The Undertones The Undertones

Label
BMG
Released
19th May 2023

Format Info

LP - transparent green vinyl

The Undertones formed in Derry, Northern Ireland in 1975 and released this; their self-titled debut in 1979. John and Damian O’Neill partnered infectious guitar hooks to 60’s garage, 70’s glam rock, with Feargal Sharkey’s signature vocal quaver. Those qualities came together on their breakout hit ‘Teenage Kicks’, whose simplicity harked back to 60’s ideals of when the song was king.

With the album’s two-minute, three-chord pop songs full of unabashed joy, there is very little pretension in the Undertones unapologetically teenage worldview. Receiving a wave of appraisal from music journalists, lead guitarist Damian O’Neill recollected The Undertones’ debut album as being the best they released, stating that it “summed us up. It still sounds fresh. The exuberance, the excitement, we were all still teenagers, more or less. It’s probably my favourite record still, the first album, because it’s got that freshness, which is wonderful”.

Numerous polls conducted since 1979 have placed The Undertones as one of the greatest albums to be released in the 1970s and one of the Top 40 punk / new wave albums of all time. The LP was also listed in ‘1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die’, a poll selected and written by 90 leading international music critics.

 

Includes punk / pop classics such as breakthrough hit ‘Teenage Kicks’, famously championed by Radio 1 DJ John Peel, other hits ‘Jimmy Jimmy’, ‘Here Comes the Summer’ and single ‘Get Over You’.

 

First pressing on colour vinyl.

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