Search - Undertones :: Undertones

So hard to beat

jay_banerjee | NYC, USA | 07/31/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"What can you say about a band whose average age wasn't even 19 when they recorded their classic debut release? What can you say about a songwriter who wrote a teenage anthem when he was still a teenager? What can you say about an album that features tracks with titles like "Really Really", "Jimmy Jimmy", and "Mars Bars"?Well, not much, save giddy praise. "The Undertones" is an all-time classic. Every song is pop-punk bliss: simple, straight, and to the point. Nothing even remotely resembling a pretense. The sweetness and innocence of it all is enough to get you teary-eyed. No other seventies punk band really had that thing going for them. The British punks were generally jaded and the American punks were generally arty; the closest antecedents to the Undertones are the Ramones and the Buzzcocks. But while the Ramones had a cool, subtle artiness to them, and the Buzzcocks lingered on the more jaded and adult side of adolesence ("Orgasm Addict"), the Undertones, on their first release, raise innocence to an art form.The songs are not sound-a-likes, but they all feature the same classic, essential elements: purely adolescent lyrics, sometimes silly and snide ("Smarter Than U") but mostly sweet and usually about girls, Feargal Sharkey's tremolous tenor, the brotherly guitar bite of John and Damian O'Neill, the Motown-influenced bass of Mickey Bradley (the bassline from "Casbah Rock" is a dead ringer for that of "In the Midnight Hour") and the glam-influenced drums of Billy Doherty (the tom-dominated chorus of "Get Over You" is very Gary Glitter, but in a cool way). A more subtle motif are Kinks-esque background vocals from the brothers O'Neill, which really make many songs on this record truly great."Teenage Kicks" is widely regarded as a classic. "Are teenage dreams so hard to beat?" is probably the best opening line to a rock song ever, and to detail every subsequent brilliant aspect of the song would result in a two-volume set. John O'Neill, the Undertones' guitarist and primary lyricist and composer, was a mere 19 when he wrote it. And whilst the subject matter of the song has strong...er...resemblance to "Orgasm Addict", it's approached from an entirely different angle. And it rocks really, really hard, too. John Peel's all-time favorite for a reason.But "Teenage Kicks" is not the only highlight. This release features three other Undertones 45's: "Get Over You", "Jimmy Jimmy", and "Here Comes the Summer", all great especially the first, which for some ungodly reason didn't even crack the UK Top 50. It also features great album tracks like "Family Entertainment", "Girls Don't Like It", and the hilarious "Male Model" ("When I was young I never wanted toys/Things like that were for little boys!"), and B-sides such as the one and only pre-Shonen Knife punk rock song about candy, "Mars Bars".To be fair, it's not a "Singles Going Steady"-esque tour-de-force where every track is as brilliant as the last. The other tracks don't match the highlights in terms of quality. Why spring for this, then, instead of "The Very Best of the Undertones"? Because of the sheer simple pop-punk bliss you get on every single track. I mean, The Undertones on this record were really just trying to have as much fun as possible and make their fans smile. When your intentions are that pure and good, your music can't be any worse. There's not a single bad song on here, and it never gets boring.This record also lays claim to a unique punk rock honor: not ONE of the songs is three minutes long, and MORE THAN HALF of the songs are under two minutes long! No other record I know of meets that qualification, not even "Pink Flag" or "The Ramones". This definitely contributes to the "breath of fresh air" feeling throughout.My only reservation is that there is an even better CD release of "The Undertones" available from Sanctuary subsidiary Castle Records. It has everything this Rykodisc version has, plus the absolutely essential non-LP single "You've Got My Number (Why Don't You Use It!)". The track has all the ferocity of everything else on this record, but also shows a remarkable maturity. Unfortunately that maturity would mean a noticeable loss of ferocity on their second album, "Hypontised", and a total loss of it on later releases. The Castle version also includes the single's B-side, a cover of the Chocolate Watchband's "Let's Talk About Girls", and an alternate version of "True Confessions" (in addition to the standard version). It might not be available on Amazon right now, but it's not all that hard to find!"

Classic

Sam | California | 05/11/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"They really are the Irish Ramones. Great classic rock. Teenage Kicks is a great song."

A true masterpiece with 3 extra 7"s worth of music added her

Chris bct | San Diego, CA USA | 03/02/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"music fan said it perfectly: "This is the perfect pop record." Discard notions of BARRY MANILOW being pop. This is pop. Power pop, a cousin to punk that was raging at the time. Not hardcore. VIBRATORS, CLASH, 999. Those guys were in the general class of this band. But there was the Irish thing, not that I'm an expert. And what's particularly amazing about the UNDERTONES is their pure focus on typical teenage pop subjects that you might expect from the BAY CITY ROLLERS. Because they lived during 'the troubles' with Northern Ireland being occupied by English military and bombings and rotteness like that. I guess STIFF LITTLE FINGERS lived in the same region and one was Prostant and the other band Catholic and SLF were political in their lyrics. The UNDERTONES' music was far more tough than the very silly BAY CITY ROLLERS without being harsh.



What makes this stuff shine is dual guitars, strong guitar presence and strong song writing. The odd vocals, well, ya get used to it.



The UNDERTONES went through a musical change to something softer and, I guess, in an effort to get more played on the radio and to be more actual pop stars.



RED ROCKERS sorta did the same thing, not that many people know of them except maybe if they remember that one off radio hit they had in the early 80's 'China girl' or something. They were from Lousiana. The similarity to the UNDERTONES is both bands made incredible first albums then shifted in later albums to, it seems to me, to try to be more radio friendly and to make themselves a career in music.



Basically, most punk bands don't make a career in music. Several punk bands did get signed to major labels in England and I assume several did make a living at it. Who? The DAMNED?, the CLASH if they'd not sacrificed themselves financially, I dunno who else, ENGLISH BEAT?, the SPECIALS?, STIFF LITTLE FINGERS?, SHAM 69?. I don't know.



What I do know is that this UNDERTONES album and the 7" records that came in the same year or so with it along with their basically equally incredible second album, Hypnotized capture a sound that is never found in any other band: real strong pop carried by a strong guitar sound, tight musicianship and catchy song writing with a vocal that eventually captures your ears and ends up, for the next 25 years, sounding great.



If you can use the 'listen' buttons so. For any song. I've loved this band since I first heard them and continue today, maybe just a notch slightly less cuz I'm not into hearing the same songs, same versions, over and over. But I give it some years alone and go back to the stuff and it blasts all over again. Particularly this album and the very tasty 7"s worth of music they've added to this CD. Yow. chrisbct@hotmail.com"