Soul Mining by The The was, in my opinion, one of the finest pop albums of the early-mid 80's. Matt Johnson was very much a solo artist and occasionally played live in pubs and small clubs with just backing tapes. His debut LP, Burning Blue Soul on 4AD was very experimental and had a very limited audience. He then sat down to write proper pop songs and roped in other musicians to add their elements to the The The sound. These two singles are ten and nine minutes long respectively and whilst their lengths are not true to pop, the melodies, arrangements and lyrical wit very much are.
This is the original version of Uncertain Smile which differs greatly from the album version with Jools Holland on piano. Perfect was only included as a 12" bonus single with early pressings of the album.
Johnson was to disappear for another 4 years before returning with a more rock orientated The The sound. These singles represent his finest work.
Uncertain Smile : ripped from a 12" vinyl single released on Some Bizzarre/Epic Records (EPC A13 2787) in 1982, to lossless FLAC.
A1. Uncertain SmileB1. Three Orange Kisses From Kazan
B2. Waitin' For The Upturn
Hear
A. Perfect
B. The Nature Of Virtue (Version II)
Hear
Thank you for these, but there are some nasty sound flaws, e.g. at the beginning of "Waitin' For The Upturn". What happened?
ReplyDeleteThanks for loading these - this is some of Matt's finest work with the flute/sax combo giving an entirely different feel to 'smile' and the long version of 'perfect'is an absolute joy. Somewhere in the ether there is a very long live version of 'smile' with Jools sitting in (possibly a Peel Session ?). I'm afraid I lost my tape copy a long time ago ago
ReplyDeleteThere are NO flaws on Waitin' For The Upturn etc, that's exactly as it has been recorded and mixed. The speed variations and jumps are deliberate. The short intro to Uncertain Smile has delibertae speed variations too. ;-)
ReplyDeleteREALLY appreciate this, and BTW -- you're doing yeoman's work over here, brother. Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but do you have "Controversial Subject" or "Cold Spell Ahead" you could up? Cheers.
ReplyDeleteI have The The's "Gravitate to Me (Dub Mix)" beautifully digitized. If you'd like to post it I'll send it along. Also have a lot of The The promo CD singles with rarish b-sides.
ReplyDeleteWow !
ReplyDeleteWhen these were released, they ran out very quickly from the record shops where I live & they couldn't get more, so I missed them.
So many years later you give me a great surprise present.
A BIG thank you !
Thank you for posting these. I've been looking for these singles for ages.
ReplyDeleteThese were long gone by the time I discovered The The, but my friend's brother owned them. I taped them and then proceeded to wear out the cassette. I sure would like to hear them again.... Any chance of a re-uploading for those of us who've again arrived late to the party?
ReplyDelete