The Undertones

PUNK史、というよりもROCK史に残る名曲として、またグリーン・デイやフランツ・フェルディナンド、バズコックスら多くのバンドがカバーし、キッズに圧倒的な人気を誇る"Teenage Kicks"で知られるアイルランドのパンク/パワー・ポップ・バンド、アンダートーンズのファースト・アルバムが、発売30周年を記念して豪華盤仕様で再発!英Q誌の「100 Greatest British Albums Ever」にも選ばれたアルバム。

Magnet - "With a gloriously upbeat bee-swarm of sound rivaled only by the Buzzcocks..." NME - Ranked #50 among The Greatest Albums Of The '70s. Q - Ranked #90 in Q's "100 Greatest British Albums" Q - Included in Q's "100 Best Punk Albums". Q - 4 stars out of 5 - "...A minor classic: brisk songs of young, working class life delivered with sulphate pep and a melodic sense that's more Sweet than Eater..." Mojo - Ranked #21 in Mojo's "Top 50 Punk Albums" - "...[The album] melds fabulous buzzsaw guitar with a lyrical predilection for adolescent angst..." Rolling Stone - 3.5 stars out of 5 - "...[Features] the pure yearning of Feargal Sharkey's voice and writer John O'Neill's catchy visions..." Alternative Press - "...Spotty schoolboys with frogs in their satchels, they wore their exhuberance unchained..." Q - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[P]ropelled by Feargal Sharkey's unworldly vocals, the sheer exuberance of these gauche but gifted teenagers remains undimmed....A magnificent pop album."

What is a perfect album? One could make an argument that a perfect album is one that sets out a specific set of artistic criteria and then fulfills them flawlessly. In that respect, and many others, the Undertones' 1979 debut is a perfect album. The Northern Ireland quintet's brief story is no different than that of literally dozens of other bands to form in the wake of the Clash and, more importantly, the Buzzcocks, but the group infuses so much unabashed joy in their two-minute three-chord pop songs, and there's so little pretension in their unapologetically teenage worldview, that even the darker hints of life in songs like the suicide-themed "Jimmy Jimmy" are delivered with a sense of optimism at odds with so many of their contemporaries. There's no fewer than three all-time punk-pop classics here; besides that song, the singles "Teenage Kicks" and "Get Over You" are simple declarations of teenage hormonal lust that somehow manage to be cute instead of Neanderthal; perhaps it's Feargal Sharkey's endearingly adenoidal whine, or the chipper way the O'Neill brothers pitch in on schoolboy harmonies, like a teenage Irish Kinks. All of the other 13 songs, even the 47-second blip "Casbah Rock," are nearly to that level of brilliance, with the frenetic "Girls Don't Like It" a particular standout. The Rykodisc CD adds seven demos and single sides, and also includes an entirely different, punkier version of "True Confessions" than the nervous, new wave-influenced throb of the version on the original U.K. vinyl. ~ Stewart Mason|