Nostalgia just keeps getting better and better.
With the Punk Rock nostalgia circuit you can see bands that you may not have seen at the time and bands who've spent the intervening years learning how to play.
You can see bands who've realised that maybe that 3rd album that they insisted on playing in it's excruciating entirety the last time you saw them was in actual fact, a waste of studio time, gig time and your time. So this time round they'll just play the good stuff.
It does get complicated though because there are bands you don't want to see because they were ropey old toss 30 years ago and now they're just ageing ropey old toss. Then there are bands who you loved so much that you don't want to run the risk of seeing them again and having the memory spoilt. Decisions decisions.
The Undertones were my favourite band for years, so any reunion runs the risk of crushing disappointment. It could be like finding your first love has had a sex change and your place of birth is marked by a skip rather than a commemorative plaque.
So what about the Undertones? On the face of it doesn't sound promising, as they've reformed without their distinctive, original singer, Feargal Sharkey. They split in ‘83, but have been playing sporadically since 1999, with new singer Paul McLoone.
His vocals have a bit of the Sharkey quavery quality and the rest of the band are still belting out punchy pop punk as if their lives depended on it.... or at least because they're having so much fun that they don't want to stop. And that's the key to it really.
Many people go to a reunion gig as a celebration of the band, or of a period of their own lives. Inevitably it's the bands earliest songs that matter most to the audience and it's the bands attitude to the knowledge that in the public eye (even if not in their own heads) they've done their best work that makes the difference.
If a band still look like they've got a genuine excitement about playing live, then it's not just nostalgia. …It's a great gig with songs you like.
I saw them at the 3 years ago at the Academy. They were excellent and I probably enjoyed the gig more than any of the times I'd seen them first time round. (Review here)
Their debut single "Teenage Kicks" was such a pivotal pop moment and their first 2 albums delivered more unstoppable Pop thrills, Ramones and romance.
With "Positive Touch" and the final album "Sin Of Pride" they attempted to broaden their sound and musical influences...while actually leading to a narrower audience and increasing tensions between the rest of the band and Sharkey. They always delivered as a live band though. And still do.
"Get What You Need" was released in 2003 and is a zesty romp through a bunch of songs that have some of the same fizz and crackle of the first 2 albums. There are demos for material for the forthcoming album Dig Yourself Deep at http://www.myspace.com/theundertonesmyspace
The live show is based round all the songs you want to hear, ie the singles, the first 2 albums and a smattering of songs from the new one that sound like it could have been on the old one. Expect joyous enthusiasm from both band and audience.
Showing posts with label The Undertones. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Undertones. Show all posts
Saturday, September 01, 2007
Saturday, November 11, 2006
The Story Of The Undertones
The Story Of The Undertones is the film made by John Peel on his first visit to Derry in 2001 and (here’s the clever bit) tells the story of the Undertones through band interviews, shots of their old haunts and live clips. So far so Rockumentary. What makes this film more enjoyable than that general joyless genre though is the amiability and good humour of the band and their guest. They’re genuinely enjoying the whole thing, feel comfortable about their place in history and are enjoying the chance to play again after a 20 year lay off. The reformed band though has a new singer in Paul Mcloone rather than Feargal Sharkey. Sharkey does appear in the film in an interview filmed at Peel Acres.
The film is good at capturing the claustrophobic feel of mid 70’s Derry, with the pressures of The Troubles, unemployment and the hostility of the local community towards any one who “got above themselves.” Journalist Eamonn McCann appears in the film and describes Derry as “oppressed and oppressive” and makes the point that the natural sound for a group of Derry teenagers to have produced would be angry and hostile, and that it was actually braver for the band to make the “Sweet and beautiful” sound of "Teenage Kicks".
Even in their early days there were plenty of people who wanted a pre- emptive pop at the band, just in case they ever amounted to anything. The original sleeve of the record has a photo of the graffitied shed door with the legend “The Undertones are shite” and The Wall that features on the first album where the band sat with their legs hanging over (John Peel takes obvious pleasure in being able to recreate that photo with the band) was soon daubed with “Hang the Undertones.” After Sharkey left, one of the band gave the reason that Feargal was sick of people coming up to him and saying “Sharkey, You’re a bollux and your band are shite.” It beats musical differences.
It was only Feargal Sharkey who really wanted to get out of Derry though partly because he attracted more flak than the rest of the band. Their early parka and Docs anti fashion dress code was an attempt not to alienate their old friends, and there were frequent and expensive trips back to Derry during tours. They declined the chance to extend their first American tour with the Clash because half the band was home and girlfriend sick.
There’s a great moment where John O’Neil muses that he’d only ever had one girlfriend and wonders what his songs would have been like if he’d known more women. His wife then tells a story about one of his songs that was written about her…He’d gone to return some clothes to a shop for her but the youthful songwriter was a useless consumer, so his opening line to the shop keeper was “I know a girl.”
But that’s the thing about Derry, as the band and Peel look round from a hill, all the bands landmarks and reference points are easily visible and walkable. For a Birmingham band it would be like Moseley with murals.
After 2 albums of songs about chocolate and girls, the band were struggling with the dilemma that their hearts and experiences were still in Derry and they wanted to their songs to reflect the Political situation there. John O’Neil describes Crisis Of Mine from Positive Touch as a song about him trying to change his songwriting after meeting a recently released IRA prisoner. Damien O’Neil talks about It’s Going To Happen being about the IRA hunger strikers and wearing a black armband on Top Of The Pops the day Bobby Sands died.
There are some great music clips, including an Old Grey Whistle Test appearance where one of the band shouts “This is the last good song you’ll hear tonight” before launching into a dynamite version of True Confessions. Sharkey’s hands are in his Parka pocket, as it opens and closes like an enthusiastic and fearless flasher. What the audience should be afraid of though is John O’Neil’s guitar sound. The explosive, low flying opening chords of the song are rocket propelled. They could take a camera man’s head off.
After the Undertones split in 83 Mickey Bradley and Damien O’Neil were in a band called Eleven who were very poppy. I saw them play twice at the Marquee in 84 and the singer was like a black Annie Lennox in cycling tights. Although they did do a John Peel session (the band rather than the tights), nothing really happened and they split. (The tights already had).
The next effort was more successful as the O’Neil brothers formed That Petrol Emotion, where they were fused politics, Indie dance and Pere Ubu. I saw their first show at The Mean Fiddler when the band shared vocal duties between themselves in 1985 and a gig at Thames Poly (The Nightingales were also on the bill) which was the first show that American singer Steve Mack did. I never really took to him as a singer but I did go to lots of their gigs, which I enjoyed more than their records. They always played like demons. After That Petrol Emotion split John O’Neil dabbled with a dubby electronic project called Rare and Damien issued an album through Poptones
In the film The Undertones are quite open about what a bad idea it is for a band to reform twenty years after they split, without their original singer and especially when their singer was as distinctive as Feargal Sharkey. The new singer Paul Mcloone does have more than a hint of Feargal’s vocal style though and the band are obviously just really enjoying playing again, without the responsibility and as fun rather than a career. They’ve said they don’t want to haul themselves round the Punk nostalgia circuit and tarnish their good name.
I saw them at the Birmingham Academy in 2004 which was great fun and I posted a full review at
http://stealthbuffet.blogspot.com/2004_12_01_stealthbuffet_archive.html
The album Get What You Need came out on Sanctuary in 2003 and it’s a lively Ramones pop punk blast and definitely a better listen than the original band's final album, 1983’s The Sin Of Pride.
The film brings out the fact that The Undertones were always split between Sharkey and the rest of the band and those differences go back right to the beginnings of the band where Sharkey was the last to join, the only one who worked, the only one who had a car and the only non songwriter. So from the remaining Undertones point of view they’ve now got the chance to play to an appreciative audience with a new mate and none of the previous tension.
In one of the extra scenes though there is a careful consideration given to replacing newbie Paul with Brittney Spears. Several of the band can barely speak at this point as they are giving it so much thought.
It’s a good-humoured uplifting piece of filmmaking. Bassist Mickey Bradley is currently recovering from treatment for bowel cancer. Obviously I wish him a speedy and full recovery and I’d love to see them play again. And I think you should too.
The film is good at capturing the claustrophobic feel of mid 70’s Derry, with the pressures of The Troubles, unemployment and the hostility of the local community towards any one who “got above themselves.” Journalist Eamonn McCann appears in the film and describes Derry as “oppressed and oppressive” and makes the point that the natural sound for a group of Derry teenagers to have produced would be angry and hostile, and that it was actually braver for the band to make the “Sweet and beautiful” sound of "Teenage Kicks".
Even in their early days there were plenty of people who wanted a pre- emptive pop at the band, just in case they ever amounted to anything. The original sleeve of the record has a photo of the graffitied shed door with the legend “The Undertones are shite” and The Wall that features on the first album where the band sat with their legs hanging over (John Peel takes obvious pleasure in being able to recreate that photo with the band) was soon daubed with “Hang the Undertones.” After Sharkey left, one of the band gave the reason that Feargal was sick of people coming up to him and saying “Sharkey, You’re a bollux and your band are shite.” It beats musical differences.
It was only Feargal Sharkey who really wanted to get out of Derry though partly because he attracted more flak than the rest of the band. Their early parka and Docs anti fashion dress code was an attempt not to alienate their old friends, and there were frequent and expensive trips back to Derry during tours. They declined the chance to extend their first American tour with the Clash because half the band was home and girlfriend sick.
There’s a great moment where John O’Neil muses that he’d only ever had one girlfriend and wonders what his songs would have been like if he’d known more women. His wife then tells a story about one of his songs that was written about her…He’d gone to return some clothes to a shop for her but the youthful songwriter was a useless consumer, so his opening line to the shop keeper was “I know a girl.”
But that’s the thing about Derry, as the band and Peel look round from a hill, all the bands landmarks and reference points are easily visible and walkable. For a Birmingham band it would be like Moseley with murals.
After 2 albums of songs about chocolate and girls, the band were struggling with the dilemma that their hearts and experiences were still in Derry and they wanted to their songs to reflect the Political situation there. John O’Neil describes Crisis Of Mine from Positive Touch as a song about him trying to change his songwriting after meeting a recently released IRA prisoner. Damien O’Neil talks about It’s Going To Happen being about the IRA hunger strikers and wearing a black armband on Top Of The Pops the day Bobby Sands died.
There are some great music clips, including an Old Grey Whistle Test appearance where one of the band shouts “This is the last good song you’ll hear tonight” before launching into a dynamite version of True Confessions. Sharkey’s hands are in his Parka pocket, as it opens and closes like an enthusiastic and fearless flasher. What the audience should be afraid of though is John O’Neil’s guitar sound. The explosive, low flying opening chords of the song are rocket propelled. They could take a camera man’s head off.
After the Undertones split in 83 Mickey Bradley and Damien O’Neil were in a band called Eleven who were very poppy. I saw them play twice at the Marquee in 84 and the singer was like a black Annie Lennox in cycling tights. Although they did do a John Peel session (the band rather than the tights), nothing really happened and they split. (The tights already had).
The next effort was more successful as the O’Neil brothers formed That Petrol Emotion, where they were fused politics, Indie dance and Pere Ubu. I saw their first show at The Mean Fiddler when the band shared vocal duties between themselves in 1985 and a gig at Thames Poly (The Nightingales were also on the bill) which was the first show that American singer Steve Mack did. I never really took to him as a singer but I did go to lots of their gigs, which I enjoyed more than their records. They always played like demons. After That Petrol Emotion split John O’Neil dabbled with a dubby electronic project called Rare and Damien issued an album through Poptones
In the film The Undertones are quite open about what a bad idea it is for a band to reform twenty years after they split, without their original singer and especially when their singer was as distinctive as Feargal Sharkey. The new singer Paul Mcloone does have more than a hint of Feargal’s vocal style though and the band are obviously just really enjoying playing again, without the responsibility and as fun rather than a career. They’ve said they don’t want to haul themselves round the Punk nostalgia circuit and tarnish their good name.
I saw them at the Birmingham Academy in 2004 which was great fun and I posted a full review at
http://stealthbuffet.blogspot.com/2004_12_01_stealthbuffet_archive.html
The album Get What You Need came out on Sanctuary in 2003 and it’s a lively Ramones pop punk blast and definitely a better listen than the original band's final album, 1983’s The Sin Of Pride.
The film brings out the fact that The Undertones were always split between Sharkey and the rest of the band and those differences go back right to the beginnings of the band where Sharkey was the last to join, the only one who worked, the only one who had a car and the only non songwriter. So from the remaining Undertones point of view they’ve now got the chance to play to an appreciative audience with a new mate and none of the previous tension.
In one of the extra scenes though there is a careful consideration given to replacing newbie Paul with Brittney Spears. Several of the band can barely speak at this point as they are giving it so much thought.
It’s a good-humoured uplifting piece of filmmaking. Bassist Mickey Bradley is currently recovering from treatment for bowel cancer. Obviously I wish him a speedy and full recovery and I’d love to see them play again. And I think you should too.
Monday, December 13, 2004
Undertones Birmingham Academy
Saw The Undertones 11/12/04 at Birmingham Academy 2. On principal I’m not a big fan of bands reforming, especially without the original singer and especially if they were one of my favourite bands whose first 2 albums seeped into my being, like balti on your Naan hand. However the last lp, Get What You Need, has some belting songs on it and the new singer has more than a touch of the Feargal tones.
In the moments before the band came on I was surprised at just how excited I was. It had been 21 years since I’d seen them and here I was in a smaller venue than I’d ever seen them before with an audience of old Punk Rock dads and their kids. It was an excellent gig. The band seemed to be having a lot of fun and seemed surprised at the bouncy enthusiasm and backing vocals of the audience. The guitar sounds were crunchy and it was great to see John and Dee O'Neil, still manhandling their guitars like they were slightly too big for them and Micky’s trademark move that consists of bouncing his knees because his boots are too heavy for him to move his feet and dipping his bass up and down slightly. Watch and learn Kiss. You too Steps. They were always a great live band and still are. Singer Paul’s special moves include gurning and wiggling with his back to the audience.
The old songs were drawn overwhelmingly from the first 2 lps, with 2 from Positive Touch, nothing at all from The Sin of Pride. The 4 songs from Get what You Need fitted in well with that sound and the 2 brand new songs they played were built round a Paper Back Writer style riff.
I’d seen them 7 times between 1981 and 83 and I enjoyed this gig as much as any of them and in fact, thinking about the set list, they played more of the songs that I liked. The band played really well, although Julie Ocean suffered when they band dropped down a gear (Remember seeing them play it at Manchester Apollo in 1981 before Positive Touch came out and loving it’s Velvet Underground fragility) …but they recovered and came back with chunky guitars, quivery vocals, hugely entertaining backing vocals and more of those funny, bittersweet songs about girls.
These are the songs I can remember. Some are even in order. It’s a fair night out!
Family entertainment, You’ve got my number, Girls don’t like it, I need your love (the way it used to be), Male Model, I’m recommending me, Girls that don’t talk, Tearproof, Rain’s gonna fall, My perfect cousin, Get over you, I know a girl, Ride the rough escalator, Joyland, Thrill me, Wednesday week, Jump boys, Here comes the summer, Julie ocean, Teenage kicks, When Saturday comes, True confessions, Mars Bar
In the moments before the band came on I was surprised at just how excited I was. It had been 21 years since I’d seen them and here I was in a smaller venue than I’d ever seen them before with an audience of old Punk Rock dads and their kids. It was an excellent gig. The band seemed to be having a lot of fun and seemed surprised at the bouncy enthusiasm and backing vocals of the audience. The guitar sounds were crunchy and it was great to see John and Dee O'Neil, still manhandling their guitars like they were slightly too big for them and Micky’s trademark move that consists of bouncing his knees because his boots are too heavy for him to move his feet and dipping his bass up and down slightly. Watch and learn Kiss. You too Steps. They were always a great live band and still are. Singer Paul’s special moves include gurning and wiggling with his back to the audience.
The old songs were drawn overwhelmingly from the first 2 lps, with 2 from Positive Touch, nothing at all from The Sin of Pride. The 4 songs from Get what You Need fitted in well with that sound and the 2 brand new songs they played were built round a Paper Back Writer style riff.
I’d seen them 7 times between 1981 and 83 and I enjoyed this gig as much as any of them and in fact, thinking about the set list, they played more of the songs that I liked. The band played really well, although Julie Ocean suffered when they band dropped down a gear (Remember seeing them play it at Manchester Apollo in 1981 before Positive Touch came out and loving it’s Velvet Underground fragility) …but they recovered and came back with chunky guitars, quivery vocals, hugely entertaining backing vocals and more of those funny, bittersweet songs about girls.
These are the songs I can remember. Some are even in order. It’s a fair night out!
Family entertainment, You’ve got my number, Girls don’t like it, I need your love (the way it used to be), Male Model, I’m recommending me, Girls that don’t talk, Tearproof, Rain’s gonna fall, My perfect cousin, Get over you, I know a girl, Ride the rough escalator, Joyland, Thrill me, Wednesday week, Jump boys, Here comes the summer, Julie ocean, Teenage kicks, When Saturday comes, True confessions, Mars Bar
Wednesday, July 21, 2004
Undertones
The Undertones were my favourite band for years. There are some records you know so well that you don't need to play them and the first 2 Undertones lp's are like that for me. I'd revised them thoroughly in my teens and it's all still there (unlike the stuff I should have been revising)....but I was pleasantly caught out by technology. I'd had the cd reissue of the first lp and knew it had b sides on as the extra tracks.....so I was not expecting to hear the most definitely A side quality You've got my number.
The lyrics are either a lesson in brevity, or else there was a lyric shortage in late 70's Derry and John O'Neil's mum forgot to queue up. The entire lyrics are ....
"You've got my number why don't you use it
you know my name, you won't abuse it
If you wanna wanna wanna have someone to talk to.
I'll pick you up in my car, I'll take you home it's not far.
Why don't you ring my number
To say goodbye I couldn't stand it,
you've got my number why don't you useit"
I could still picture the sleeve, with it's one sided cut out for thepicture label to show through.In true stealth buffet style...I had to play it again. (Twice nightly Richard Whitely)
Of course it all get's better because the next track was it's b side Let's talk about Girls. The Undertones version is very close to the original. (Can't remember who did it first but it's on Nuggets) It's a great garage rock record and I remember the Undertones playing it on their last tour in 83. The last minute or so is just the line "Let's talk about girls" repeated over and over , occasionally changed to "Let's talk about women" before settling back to "Let's talk about girls." With Feargal's "Honest , I'm not a virgin" toy tough vocals and boy boisterous ("How come the girls have all gone?") backing vox you just get the feeling that they're talking about girls because they don' t actually know any. Which makes it a great pop record because, as we all know....The best songs are either about getting or not getting the girl.
Which brings us neatly to the Ramones.
"Everyone else sang about cars and girls....but we didn't have cars or girlfriends"
What else is there to say apart from 1.2.3.4.
The lyrics are either a lesson in brevity, or else there was a lyric shortage in late 70's Derry and John O'Neil's mum forgot to queue up. The entire lyrics are ....
"You've got my number why don't you use it
you know my name, you won't abuse it
If you wanna wanna wanna have someone to talk to.
I'll pick you up in my car, I'll take you home it's not far.
Why don't you ring my number
To say goodbye I couldn't stand it,
you've got my number why don't you useit"
I could still picture the sleeve, with it's one sided cut out for thepicture label to show through.In true stealth buffet style...I had to play it again. (Twice nightly Richard Whitely)
Of course it all get's better because the next track was it's b side Let's talk about Girls. The Undertones version is very close to the original. (Can't remember who did it first but it's on Nuggets) It's a great garage rock record and I remember the Undertones playing it on their last tour in 83. The last minute or so is just the line "Let's talk about girls" repeated over and over , occasionally changed to "Let's talk about women" before settling back to "Let's talk about girls." With Feargal's "Honest , I'm not a virgin" toy tough vocals and boy boisterous ("How come the girls have all gone?") backing vox you just get the feeling that they're talking about girls because they don' t actually know any. Which makes it a great pop record because, as we all know....The best songs are either about getting or not getting the girl.
Which brings us neatly to the Ramones.
"Everyone else sang about cars and girls....but we didn't have cars or girlfriends"
What else is there to say apart from 1.2.3.4.
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