Customer Reviews

Hypnotised

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4 star:		(4)
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I first got to the Undertones in the 80's because my 2 best friends were playing that record ad nauseam along with Siouxsie and Bauhaus. Clearly this was a mistake. The accelerating riffs the joyfulness of it all didn't fit with the age of NO FUTURE angst. Here you had those innocent and simple melodies with fuzz guitar all around. Titles you read and remember the beat right away "There goes Norman". "My perfect cousin" is the ultimate jealousy song where "everything I like he doesn't" . "Boys will be boys" and "Whats with Terry" will bring back the teenager solidarity everybody must have felt once in his life.
Who were these guys. On the cover they look young and Irish with a lobster apron on each one of them.
On the back cover the distribution data by Sire data is written in Portuguese, nothing to help me undestand where they come from.
Feagal Sharkey is supposed to be the lead singer with his falsetto voice but this is clearly a group effort where all guitars and all voices bring the drive non-stop throughout the album. A great album to drive on country roads.
Still a mistery to me why I never met someone who knows about this album.

This product, as any of this kind (music), depends on your likes. I love The Undertones, so I love this old recording too; less fresh than Undertones' first LP, it's probably musically more interesting. The only thing about it is about the sound volume itself. This recording sounds really low, someways like those Electra's recording (The Stooges, MC5, etc.) or their traduction into CD, that sounds really low and when someone tries to turn the volume up, the estatic, that uncomfortable buzz, starts sounding as a solid audible background. What could I say? You've Got my Number, Whizz Kids, My Perfect Cousin, There Goes Norman... if you like it, that is... maybe when they remaster it...

Try it if you Know first what you are gonna get.

By the way, sorry for my 'hispanic' english and enjoy this "Hypnotised"... well, if you must.

This is a good set of Undertones material. Not as raw as their first but not overproduced by any stretch either. A lot of good, short, fun, energetic songs in typical Undertones fashion. My favorites are "Nine times out of ten", "The way girls talk", and "Tearproof", but most all of the songs are good here and you can get a very good feel for their sound by a 30 second sampling.

Note to those not familiar with the Undertones: if at first the lead singer's voice is a bit hard to take, give it time, it may grow on you.

My tastes in music have been very eclectic, having run the gamut in genres throughout my 25-plus years of collecting music. This LP has always been one of my favorites.

I first heard the Undertones "Hypnotised" LP shortly after it was released, having been a instant follower of the group after hearing their self-entitled debut LP. My older sister had both LPs, as she was tuned into punk by a local promoter who would bring punk bands to our area. She saw the Undertones perform locally in about 1979. I believe she told me the second floor nearly caved in from the pogo dancing at the venue.

I didn't have to ever go to a concert to get caught up in what these guys were laying down for us. It was almost like punk rock meeting bubble gum music, but there's nothing corny about it. It has a sticky sweet and humorous side to it, but the humor is full of the sarcasm you'd expect from the punk rock movement. The guitar is edgy, fast, loud and the drumming drives the beat forward like any early Clash effort. The tunes are catchy and the lead singer Feargel Sharkey's voice is utterly unique.

"Hypnotised" songs revolve around these Irish boys coming of age. It's a retrospective look back for them. I liken it to taking carousel ride at the neighborhood carnival. All the sites and smells of your youth come back to you in one dizzying moment. It's like getting hit with a bucket of teenage angst and the wonder of it all. The first six tracks on this LP are rock solid. I like "Whizz Kids," "See That Girl," and "There Goes Norman" the most, but it's tough to forget their cover version of "Under The Boardwalk" for me. "Boys Will Be Boys" encapsulates the LP's theme. "My Perfect Cousin" was an instant classic.

Best thing about this CD is that they add some bonus singles to the mix that were never released on any of their LPs. "You've Got My Number (Why Don't You Use It)" is one of my absolute favorite tunes by this band. They just threw it on the CD for good measure.

Buy this, but only after you buy the band's first album! As the lead off track indicates, the Undertones did not stray too far from their original formula when they released their second LP. Power-pop/first wave punk with silly lyrics. A young Clash with no political agenda? Good fun all around. Standout tracks include Theres Goes Norman and My Perfect Cousin (I believe the band's highest charting single).

Their sophomore effort is overall a fun ride, and contains some top notch moments like "Tearproof" and "Wednesday Week" -- songs that pinpoint that poignant yearning feeling of youth. And then there's the playful, self-mocking teen angst tunes like "More songs about Chocolate and Girls" and "My Perfect Cousin". It's similar to their first album, with some songwriting development. Great fun, really.