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"…Let's Talk About Girls…"
Ah the mighty Undertones – I only have to look at the cover of this
album and I’m mush.
Their blinding debut made the ‘Q’ Magazine’s “100 Greatest British
Albums” list – and this super CD overhaul only gives me a good excuse to wax
lyrical about its myriad three-minute Pop-Punk wonders once more. So here are
the Mars Bars and True Confessions…
UK released March 2009 - "The Undertones" by THE UNDERTONES on Salvo
SALVOCD017 (Barcode 698458811721) is an 30th Anniversary 'Expanded Edition' CD Reissue and
Remaster of their 1979 Debut LP and breaks down as follows (67:38 minutes):
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
Tracks 1 to 14 make up the 1st pressing of their debut LP "The
Undertones" on Sire Records SRK 6071 initially released in May 1979 in the
UK - January 1980 on Sire Records SRK-6081 in the USA. The 14th track - the
50-second "Casbah Rock" at the end of Side 2 - is listed on the label
but not on the album sleeve. The original sleeve had black and white artwork
(as used on the card slipcase) with a distinctive red die-cut inner sleeve -
the reissue (explained below) had a colour sleeve with a black inner (not
featured in the booklet). The album was recorded at Eden Studios in Acton in
London in January 1979 and produced by ROGER BECHIRIAN.
Cashing in on the huge renewed response to their anthem "Teenage
Kicks" - the album was reissued a second time in the UK as Sire Records
SRK 6081 in November 1979 with a different front and inner sleeve and 2 added
singles. "Teenage Kicks" was slipped in as Track 5 on Side 1 -
in-between "I Gotta Get" and "Wrong Way" - while the 2nd
single "Get Over You" was added on as the first track on Side 2 -
making a 16-song version of the LP. The Sanctuary issue of 2008 uses the
16-track line-up rather than the original 14. Of course with a little bit of
number programming - this new Salvo issue allows fans to program either.
BONUS TRACKS:
Tracks 15 to 18 are the full 4 songs of their debut "Teenage
Kicks" EP issued on the privately pressed Good Vibrations Label (GOT 4) in
September 1978 - produced by the band themselves (see my review for the
"Good Vibrations" Movie on BLU RAY). None of the songs turned up on
the debut LP and it has remained a highly sought-after and collectable vinyl
piece ever since. Oddly for such an indepth release - this CD actually mistakes
the track order - it should read - A1 is "Teenage Kicks" (15), A2 is
"Smarter Than You'” (18), B1 is "True Confessions" (16) and B2
is "Emergency Cases" (17) - gotta get those details right.
Tracks 19 to 21 are their 2nd maxi single "Get Over You" (19)
- issued on Sire Records SIR 4010 in January 1979 in the UK. "Really
Really" (20) and "She Can Only Say No" (21) are the B-sides and
again all 3 songs were non-album.
Tracks 22 to 24 are their 4th UK single "Here Comes The
Summer" (22) b/w "One Way Love" (23) and "Top Twenty"
(24). It was another maxi release (3-tracks) and it's worth noting that the
‘single version' on the A-side differs to the version than ended Side 1 of the
LP (the 2 B-sides were again non-album too).
Track 25 is "Mars Bars" - the non-album B-side to their 3rd UK
7" single "Jimmy Jimmy" - issued on Sire Records SIR 4015 in
April 1979 (on lime green vinyl).
Tracks 26 and 27 are "You've Got My Number (Why Don't You Use
It)" b/w "Let's Talk About Girls" - non-album tracks and their
5th UK 7" single on Sire Records SIR 4024 issued in September 1979 in the
UK.
Tracks 29 to 31 are live John Peel Sessions recorded for the BBC at the
Phoenix Studios on 7 May 1979 – “Nine Times Out Of Ten”, “The Way Girls Talk”
and “Whiz Kids”
Track 32 is a video track from 1978 of "Teenage Kicks" (filmed
in Primrose Hill in London)
As you can see from the lists above this new Salvo issue has 31 audio
tracks plus 1 video track tagged on at the end - the 2008 Sanctuary issue has
only 26 audio tracks. There's also a new card wrap outside the jewel case using
the original LP artwork, a 20-page booklet which pictures ticket stubs,
buttons, 7" sleeves and band photos - and there's detailed and witty liner
notes by their bass player MICHAEL BRADLEY.
The remastering has been done by
ANDY PIERCE at Masterpiece and is fantastically clear, really clean and in your
face. As a downside, it would have been nice to hear more in the booklet from either their
great frontman and singer FEARGAL SHARKEY or especially JOHN O'NEILL - the
band's principal songwriter.
While the album itself is a blast, what puts this issue into the stellar
is the truly brilliant 17 extra tracks - stunning power-pop B-sides like
"One Way Love" and "Let's Talk About Girls". And the four
Peel Sessions tracks allow you to hear just how piss 'n' vinegar they really
were as a live act (I wish I'd seen them). And then of course there's 'that'
song - every time I hear The Undertones blistering debut 45 "Teenage
Kicks", I can't help but think of the much-loved and sadly missed champion
of Punk and New Wave music - the British DJ and Presenter JOHN PEEL. He adored
the band with a passion and the hand-written lyrics to "Teenage
Kicks" are framed in his home and literally etched above his final resting
place (he was the first to air the song in September 1978 - famously playing it
twice he liked it so much). Ten seconds into its thrashing riff it's easy to
know why - it's thrilling - it's ballsy - it's life itself - and it's as fresh
now as is was back then - a full three and half decades ago.
Derry's finest are held in huge affection by so many music lovers and
not without reason. I loved returning to this album, I really did.
"...I wanna hold her, wanna hold her tight...get teenage kicks right
through the night..."
Too Goddamn right!
