438. The Undertones - The Undertones (1979)

















Track Listing

1. Family Entertainment
2. Girls Don't Like It
3. Male Model
4. I Gotta Getta
5. Wrong Way
6. Jump Boys
7. Here Comes The Summer
8. Billy's Third
9. Jimmy Jimmy
10. True Confessions
11. She's A Runaround
12. I Know A Girl
13. Listening In
14. Casbah Rock

Review

This is a really fun album, I would have a bit of a difficulty placing it in any distinct genre, really. It sounds punkish but then it is eminently poppy. The tracks are all catchy bits of pop with very pronounced punk influence, the lyrics are more akin to something like the Beach Boys than any punk really, there is no real anger here, there's some frustration at being young and it almost sounds like throwback lyrics to a more innocent age.

That said it is a lot of fun, the tracks are perfectly crafted, and altough not included in the original release, the single Teenage Kicks, which is a part of most re-releases is a perfectly crafted piece of pop-rock, and most other songs in the album follow the same concept, to different levels of success.

The Undertones produce an album of what is really pretty inconsequential music, but thoroughly enjoyable, almost bubble gummy. It is light punk and there is nothing wrong with that, but it is with albums like this that you know that punk is dead.

Oh, sorry for the strange review yesterday, but I was drunk.

Track Highlights

1. Girls Don't Like It
2. Here Comes The Summer
3. Jimmy Jimmy
4. She's A Runaround

Final Grade

8/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

By 1977 they were performing their own three-chord pop punk material, and in 1978 they released their debut four-song EP Teenage Kicks on Belfast's Good Vibrations record label. The EP became a hit with support from BBC DJ John Peel, who considered the title song his all-time favourite. The song has been covered by many acts, including: Ash, Skunk Anansie, Busted, Groovie Ghoulies, Sahara Hotnights, The Saw Doctors, Nouvelle Vague, Green Day, Franz Ferdinand, The Coral, The Raconteurs, Violent Delight, Snow Patrol, KT Tunstall, and the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain. Falling sales linked to their changing musical direction and tensions within the band led to their split in 1983.

Here Comes The Summer: