THE THE - SOUL MINING @ 40

 

Released on October 21st, 1983, "Soul Mining," The The's debut album, celebrates its 40th anniversary today. Although Matt Johnson had released a solo album in 1981 that eventually became part of The The's discography, "Soul Mining" remains his formal debut and includes some of his most memorable and iconic songs.

The The began gaining momentum in late 1982 with the release of the single "Uncertain Smile," followed by "Perfect" in early 1983. Both songs gained significant popularity on underground dance floors on both sides of the Atlantic. By the time the album was ready for release, Johnson had cultivated a substantial audience for his work. Initially, Johnson signed with CBS Records after a bidding war, but his relationship with the label soured after the New York recording sessions, which produced the two singles, floundered due to conflicts with producer Mike Thorne. Johnson then relocated back to the UK and switched signed to Some Bizzare & Epic Records.

The initial UK recording sessions aimed to revive Johnson's concept for the album, tentatively titled "The Pornography of Despair." However, those sessions did not meet with Matt's satisfaction, leading him to abandon his plans and start the album from scratch. He renamed the project "Soul Mining" and composed a mostly new set of songs. These were demoed with Johnson using a four-track porta-studio, with Matt handling vocals, guitar, keyboards, and a drum machine. When it came to assembling studio musicians for recording, The The used a residency of live performances at the Marquee club in central London as an audition for potential contributors. From these events, Johnson found talents like Orange Juice drummer Zeke Manyika, DIY synthesizer pioneer Thomas Leer, and the experimental Australian musician Jim Thirlwell, credited on the album under one of his early aliases, "Frank Want." Thirlwell would later achieve significant success with his "Foetus" project, also signed to Stevo's label. The re-recorded version of "Uncertain Smile" replaced the sax solo with a piano solo performed by Jools Holland, who delivered the performance in a single take after only a brief listen to part of the backing track.

For the release of the album, Johnson's brother Andrew contributed another of his paintings, which had also been used for both the "Uncertain Smile" and "Perfect" single covers. Later reissues of the album substituted a photo of Matt on the cover. Album sales were somewhat modest at first, but it has remained a consistent seller over the years and has since achieved gold record status. The critical response to the album was decidedly positive, with Johnson's lyrical complexity and emotional depth well appreciated compared to the banal material that dominated the pop charts of the day.

THE THE - PERFECT 12” @ 40

 

Released on February 11th, 1983, The The’s single, Perfect, turns 40 years old today. It’s my favorite song ever released by Matt Johnson and completely summed up my feelings about the the times, as well as being the best dance floor fodder in a year with some dead-on all-time classics in the clubs.

In 1982, Matt Johnson was working closely with Stevo from Some Bizarre Records and jockeying with a number of major record labels for a contract. He’d released a debut solo album under his own name, but was now working on a debut under what would become his more popular moniker, The The. Johnson and Stevo had gone to NYC to work with producer Mike Thorne, who had been at the console for the recent success of Soft Cell. They initially worked on the Uncertain Smile single, which was released in October of 1982. Work on that song proceeded very effectively, though there was some issues in terms of Stevo and his verbal agreement with London Records to release the singles. He’d reneged on that agreement and, instead, had Johnson sign a deal with CBS/Epic, despite London Records footing the bill for their trip to NYC.

At the time of the NYC sessions, the new album was tentatively titled The Pornography of Despair. After the release of Uncertain Smile, Johnson and Stevo returned to NYC to record a second single in advance of the LP. The song they chose to work on was written for the new album and called, Screw Up Your Feelings, but would become re-titled as "Perfect". By the time Johnson had returned to NYC, he’d gone from penniless to having an £80,000 advance from CBS, so he took advantage of his financial situation to partake in some of the pleasures of the city, disappearing from the studio to explore the Lower East Side and take drugs. He and Stevo also took a side trip to Detroit where Johnson felt he could spend some time really getting into the headspace he needed to sing the lyrics for his new song, which were about being “down-and-out”, so he wanted a taste of that lifestyle so he could bring some authenticity to his performance.

Eventually, the pair managed to get back into the studio to record, but by this time, their indulgences were wearing thin on Mike Thorne’s patience and further disagreements on the song’s production didn’t help. Thorne had wanted to use his fancy new Synclavier sampler/synth on the track, but Johnson was insistent on using his “cheap & cheerful” Omnichord electronic auto-harp instead. With all this conflict, Thorne bailed from the project after completing the single and Johnson headed back to London to start from scratch, where he’d record the entirety of what would become the Soul Mining LP, recording new versions of both Uncertain Smile and Perfect.

The single for Perfect, especially it’s 12” extended mix, clocking in at nearly 10 minutes, became an immediate sensation on the dance floors of the underground and alternative clubs. I had just started going out to them at exactly the time this song was released and I remember being immediately enthralled by it from the very first listen. I have to agree with Matt about that Omnichord because the bass sound it created is completely essential to the song’s groove, backed up by that insistent, hypnotic Linn Drum machine back-beat. And that high-lonesome harmonica on it was played by none other than New York Dolls front-man, David Johansen. Lyrically, Matt tapped into the quintessential mood of youthful despondence and malaise that was essential for the emerging Goth/Industrial dance scene of the day. His lyrics were so poetic and I had so many days like that where his words echoed in my head as my post-teen angst over the sadness of the world loomed in my mind. Yet it was all done with this killer fucking groove.

Every time this song came on in a club, I HAD to get on the dance floor, and I was NOT at all into dancing in clubs before this, being painfully shy and self-conscious. This song, along with Blue Monday by New Order and All Lined UP from Shriekback, were irresistible when they came on. Heaven forbid some DJ should play all three in sequence, which I distinctly remember happening at least once, necessitating nearly a 30 minute continuous stint of high energy boogieing until I was a sweaty rag doll. It remains one of my all time favorite songs, EVER!!!