THE UNDERTONES
(RYKODISC)
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Northern Ireland’s Undertones are a swell case in point, and their recent reissues on Rykodisc make them a convenient subject of study. Formed in 1979, two years after the explosion of punk rock, the Derry quintet exploited punk’s raucous energy and applied it to an unfettered pop sensibility. Their initial record was an independently released four-song EP called Teenage Kicks, and influential BBC deejay John Peel flipped over the title track, making it a staple of his widely heard show. In short order the band was scooped up by Sire Records, who issued the Undertones’ terrific debut album. Looking like the boys next door dressed up as motley punk rockers, the Undertones embraced the stripped-down, hard-rocking simplicity of the Ramones, intertwined with splotches of glam rock. Their lyrics were concerned exclusively with juvenilia, and mostly with girls. Punchy, crunchy guitars and a propulsive if sloppy rhythm section banged out an irresistible succession of 16 two-minute ditties. But what really made the Undertones stand out was vocalist Feargal Sharkey, a runty kid with a tremolo-drenched tenor that cut straight across the band’s happy bashing and frequently jumped into a soaring falsetto. Whereas most British punk bands were fronted by heavily cockneyed, guttural louts, Sharkey’s freakish voice was impossible to ignore.
Positive Touch was their debut for Ardeck Records, the band’s own imprint through EMI. This album came after what Alex Ogg’s liner notes call an “acrimonious split” with Sire, and it represents a major stylistic shift. Graduating from three-chord rockers to the decidedly sophisticated landscape of this album in only two years suggests both rapidly evolving musicianship and unadulterated ambition. Adding piano (courtesy of Paul Carrack) and horns here and there, Positive Touch boasts a polish that completely deemphasizes the charming brashness of the first two albums. In its stead is a swirling, often oblique melancholy dreaminess along with occasional flourishes of soul. Sharkey’s ever-improving vocals are more prominent, the delicate arrangements evoke traces of psychedelia–which becomes blatant only once, on the trippy album closer “Forever Paradise”–and the overall approach eschews the obviousness of their previous work. Even the bouncy, seemingly innocuous “It’s Going to Happen” had a deeper meaning, referring to the waiting powder keg of Northern Ireland (though that’s as close to political commentary as the Undertones ever got). Record buyers weren’t so keen on the band’s transformation; sales were disappointing in the UK, while in the U.S. the Undertones were dropped by their label, Harvest, altogether.
