aaamusic | On 03, Apr 2011

I wanna hold you wanna hold you tight / Get teenage kicks right through the night

Who hasn’t danced to this timeless anthem at least once in their lives?

The Undertones hit the record shops (and the stages too yay!) with True Confessions (Singles = A’s & B’s) a complete collection of their singles that have provided the soundtrack for a whole generation of original punk-pop-ers in the late 1970s.

I was born right when the band dismantled. Though, tracks like the aforementioned ‘Teenage Kicks’, ‘True Confessions’, ‘Get Over You’ are rocking hard in my heart next to the Ramones and the Clash.

And the softer material produced after the first two albums The Undertones and Hypnotised – which falls more into the psychedelic rock tradition than the punk one – is part of the music history too. Brilliant tracks like the dreamy ‘Julie Ocean’, the totally psych ‘Beautiful Friend’ and the upbeat ‘It’s Going To Happen’ are memorable examples of the prolific production of the Irish equivalent of the Clash.

The geekiest fans of the band might find some faults in this collection of singles – for instance, someone could complain that ‘Julie Ocean’ and ‘Life’s Too Easy’ included in this set are the ones found on the 1981 album The Positive Touch rather than the ones recorded for the single release – but really, who could care less?

The Undertones are possibly one of the most vital, yet most underrated bands to come out of the new wave scene that took over the soundsphere of the British Islands in the late 1970s.

And in the current aural landscape – which sadly, it must be admitted, quite lacks of novelty and experimentation, especially as far as power-pop music is concerned – their songs sound as fresh now as when they were released first.

And – good news! The younger fans of the Undertones will have the opportunity to see the band performing live in a UK tour that will end up at The Garage in London on 16th April.

I’ll be there, right under the stage.

Author: Laura Lotti