The Gap or Old Navy? Something like that.
Jennifer L Kellow
2024-12-01 00:10:45 +0000 UTCJools Holland is a national treasure! You would have heard his playing, as a member of Squeeze, on "Cool For Cats" and "Up The Junction". He hosts a brilliant, long-running live music TV show, "Later... with Jools Holland". Matt has recently appeared on the show, playing a couple of songs from his new album.
sheldon howells
2024-11-30 19:15:09 +0000 UTCAMAZING! Gotta do Infected which is their best album
Cadan Richards
2024-11-30 16:57:45 +0000 UTCYes, but it is a bit of an embryonic work in progress. I used to have it but wasn't a fan apart from a couple of tracks.
James Warner
2024-11-30 08:33:24 +0000 UTCI wasn't saying Perfect is a better finale, I was just glad it was included and acknowledged that it was more upbeat in tone. I actually think the mood shift following Giant is a bit clunky. If Perfect was originally part of the album, it would have been placed somewhere else in the running order.
James Warner
2024-11-30 08:29:56 +0000 UTCSorry James, but I have to contradict you. There simply cannot be a better finale than the continuously rising GIANT, which indeed is a ~ of a song ;-)
Anderson Davies
2024-11-30 01:34:57 +0000 UTCFinally :))) Can't remember how long ago I hinted you to do that one (at least the last song GIANT)
Anderson Davies
2024-11-30 01:31:55 +0000 UTCBy the way: soul mining is The the’s second album.
Knut Farbu
2024-11-29 23:59:33 +0000 UTCGlad you included Perfect. It wasn't on the original vinyl release, but was added to the CD version. It's a more upbeat ending for the album - musically, if not lyrically.
James Warner
2024-11-29 21:46:06 +0000 UTCJools Holland's piano solo in Uncertain Smile is pure bliss and the resolving chord he hits at 5:59 is utterly sublime. It's an 'everything is going to be alright' chord that gives you an audio hug.
James Warner
2024-11-29 21:06:07 +0000 UTCThis Is The Day has been used in a few films, including Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3.
James Warner
2024-11-29 20:52:42 +0000 UTCGreat to revisit one of my favorite albums from the 80’s together with you. Jools Hollands piano on Uncertain smile is just great, uplifting and heavenly. I Discovered The the through a radio show playing new music. That’s how it worked back then😊. Knut, 21.51 local time in Oslo.
Knut Farbu
2024-11-29 20:52:18 +0000 UTCThe lyrics and Matt's delivery in I've Been Waitin' For Tomorrow are just perfect. I particularly like the line 'I've been deformed by emotional scars and the cancer of love has eaten out my heart'.
James Warner
2024-11-29 20:31:12 +0000 UTCI picked up on The The when "Infected" came out ... if this is Matt's "Revolver" then "Infected" is his Sgt Pepper. I think "Perfect" is a great ending, as well, but rather amusingly (as the article you had up was starting to say) it wasn't supposed to be on the LP! I hope you got a chance to check them out as they were just touring the US for a new record ("Ensoulment"). Obligatory requests: -- Scritti Politti, "Absolute" from "Cupid & Psyche '85" (80's fun) -- Scritti Politti, "Dr Abernathy" from "White Bread Black Beer" (00's fun) -- Anna Fox Rochinski, "High Board" from "Cherry" (groovy) -- Anna Fox Rochinski, "Hard Won" from "Cherry" (SUPER groovy) Thanks!
Joe Turner
2024-11-29 20:31:09 +0000 UTC
