NewsThe The / Soul Mining: 30th anniversary deluxe vinyl box set
This June, Sony will release a 30th Anniversary deluxe vinyl version of The The’s, 1983 album Soul Mining.
The The’s Matt Johnson personally oversaw the remastering at Abbey Road Studios and this new vinyl-only reissue takes the form of a lavish twelve-inch box set and includes an authentic reproduction of the original LP pressed on 180g vinyl, alongside an extra twelve-inch gatefold vinyl of alternative versions and remixes.
Amongst the goodies in the box is a ‘news-poster’ which contains extensive notes written by Johnson that detail the making of the album.
The track Perfect is absent from the main album, which is as Johnson always wanted it (it was added by the US label without his consent) and additional songs included on the original cassette version are also excluded since at the time these were attempts at re-recording tracks from the aborted 1982 album Pornography Of Despair and are not really part of Soul Mining.
This set also comes with a digital download code for MP3s which are vinyl rips (or ‘Dubbed-From-Disc’ technology) using Matt Johnson’s original 1982 Thorens TD-147 gramophone player!
The overall presentation looks very similar to the excellent Nick Drake vinyl sets that Universal have been putting out for the past 18 months, with the lift-off lid rigid box, although this is arguably better since it includes the bonus vinyl.
Soul Mining 30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition is reissued on 30 June 2014
- • UK Pre-order: Soul Mining (2LP 30th Anniversary Deluxe) Edition)
- • USA Pre-order: Soul Mining (2LP 30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)
- • GERMANY Pre-order: Soul Mining (2LP 30th Anniversary Deluxe)
- • FRANCE Pre-order: Soul Mining (2lp 30th Anniversary Deluxe)
Track listing:
LP 1 – SOUL MINING
- 1. I’ve Been Waitin’ For Tomorrow (All Of My Life)
- 2. This Is The Day
- 3. The Sinking Feeling
- 4. Uncertain Smile
- 5. The Twilight Hour
- 6. Soul Mining
- 7. Giant
LP 2 – SOUL MINING Recollected
- 1. Uncertain Smile (New York 12” version)
- 2. Perfect (New York 12” version)
- 3. This Is The Day (12” version)
- 4. Fruit Of The Heart
- 5. Perfect (London 12” version)
- 6. I’ve Been Waitin’ For Tomorrow (All My Life) (12” mix)
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just got this from HMV Leeds today, reduced from £29.99 to…. wait for it… £12.99!!! bargain of the year for one of fav albums of all time… pinch me i thought i was dreaming ha!
The non-Jools version of Uncertain Smile is on the second disc here – the 12″ long version with the sax solo rather than piano.
Mine arrived yesterday and the sound upgrade is pretty great. I was sceptical by the claims it had been remastered from an original vinyl copy on a gramaophone (?!) but it sounds fantastic
This obsession with crackly fluff prone vinyl is beyond me,i still have the original in the loft.
I shall listen to the CD and eat a bag of crisps to mimic the original crackly 1982 Thorens deck
[…] a precursor to the Soul Mining vinyl box set Sony Music are issuing a limited edition The The twelve-inch vinyl single for Record Store Day […]
Fantastic album, but yes, feels like another lost opportunity to collate all of the odd tracks (like the “This Is The Day” double-7″ tracks) in one place, let alone the whole of the “The Pornography Of Despair” album…
As an aside, this would be a (ahem) perfect album to be played end-to-end in concert…
I will buy the LP, but I too want a Deluxe 2CD version, with all the rare tracks and proper mastering.
Or a ‘Pure Audio’ BluRay version please!
Ditto. Ditto. Ditto. A proper sounding Soul Mining CD with all alternate mixes and B-sides would be the way to go. As an aging collector with over 20,000 albums I surely don’t need another. Plus I’m annoyed that this whole vinyl revival is yet another major label moneymaking scam. Wasn’t it the majors who dumped vinyl in the first place to force the masses to embrace the CD? Now they’re trying to convince the youth that it’s cool, well guess what, it always was! Just can’t buy the same stuff over and over again.
No Thanks. While this is one of my 10 favorites of the 80s, past experience has shown that Matt can’t be trusted with his own back catalog (no b-sides/poor sound quality/edited or remixed cuts). I’d love to get the original (US version w/ Perfect, sorry but the music execs know better than Matt on this one) in 24 bit/96 Khz on blu ray audio + all those alternate mixes & B-sides (Orange Kisses from Kazan anyone?). I already have the original 12″ mixes, this re-release is not likely to sound any better in spite of the fact that they are well-worn by now, so I’ll pass.
I wish I could buy this on CD. Oh well… *sigh*
(31st anniversary surely….)
The original version of Uncertain Smile wasn’t released by Sony, but Some Bizarre the previous year (1982)…this may be the reason, although that conflicts with its inclusion on 45RPM. I have always loved the original 12″, amazing it never got close to being a hit but it certainly stands the test of time
Genuinely excited about this anniversary edition – long time coming for such a brilliant album that still stands the test of time today. Agree a CD version would have been nice, hope the MP3 downloads arent too horribly compressed!
Sony Music could consider performing in a special edition edit on CD as it is one of the albums that made history in the 80s. I hope you will think well the record label and be published in CD format.
I don’t do vinyl anymore and as much as I love The The I will let this one pass!
Despite Matt not wanting the extra tracks from the cassette on there, I would actually like them. I had them years years ago and they were interesting to say the least. They’re still not available anywhere other than the tape version.
Good point. I’d forgotten about the cassette tracks. I seem to recall I track called something like ‘ 3 Orange Kisses from Kazan” which I really liked. Plus of course it had a great version of “Perfect” which I presume is the London 12″ version.
Incidentally, the non- ‘Jools’ version of ‘Uncertain Smile’ was included on The The – 45RPM the singles compilation (which also came with a bonus CD of remixes).
I agree that it’s a shame there’s no CD version – it will be a case of purchasing the vinyl and taking advantage of the accompanying MP3 download. It’s also a shame that there’s no place on the release for the original version of Uncertain Smile (which doesn’t contain the Jools Holland piano).
A shame there’s no CD version planned – the original CD sounded horribly thin and the remaster is too loud and compressed. They might have got it right on a third attempt.
Didn’t even bother to read the details… just hunted for the pre-order link and ordered straight away.
This is one of my all-time favourite albums and I’ll always regret getting rid of my original vinyl copy. I had this, infected and the contemporary 12 singles all on vinyl and decided to let them go when I was moving to a smaller living space :-(
A masterpiece of an album!
Thanks for the tip-off.
Bought it today….what a fine album this is! First time I bought it was on CD back in the early 90’s . I always wanted to have this masterpiece on vinyl and it surely is a high quality boxset although I do miss the extra tracks from the Musicassette that came out in 1983. Neverless, great job by Matt Johnson and the record label!