Undertones [Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered]

Undertones | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 14, 1994)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Label: Rykodisc
• ASIN: B0000009OX
• Also Available in: Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #226,430 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Family Entertainment

2. Girls Don't Like It

3. Male Model

4. I Gotta Getta

5. Teenage Kicks

6. Wrong Way

7. Jump Boys

8. Here Comes the Summer

9. Get Over You

10. Billy's Third

11. Jimmy Jimmy

12. True Confessions

13. (She's A) Runaround

14. I Know a Girl

15. Listening In

16. Casbah Rock

17. Smarter Than U [*]

18. Emergency Cases [*]

19. Top Twenty [*]

20. Really Really [*]

See all 23 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So hard to beat, July 31, 2003

By 

jay_banerjee (NYC, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Undertones (Audio CD)

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!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hype is cheap, but this really is the best pop record ever, July 26, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Undertones (Audio CD)

More pop than punk, more tuneful than any of their contemporaries, the Undertones sum up that particular period in the late Seventies/early Eighties better than any other band. This is their first full length release, supplemented with a couple of early singles, and it's a classic. I think so, John Peel thinks so, and practically every other discerning fan of the three minute, guitar driven teenage pop song thinks so too. If you thought The Buzzcocks, The Ramones and early Blondie had covered all the angles, check this out. Pure, brilliant musical joy.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One o' the best, November 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Undertones (Audio CD)

This is one of the best records ever! "Teenage kicks" is the best song on the CD but songs like Jimmy jimmy, Male model, Girls dont like it are good too. Buy this record! You wont be dissapointed if you've heard the Clash, the Jam or Buzzcocks!