My 10 Favorite Songs by The Undertones
This week’s list is dedicated to THE UNDERTONES. I recently picked up their newly released double disc anthology, mainly to hear the previously unreleased demos and live versions on disc 2. This led me to listening to them a lot recently. Thus, here are my 10 favorite Undertones songs. For space reasons, this list is limited to their 1st 4 albums and thus doesn’t include the two (both good; one absolutely excellent) reunion albums that have come out during this decade.
“Get Over You”
I have no idea why they left this one off the new anthology, especially given that it was a single A-side and one of the highlights of their self-titled debut album to boot. From the NEW YORK DOLLS homage at the beginning (the cat calling/whistling) to the extreme catchiness, this may be the best example of the type of glam-propelled pop-punk that The Undertones did better than anyone in their earliest days.
“Mars Bars”
STEWART MASON (a writer for All Music Guide) has stated that he thinks that this early B-side one of the best food-related songs of all-time. Furthermore, I think that the company in question should’ve used it in an ad. Now that I don’t really see Mars Bars here anymore (though I understand they’re still popular in Europe and perhaps elsewhere in the world), I don’t know if this would be an option. It does make me wonder if they were ever asked, though.
“True Confessions”
Not the rather boring and inappropriately placed dub-style version on their debut, the incredible single version! Listen to FEARGAL SHARKEY’s incredible vocals and you can hear echoes of the style JELLO BIAFRA would soon develop in DEAD KENNEDYS. Plus, it’s as catchy as any jingle you can think of.
“Here Comes the Summer”
This is a case where The Undertones took the template of THE RAMONES (and in particular songs like “Rockaway Beach”) and not only equaled it, but possibly bettered it as well! You have to love the mock reading of a promotional campaign to encourage tourism to their native Northern Ireland at the beginning of this track, too.
“Hypnotised”
From the 1980 album of the same name, this is another glaring omission from the new anthology.
“The Way Girls Talk”
A rare mid-tempo ballad on the otherwise mostly blazing (though not as much as the debut) power-pop of Hypnotised, this is also the only song in the entire Undertones catalog to be partially credited to Feargal Sharkey.
“Julie Ocean”
I go back and forth on whether the shorter, snappier album version or the longer, more emotive single version of this beautiful but slightly eerie ballad is better. No matter, though, because either is great. Furthermore, this song inspired the name of a short-lived but absolutely fantastic DC power-pop band.
“The Positive Touch”
I first heard 1981’s Positive Touch (my favorite Undertones album) via an old roommate. He had it on vinyl and I used to play his copy all the time. Anyway we were listening to this song one night and he remarked that this song was like the “LEO KOTTKE Undertones” because of the prominent slide guitar that JOHN O’NEILL plays on this track. I’ve never listened to Leo Kottke, but I love this track regardless.
“Fascination”
In some ways the opening track of Positive Touch is a bit like the best song the mid ‘60s version of THE WHO never recorded, though imagining an early Who single with a drum sound more reminiscent of early ‘80s contemporaries like BOW WOW WOW or even ADAM AND THE ANTS will get you closer to what this track actually sounds like.
“Luxury”
A lot of fans disliked 1983’s The Sin of Pride, the group’s fourth album. In a bid to stay on the pop charts and keep their career afloat, the band adopted the style of the then popular New Romantic movement. Despite the fact that the album bombed and that it lead to their breakup, I contend that they did it better than just about anyone. It helped that Feargal Sharkey’s vocals still sounded pissed off and that there was still a lot of guitar prominent in the mix. Anyway the too-slick production does hamper the album on occasion, but the songwriting is consistently great. I could’ve easily placed the title track or “Valentine’s Treatment” or the excellent ballad “Soul Seven” (drummer BILLY DOHERTY’s favorite Undertones song) in this slot and would list all of them if I had more than 10 slots. Anyway, as my friend MIKE BENNETT has also said, this song is the closest the band would ever get to approximating the sound of John O’Neill and DAMIAN O’NEILL’s subsequent band THAT PETROL EMOTION. As such, it sounds nothing like the rest of the album and provides a nice burst of garage rock in the midst of the neo-soul found elsewhere on the record.
