“Amused and confused by life’s little ironies,
he swallows his bottle of distilled…
…damnation!”
— from Perfect, by The The
One of my favourite albums from the ’80s turns 30 this year: Soul Mining, the debut album by The The, released in September 1983. It’s got a lot of range — from the proto-Nine-Inch-Nails-ish synth-and-drums-heavy track GIANT, to the Smiths-y The Sinking Feeling, the dark and danceable album version of Perfect (the one with more minor chords and a bigger beat), the cheerful-or-mopey This is the Day with its gorgeous lead lines that show how well the accordion can work in pop music…
…and the heart and soul of the album: Uncertain Smile, which concludes with a piano solo that could stand very well as its own piece:
“A broken soul
stares from a pair of watering eyes,
uncertain emotions force an
uncertain smile”
— from Uncertain Smile, by The The
Here’s a high-quality recording of Soul Mining that someone’s posted on YouTube. Listen and enjoy!