Reviews (page 7 of 8)
Fun to see some early Irish punk, but not much else stands out or warrants another listen.
Bueno.
Está simplón, pero con calidá
Never heard of them…decent album
Liked it. Lots of short, poppy, punk songs. Not much variety, but the songs are great.
2nd August 2021 Listened on the living room speaker with jen while we both worked at the kitchen table. Love that it reminds me of good vibrations, teenage kicks obviously amazing but the hour does get a bit samey.
decent rock album.
I can appreciate that this is pop punk done well, but pop punk's not really my thing. There are some great tracks on here, but a whole album of it wears a bit thin. Fave track - "Teenage Kicks" is an absolute tune. Also really liked "Billy's Third" and "True Confessions"
Excellent album of pop punk.
All of the songs have the generic 'late-70s pseudo-punk' sound. Like, all of them. Almost exactly the same.
For the kind of punk this is, it's pretty good. But I just can't really subject myself to punk that lacks any sense of grit or danger (I would even consider the Spiral Scratch EP to be more edgy than this and that's on the weaker end of it). Don't get me wrong, there are some bangers like Wrong Way or the opening track. Definitely not boring punk. I just need my punk to be way more abrasive. I find the lyrics to be pretty vacuous. Almost every fucking song is some kind of love song and ya that's just not my thing done in the traditional sense exemplified here. This might have came out in 79 but there are some things here that I associate with 80's corny white dude music. I dunno, I wasn't around when this album came out so I have no frame of reference. It's definitely not bad. Sorry John Peel.
Enjoyed it, better then average? Probably like a 3.5 stars
Quite the energetic set of tracks! Had not heard this band or album before (although I seem to recall the name Feargul Sharkey from something in the 80s, but can't recall what), and it's fun. Very much in that punk-leading-into-new-wave sound, and it's got some catchy tunes here. I enjoyed this one more than I expected to; really feels like pop (in a good way) but it's more raw.
Short album. Short songs. I enjoyed it and it didn't wear out it's welcome.
Nothing special really
So obviously 'Teenage Kicks' is an absolute banger of a song and 'Top Twenty' is pretty great too. I'd never seen a regular studio album with 26 songs on it before so fair play to The Undertones for that I suppose (even thought most are 2 seconds long)! 'Here Comes The Summer' is a pretty good tune as well. Generally, this album is littered with pretty decent little tunes but quantity over quality does ring true here I think. I'm not sure why they felt the need to put 26 tracks on one album but I'm not complaining too much as I think songs like 'Mars Bars' are pretty hilarious. Seems like The Libertines may have taken some influence from these punk rockers too so we can certainly thank The Undertones for that. Decent album. 'One Way Love' gets an honourable mention too as I've got a but of a soft spot for that one.
3.7 fun punk pop fronm the 70s. IMO underrated irish punk band
Punk is not dead but it still hasn't learned how to play the guitar
Solid punk rock album. A lot of it blended together for me, but this genre usually has that effect on me.
Enjoyable enough. Seems to capture certain place and time. Sounds like early The Jam to me.
If it is good enough for John Peel, it is good enough for me.
The Offspring's pioneering grandfather. kind of like a 3.5, most of the songs didn't stick with me but it was a pleasant enough time.
Ik vond deze plaat van The Undertones een stuk beter te pruimen dan de vorige. Al begint het wel een beetje een 'dichtgenaaide' lijst te worden: in 3 maanden tijd al zo'n beetje alles van Crosby, Stills Nash & Young, Bowie, en nu ook al meerdere albums van the Undertones.
Catchy punk pop. Bouncy and fun. What's not to like?
3/5
An easy 3. No weak tracks but no massive standouts either. Teenage Kicks not on the album proper
tres bon son guitares solides musique trop agressive pour un gars qui veut la paix dans le monde
Punk rock standard music, had some bangers but nothing out of the ordinary within the genre
Punk rock. Bastante interesante.
Correct.
Sounds like pretty standard whiny pop punk rock to me. A couple of interesting sounds here and there, but it's probably more historically important than it is fun to listen to.
3 ближе к 2 однообразно но вполне весело
Solid pop punk. Teenage Kicks is a classic. 6/10
Pretty good stuff. Wasn't really familiar with them before other than the song Teenage Kicks. Good basic punk rock. 3 stars.
Liked not loved
It's not bad, but I prefer other styles of music.
British Rock. Not completely my taste but definitely uplifting and fun to listen to. Maybe listen again on a road trip.
I don't know about the lyrics, but I've enjoyed it
I've about had my fill of the UK punkish rock foundations. I can recognize this as objectively good (for what it is) though it does suffer from the now tired refrain of monotony of tone.
More my kind of thing. Nice to hear something other than Teenage Kicks, but can see why that became the big hit. That had a full lyric. The rest of the album was eight lines spread across 16 tracks.
it was fine. music I like genre wise. would maybe relisten to a few tracks
easy to listen to punk i like it
meh
A really fun, fast paced race through some of their songs, this Undertones album reminded me of Titus andronicus and the likes. A feel of early 2000s garage bands that focus mostly on thrashy, punk rock, I really enjoyed this album and what it brought to the table. Plus, everyone is Irish, so that rules
Good pop punk album. I could see it being pretty influential.
Classic English punk
ok
Doesn’t take itself seriously which makes it a fun listen
Enthusiasm. Attitude. What an energetic listen! 3.5
I don’t care for late 70s punk pop. This may be considered a good album, but I don’t like this kind of music
I’m pretty sure that when it came out, it was a hit. But the thing, for me, with English punk rock band in the late 70’s and early 80’s is that it doesn’t aged well for many of them. The production isn’t great. Songs sound pretty much the same. There’s no wow moment in it. Still, decent listen, but I will stick with London Calling. 2/5. Family Entertainment : 3 Girls Don't Like It : 2 Male Model : 3 I Gotta Getta : 2 Wrong Way : 2,5 Jump Boys : 2,5 Here Comes The Summer : 2,5 Billy's Third : 2,5 Jimmy Jimmy : 2,5 True Confessions : 2 (She's A) Runaround: 2 I Know a Girl : 3 Listening In : 2,5 Casbah Rock : 2
Short, catchy pop punk songs. Listenable, but forgettable.
Bastante ruido pero en realidad no me dice mucho, canciones de 2 minutos muy flojitas a excepción de la intro que esta muy bien. 5/10
Forgettable
I gave the previous album two stars for being banal. This one wasn't banal, just not good.
made a bunch of songs that sound the same and one good one at the end
16 tracks and 34 minutes of Meh ….
Completamente MEH. 4/10
Super repetitive.
This has got to be the LEAST essential album on the list. A recco from a BBC Radio One DJ from 50 years ago does not an essential album make. The whole album is not that interesting. It's fun adjacent. Get the fuck out of here with this shite. My rating: 2/5. They get one point for not being horrible.
This is Ramones-lite (very lite), but Teenage Kicks is great
Not my favourite punk record of the time. Kind of mid to be honest. Lacks personality.
2.5
Bizarro punk. The energy is more or less there, but the recording is super clean and the singer's voice is too nerdy to come off as authentic. I'd almost want to call this a satire of punk except it couldn't possibly be.... could it? This left me with more questions than answers, so 2/5.
4/10
58
Nah
Fun, fast, and formative
Fine but every song sounded the same.
Proto punk is not my thing. To my ears, everything is really similar.
There’s a lot of albums from this time I can still play and enjoy. This wasn’t one of them. It’s not bad, just not memorable
pop rock from the 70s picks: teenage kicks, jimmy jimmy
Sounds like generic pop-punk to me, and not even particularly good generic pop-punk.
65
Early punk, but too repetitive to be good.
1 song played slightly differently 15 times and 1 other song. I'll leave it to the reader to figure out which one. Or maybe it's 1 song played slightly differently 16 times and I'm just being bitter about sitting through this and setting you on a wild goose chase. If I have to hear "GirrlllLLllLLLllLL" sung again... My god the way he does that vibrato thing with his voice makes me want to hate Dead Kennedys. And I don't hate Dead Kennedys but if next time I listen to Holiday In Cambodia I think of The Undertones I'm gunna be PISSED. I really want to give this 1 star but I'll be generous this time around.
meh
Punky, but not too noisy. I don't much care for this but the guy is actually singing instead of shouting, which is a lot more than can be said for lots of the punk and punk-adjacent music on this list
2/5
Хорош, но я б не переслушала
Very forgettable album.
I frankly forgot what my thoughts were because it was a pointless album
Just general rock stuff
More punk from the UK
Muy punk por ahora. Ninguna canción está mal, pero son básicas. Son divertidas, sí, y te dan un buen boost de energía, pero no hay nada más allá de eso, de algo pasajero. Puedo entender que para la gente que lo escuchó en la adolescencia va a sentir nostalgia al re-escucharlo, pero no me pasa a mí. 4/10
I didn't have the teenage part of my life that made punk sound good to me.
Bleh punkish but inoffensive enough to merit a 2
KEXP happened to play Here Comes the Summer today and I thought "meh this is pretty basic punk." Well here we are. Inoffensive over all but not particularly enjoyable as well. 2.4/5 -> 2/5
eh
Teenage kicks !
It was alright
Yeah I’m tired of the British punk/rock. This list is kind of biased
Rapid fire, albeit somewhat generic, early punk rock. 2.5
meh
I'm usually into punk rock, but this wasn't great.
straight to the point punkpoprock 2.5+/5
British punk, punchy short songs with not much going on... ah well at least the album was short 2/5
Little bit-sized songs that I would generally consider too short to be memorable. ADHD-ass Undertones. Teenage Kicks is the only thing that stood out to me, the rest is pretty much just early mod music.
I mean... It's okay? It gets repetitive and the songs are too short to really get into them.
Coming on the heels of a dreadful chore of an album, these boys were poised for a big victory. My ears were aching for sthg great. And then this happened. Ya’ BASIC. I suppose being early on the scene means boundaries are not yet pushed. But good lord. If I was groaning under the tortuous strain of the previous album, this one bored me almost to unconsciousness.
My parents were both Belfast punks, so I've always been instinctively on the side of Jimmy Jimmy and Kevin the perfect cousin who likes The Human League. I was prepared, then, to give The Undertones debut a bit of a drubbing. However, like my father's own pop-punk outfit at the time, I can't really do it. Yes, it's because they're just young lads. Yes, it's because they're from Northern Ireland. But, also, because they do have pop chops, where others are hindered by punk sloppiness or powered by aimless anger. These are charming little spurts of energy that, no doubt, would have been a thrill to hear or play at the time. The last few records we've heard listened have all clocked in at 35 minutes. Objectively this is the perfect length for an album. But it didn't help Steely Dan's smugness much. It did nothing to combat the flatness of Little Simz. And here, it is no aid to The Undertones' brevity. Their songs are so short that there ends up being too many of them on the record. On too much of Feargal's warble. Or too much of something. Somehow, this is too much. 2 The Undertones is a harmless act. Sweet and easy listening compared to most acts that came labelled ‘punk’. Most of these little blobs of pop-punk should be perfectly digestible. But I personally will never be able to get on with them because of Feargal Sharkey’s voice. That weird vibrato goes through me like a knife. 1.5/5
really did not like it especially the last song girls omfg
watered down punks with only 1 good song Although honestly that song isn't even that good
Teenage Kicks //
Not for me. More like a musical history than music I'd listen to on purpose
Average
Nothing interesting to say about for me
Best Song: Teenage Kicks
Le canzoni erano molto simili tra loro, mi è sembrato un po’ monotono
I lived in Derry for 5 years so I’ve heard my share of Undertones whether I wanted to or not. Is this a safe space to say I think they’re only okay?
Meh. So repetitive. At least it was short.
General punk. Nothing special
it was pretty fun. a few bangers and a few stinkers. i thought the last track was way too short, not good and incredibly low audio quality compared to the rest of the album. i gave it a 62 on aoty. sometimes classic punk is a bit too repetitive for me though i think you couldve sang blitzkrieg bop by the ramones over like 9 of these songs and get away with it
It’s fun and moves quick, but it’s still more bounce than feeling.
hey this is a pretty good time! the back half is meh but i like male model and here comes the summer.
Boring
Apart from the good song I can’t think of a single reason as to why this album is on this list. Good song saves it from a 1 star
I mean, sure
Pretty bland
Het was niet helemaal een vibe. Ook niet dat mijn oren pijn deden. Ik had liever iets anders geluisterd.
wel leuk hoor, maar na een paar nummers begint t toch een beetje eentonig te klinken, de energie is wel goed t blijft niet echt hangen. Ik vond het een beetje leuk. 2 sterren.
I thought I would like this but I dont
Girls don’t like it
Previously unknown. Fun.
Maybe I was in a bad mood already but this is making it worse. I won’t give it a 1 because it’s actual music I guess but I really hate this. Idk maybe it was just 6am and not the right time for it.
You can’t just say the same thing over and over again dude
A rather ordinary band with OK tunes.
Fun but pretty reptitive
Underwhelming! Almost all of it sounded like the same song with droning vocals.
Classic indie rock
I'm all about post-punk, but pop-punk is a completely different story.
Extremely watered down punk about getting girls and some other harmless stuff. Where's my 'stick it to the man' songs and where is the message bro. Punk to listen to with your uptight parents. All songs kind of blended together and I got very bored. Not a 1 because some of the music itself was aight.
2/5 Boring album, nothing outstanding. 2 instead of a 1 because it's still listenable, but I genuinely could not tell you any song I just heard.
This sounds like the band that plays at the high school dance of a lame 70s or 80s teenage movie. I'm guessing that the reason this is on the 1001 list is that Robert Dimery got his first kiss while this was on in the background.
I've heard this era of rock/punk a few time before. It's wearing a little thin
What the fuck, I just gave their second album a middling score and now I find out they have TWO albums on this list? Why??
Not really my thing but it’s decent, I like the Ramones a little better
Zu anstrengend
Loving the Derry accent, but not my thing
I can appreciate that this was an early foray into upbeat, non-cynical punk about girls and boredom instead of politics and aggression. And I can especially appreciate that it was notably written in Ireland during the Troubles, when it was probably tough to NOT be cynical and political. But appreciating the context of cutesy, vapid punk is not the same as enjoying cutesy, vapid punk. Most of these songs are fun enough but ultimately a little forgettable. “Teenage Kicks” and “Jump Boys” are infectious, the rest didn’t make much of an impression on me.
My ymse på 1001 album ass
This was a fun group. I Remembered one of the songs from the movie Derry Girls.
184 Disfruté Teenage Kicks pero a medida que avanzaba el disco recordé lo mucho que me carga el punk. No eres tú, soy yo
Not the ticket for me. Teleported to Jake playing their songs at mums 45th(?).
It’s a fine album, not my favorite. Sounds like a parody of the genre I knew teenage kicks but I could only think of the one way or another mashup by one direction 2.5/5
Para jóvenes en su momento. Energía
Def did not need to listen to this before I die
A bland pastiche of punk rock. All the signifiers without any real edge or meaning.
Straightforward British pop punk. Honestly couldn’t tell you a single song name or what it sounded like. In one ear and out the other. Didn’t mind the time in between I guess.
Bad punk is worse than good punk.
Garage Punk Pop.
Album review 027 The Undertones by The Undertones (1979) Rating 2.5/5 It’s too easy to compare The Undertones against releases by other punk bands of the time but in doing so it’s clear that the album isn’t anything special. It lacks the attitude of Ramones, or the anger of The Clash, or the energy of the Pistols, or the charisma of Buzzcocks, etc…. Despite a few good-ish songs, there’s very little of interest on The Undertones.
The upside of this album is they kept it brief, banging out 16 tracks in 35 minutes - perfect radio edits for tracks that would never make it to radio unless it was a station dedicated to Punk. Punk is a genre that has not aged particularly well.
This is "elevator" punk.
funky happy britpop, same same for 35 mins
Very poppy, didn't enjoy it a lot.
I appreciate this music and understand its significance to British Punk and Rock. However, I am a child of the eighties and they sound like Fergal Sharky’s side project and he committed serious music crimes in the 80’s
в целом ничего так. какой-то доисторический добренький панк со странным вокалом, как полагается. но хотя бы голова от него не болит.
The ramones meet Blondie. And the combination somehow becomes worse than the sun of the parts. Not interested.
Some late-70s punk R&R—not really my scene as a general sound, again.
Cool Brit pop punky rock album. I didn't dislike it but it didn't really stand out to me in the sea of similar albums on this list. I kind of feel like this album's sound was hurt a bit by being in this very late 1970's era with a lot of conflicting band sounds around them and being in a transition-y period of time.
Sounds like a fun band to play in. I bet they're psyched to have twice as many records on here as Wire.
I've never felt more neutral about an album. It somehow failed to leave any sort of impression on me, be it positive or negative. It was mild fun while I listened. Is that the perfect 3⭐? Well, it feels like an insult to lump it together with other 3-rated albums that DID leave an impression on me, so I must bump it down to 2. Standout: Jump Boys
Punk rock just doesn’t do it for me. It lacks substance and style. When I listen to it I fell stupid, and embarrassed.
An OK album. I didn't look up the history or significance if there is any. They just seem to be a bunch of kids having a fun time. It's pretty generic punk rock which for 1979 was probably unheard of. However Black Sabbath was in their prime, and the Rock genre was in its golden age. I've never heard of the Undertones until today when this album was recommended, which I guess plays towards their name. I added a couple songs to my playlist, they're alright. 4/10
Pretty alright. A lot of the songs started to blend together
No idea who they were and now I know why.
Fast and tight and pretty well mixed but not my cup of tea
No está mal, aunque un poco genérico.
Il primo era abbastanza, il secondo è troppo. Dovrebbe durare 20 minuti
Nothing to write home about.
It was short and fun, but it seemed more like demos.
That felt way longer than 34 minutes (derogatory)
The best thing about this album was it only took 30 minutes to get through 16 songs
Honestly i don't understand why this pop punk album is on the list. There are so many better groups of that era but as with all albums i took a listen and the following songs had some interest. Teenage Kicks,Wrong Way,Billy's Third,True Confessions, 2/5
Not a big fan of the pop punk songs which all sound kind of samey. They certainly knew how to fuse Ramones-like angriness with a touch of early Beatles melodies, but nothing much stood out for me in terms of composition or sound. "Teenage Kicks" is a genius song, though.
Pretty vanilla sounding. Not much that's special, and kinda forgettable. Guitar and vocals are a little too even sounding volume wise which isn't a good thing. 4/10
Decent early English punk
Best Song: Teenage Kicks. I do like the punk aesthetic mixed with the most corny and saccharine lyrics. Worst Song: True Confessions. The warble in his voice is really warbling on this one. Overall: They're not bad, but they also kind of sound like a budget Dead Kennedy's, even down to the vocal timbre of the lead singer. And even though the album isn't particularly long, the sameness of all the little songs makes it feel much longer than it is. Just go listen to a Dead Kennedy's album instead.
I dig the individual elements of instrumentation, and even their arrangement in short segments, but the songs and their structures get eye-rollingly repetitive. Don’t care for the vocal style or monotonous subject matter either. There are a few impressive guitar and percussion sections but they never develop into much. Listened to: on Amtrak to Philly. Favorite tracks: Here Comes The Summer, Billy’s Third
Ok I need some variety, this is yet again ANOTHER album where each song sounds the same. Here Comes The Summer is a light hearted/fun song I’d play on the Fourth of July but likeeee early on in the day when setting stuff up. Not good enough for the actual hot dog/pickle eating festivities. A lot of the songs have the same chord progression and style where I could not differentiate much between songs. BUT, I slightly like the more summer vibe of this album than Joy Division and The Clash. My favorite song was Casbah Rock because it was 50 seconds.
“Ooh baby baby, what can I do, you know you drive me crazy, looking at you” big things coming from the Undertones folks. This album feels like it came out in 1959??? Boring and just extremely safe and repetitive? Overall I’m mad these albums are ruining my Spotify algorithm Edit: ok just finished it and honestly the second half of the album was a noticeable improvement from the first, pleasant to listen to. I apologize for my outburst earlier I was cranky about my Spotify algorithm
Lackluster at best. Other better albums out there for his genre.
Upbeat, but the songs sound too similar to each other. Got a bit boring
This one didn’t leave much of an impression on me. I mostly came away disliking the high trembling vibrato of the lead singer. Teenage Kicks was just alright, but I probably won’t come back to the Undertones. ⭐️⭐️
Didn't like this. Not offensively bad, but so boring to me. Unending monotony in the structure and lyrics. Won’t really listen again
I legitimately didn’t know pop punk existed in the ‘70s until I heard this album. It’s certainly not a slog to get through (as the songs are both short and fast-paced), but pretty much every track is interchangeable. Something I can appreciate retrospectively for what it presumably added to the cultural conversation, but not something I can really see myself coming back to over later (and better) pop punk albums. Highlights: Male Model, I Know a Girl
The guitar style of The Strokes but without any interesting lyrics or melodies to actually pull it together. They could really do with Julian Casablancas in the mix. Teenage Kicks is recognisable but also a bit weird now I think about it..
Kind of surf rockabilly punk? Not really anything worth writing home about, tho.
Heard Teenage Kicks before and after listening to the full album can I just say it was one of the most boring songs on it? There were other more interesting tracks but overall it wasn't that great 2/5
It's fast. It's more pop than punk. Nothing memorable
Underwhelming soft punk from The Undertones. Seemed a bit formulaic, very simple thoughts and lyrics. Middle of the road listen, not bad but no songs stand out. (2.49*s)
I've said it before that the punk rock formula of a handful of short-burst, high-energy songs works to an extent but only for so long. Luckily this is a pretty short album so as the novelty wears off, the albums gets ready to wrap up. I wouldn't call The Undertones anything special. Seemed like another run of the mill early punk album. There's a bit of a weird twang to the lead singers voice that throws it off a little bit. It's short and mostly un-memorable but could be worse I guess. 2.21
Solidly fine. Fun but nothing special. 2/5 stars.
if I was 12 years old, I would probably like this album more. It’s deafly punk or packages sent and maybe a prototype for nu punk or pop punk
Very mod and very mid. I used to listen to Teenage Kicks and I’m unsure how I ever heard of it. I remember that some British music critic thought it was the best pop song ever (after it went on Top of the Pops). Kinda tough to listen to now though, right? “Teenage sex, ba da buh buh bah! Teenage sex, buh duh buh buh buh”
When WKRP originally aired, they used real rock songs. Popular stuff you’d hear on 70s AM rock radio. They didn’t get perpetual licenses, though, and when it came time for reruns and DVDs, they couldn’t afford any of those songs, so they replaced them with generic knock-offs and sound-alikes. For your listening pleasure, an entire record that sounds like that.
Groupe inconnu. Punk rock dynamique et entrainant. L'album est court malgré ses 16 morceaux, mais je l'ai trouvé un peu lassant. Aucun morceau ne sort du lot. Pas sur de l'écouter une seconde fois. =>2/5
Not my deal
pmo a little ngl
A non-defining punk album for me. Really short, lot of samesy songs.
Not for me, a high 2 because it has clearly influenced a lot of music I love but I just found it boring, especially the vocals.
Rock, but not necessarily melodic. Seems to be a precursor to thrashing rock.
Mediocre pop punk fairly executed. Not a fan.
Solid punk album. Good strong driving riffs and drumming, just wasn’t overly interesting. Short and sharp which was a plus because I was already waiting for it to be over halfway through
Another day another underwhelming new wave, post punk or whatever the fuck this album is from the UK… 1.5
Not bad but nothing special either
Teenage kicks is a classic song.
More punkpop than punk. Not the worst but nothing memorable
Ugh
Uugghh, this is mediocre. I really don't know how this could be an important album. In 1979 I wouldn't have listened to this. It's not bad, but bland. The "pop" in punk pop is way too heavy here. The Police faked it better.
Not for me
OH FUCK OFF. THESE MOTHERFUCKERS HAVE TWO ALBUMS HERE???!! And with this, we have my first repeat album from an artist that previously gave me a 1/5. And of course, I had to get this immediately after my first 1/5 in over 5 months. Suffice it to say, I was not excited in the slightest to listen the the Undertones' 1979 debut album. However, after listening to the album, I can't really say that I actively hate it. In fact, I actually have some praise to give to this album. Don't get me wrong. I still have issues. The lyrical repetition of Hypnotised is still here. I'm still convinced these guys only know how to sing about girls and boys (mostly girls). But hey! At least they didn't say "Boys will be boys" in 20% of the songs! They actually managed to not say it at all here, which I'm very glad to see. I never liked that phrase anyways. Something about it just doesn't resonate with me. So yeah, I still have that major issue with this album. I'm also not huge on the singing. More often than not, punk vocals just aren't really my thing. Where this album really has its successor beat though is in the musical department. My complaints regarding Hypnotised being repetitive weren't just with the lyrics. They also had roots in the songs, which also all sounded the same. I can't say that about their debut though. Some of these songs actually kind of stand out from each other. I know, right?! "Teenage Kicks" is probably the highlight. I'm still not big on that song's lyrics, but sonically speaking, it's a solid song. Overall, I can't say I'm too upset to have listened to this. It doesn't make me want to go back to Hypnotised, and I sure as hell wouldn't call myself an Undertones fan at all. But I can definitely say that they aren't the worst band in the world. Of all the bands to have previously given me a 1, these guys are probably the only one I'd be okay with listening to again. Too bad I still have a second Orbital album to sit through. High 2/5.
I don't do so good with pop punk albums generally, but I guess less so with pop punk from the early 70s rather than the late 90s- early 00s stuff. This one is... fine, it's cute really but there's nothing within it that interests me or held my attention much. At least it was short!
Early British punk is honestly hard to appreciate for me. It's not as sharp and angry as the bigger bands that came later, and not as comforting as traditional rock. I like my coffee hot or cold, but never lukewarm.
Okay 70s punk album.
meh, it was alright but every some felt pretty much the same
2,5
Meh
Of it’s time. It’s okay, fine in its place. Does it hold up as great songwriting, meh no so much.
Almost every single sounds same
fine - teenage kicks put it up a notch
This is my second Undertones album. I'm questioning whether they belong on this list at all but I'm certain that they don't deserve two albums on the list when everything they play pretty much sounds the same. This album is fun and I liked it for the most part but the excessive vibrato used by the lead singer is annoying and pulls me out of what would probably be a more pleasurable listening experience if they only had a different singer.
Probs deserves a 3 - but looking at my previous 3 scores, it just didn't land as well with me nor excite me.
I wasn’t particularly into this one
Ja Punk ist hoid Ned des wohre Nicht ununterhaltsam aber jetzt nix wirklich spaßiges
A bit boring to me
I honestly really don’t have much for this record, since it didn’t give me much to chew on. Or at least there wasn’t much that I haven’t already hear before that was done better by other punk bands. I’m sure this could’ve been massive if you were a British teen in 1979, but I couldn’t connect the dots. 2/5.
Punk soleado, excepto por la voz del cantante que tiene una voz muy apagada, no me gustó mucho, le quita bastante fuerza. Riffs típicos de punk, púa para abajo, algunos punteitos, nada de otro mundo. No me gustó tanto, es bastante verga, seguro tiene una importancia histórica pero no me gustó. La banda tiene teclas, eso está interesante, pero tampoco le agrega tanta riqueza, es súper limitada armónicamente y melódicamente. Tiene los típicos coros con varias voces masculinas del punk. Puedo escuchar dos canciones, todo un álbum te deja PELOTUDO. El punk es la cumbia del rock, sirve para bailarla (cagarte a piñas un rato en un pogo) y no mucho más.
Not great for me but not a 1 star album, some moments of enjoyable catchy tracks but i'll go 2 star here.
quite boring
OK.
I listened to this but I dont remember it at all. 2 stars. Stinks to be a boring white band haha.
Not very impressed so far. First song to stand out to me beside Teenage Kicks is True Confessions (Keyboard Version). Pretty forgettable, 2.5
Gear: Fostex TH610 Artwork: 📸⬛🧱 Production: 🎧😐🆗 Music: 🧷🍀⏳ Rating: 🍀(🍀)/5
I don't think this is really terrible, but its just it feels like any teenage boy with a guitar and an understanding of power chords could have made this. 2.4/5
A perfectly middling record. Sadly, also very forgettable. I found myself unable to remember the band name several times while listening. On the other hand. It's certainly not bad. The production is good throughout, but it can't save the record.
Nothing made me hit repeat. In the end its forgettable.
I simultaneously have heard every one of these song and none of these songs before. If you played the first song and last song and last song and told me they were the same song, I would believe you. 99% of this album is songs about chasing girls, 1% is an ad for Mars Bars. 3/10
Not feeling it
Fine but unremarkable
2.5
Day305 - underwhelming by the undertones
Forgettable Punk Rock.
Going into The Undertones, I was optimistic, knowing Feargal Sharkey’s voice from his solo work. But overall, this album left me underwhelmed. None of the songs really stood out, and even their most famous hit, Teenage Kicks, was just “okay” for me. Some tracks, like True Confessions, felt like unfinished ideas. It had a nice drumming sound, but that was pretty much the whole song. Ultimately, it was a disappointment. Standout track: Teenage Kicks. Score: 2/5.
Dull
I found out that I really dislike this kind of UK 70s punk records. The Clash really were the greatest of them all. If not for this one particular song, I would have given it 1/5
Late stage punk. Maybe call it ‘bubble gum punk’. Basic tweenage lyrics and not so edgy. Parent friendly for kids who don’t want to be grounded. Heavily produced. Not sure why it’s on this list. Nothing to see here.
endalaust af þessu til bara
The Good: songs are short. The Bad: early Feargal Sharkey. The Ugly: Feargal Sharkey. So yeah, short songs are good, and pop punk just isn't. But I did enjoy it once I realized I was listening to good ol' Feargal, whom most people only know for that '80s smash A Good Heart. Gonna give this 2 1/2*
Late 70s pop punk that gets in and out of the way in under 35 minutes. Nothing really noteworthy in my opinion. True confessions was my favorite track, then I realized the version on Spotify is the “keyboard version”, not the version from the original release. So the best song isn’t really even from the album.
I can almost always get behind some music that's played fast and loud even if, as the case is here, it's only a little bit fast and a little bit loud. While it's not as immediately catchy as the Buzzcocks you could hear them sharing the same bill. This is pop-punk before the genre was redefined and packaged for broad consumption in the 90s and 00s. That said, if we're being honest, this record is also a bit more pedestrian. You take the Buzzcocks and a tiny dash of the Clash mix it with a British take on the Ramones...you water that all down, throw in a hint of vocal warble and you kind of have The Undertones. 2.5 stars.
Quite basic and outdated lyrics
Nice, early punk rock/post punk, or whatever it is, just worse than the genre itself. Ultimate garage band, with quality of everything as low as humanly possible. Not really my kind of jam.
Meh, very samey. Could be worse if every song sounded like Casbah Rock, I guess. It was bad and annoying, while the rest was just bad
Energetic but of no other appeal
Made it about 3/4 the way through. Anothers 70s punk / garage rock type album. This one didnt really captivate me- a lot of childish themes. Instrumentation was mostly simple (as is typical for the style) and sometimes effective, sometimes bland. Overall it was fine but not really my thing.
2 or 3 decent 'songs' but it is pretty relentless pop punk, and not really my bag
Bubblegum punk. Who knew?
I think the title to one of the songs might have been "Sounds Like All The Others". It's hard to remember as the whole album bleads together. It's all fine as far as it goes, but it doesn't go far. Listening to American Idiot and The Undertones back to back really brought the relative unambitious nature of this into sharp focus.
So not much to say about The Undertones debut album, which for 1979 was a bit ahead of its time… Short, simple, succinct songs – with a fairly decent sound for that time, and nothing that really sucked, is an accomplishment as far as I’m concerned… I also run it through the lens of – if I had just turned 18 in 1979, and this is what my band and I created – I’d be pretty proud of it… Does it mean that it belongs in the pantheon of great albums of all-time, hell no – but far better than a lot of the “swill” that I have had to listen to on this 1,001 journey… Solid 2 from me…
I hear a little of what the Dead Kennedys are going to sound, but nothing nearly as good.
It's supposed to be pop punk. Not enough catchy to be pop, not enough rebellious to be punk. I don't know what it is then.
Simple pop punk. Quite repetitive- but I didn’t hate it.
some good songs, sounds kind of generic. Nouvelle Vague did a great cover of Teenage Kicks though
Meh nothing standing out about this album. I do appreciate the short runtime.
Daqueles punks que engatam o ritmo e finaliza rapidamente o disco.
Before I start, I must say: you can't proclaim you didn't overstay your welcome when you didn't stay in the first place. Now that that's out of the way, review time. The album is 16 really short, simple songs that are focused heavily on one idea, both musically and lyrically. It is clearly catchy but with its' brevity comes a lack of substance. That can be averted with higher-quality songcraft, but that isn't present here. The album does feature some decent production choices, especially for an early punk record from a bunch of young bandmates. Honorable mention to tracks 9/13 Get Over You/(She's A) Runaround, their brevity and simplicity are countered by more balanced structures and better hooks. It's a decent record, but not outstanding. 2 stars.
Early UK punk. Pretty cool but somewhat forgettable IMO
Not bad for a punk album. I still don't get the appeal of two minute songs that are just loud and fast, but this at least had some musical depth to it. Also wasn't just blast beats for 30 mins. Top tracks: Teenage Kicks, Get Over You, I Know A Girl
2.5 stars
yooo this shit is straight ass 1.5/5
Pop English rock music that sounds like it was close to making a splash but not quite
Underwhelming. Not much interesting to me here, but a solid record if this is what you're into.
It’s catchy and loud and I think it would have been great to hear live at the time. But it’s less great to listen to on headphones on a dog walk. Hard to be objective with these boys because our river saviour Feargal Sharkey has a vendetta against the rivers charity I work for.
Another seventies punk album. Maybe my ears aren't attuned to it, and I suspect they never will be.
We really need to be able to go .5 on the ratings, because this is a perfect 2.5, just bang on average
Punk. I get it.
Fine for background music. 16 tracks clocking at 34 minutes made it an easy listen - but I cannot remember any one song in particular after listening to it. I’m not a punk fan, so I might not be seeing something.
meh, reminds me of lamer Ramones.
i didn't know they punked like this in Ireland. pretty good stuff, but I've never been that big on classic punk.
Some pretty straight forward, yet wholly fun punk-rock/new-wave tunes. Feels bubbly and youthful
Was okay
More boring punk.
It’s a light pink that gets repetitive. I went six tracks in and I don’t think it gets better. Not very good. Rather hear the Ramones or T Rex.
John Lennon soll mal gesagt haben: "I always liked simple rock". Er wäre dann hier voll auf seine Kosten gekommen. Für mich war das Album auf die Dauer zu eintönig.
I really liked True Confessions. Nothing else really stood out.
Simpel-Punk aber ganz lustig. 2S.
Fine, song of the summer was fun and male model was fun. Probably wouldn’t re-listen to the rest of the album
Nothing I'm going to remember.
Ekki leiðinlega leiðinlegt, en þetta er samt svoldið leiðinlegt. Pönk er bara dálítið boring, svona oftast. Og þetta er oftast.
Funny how this is only a 34-minute record, because it feels like it goes on for much longer than that. It's nice that The Undertones figured out a sound, but there's not enough variety or any distinct flavors to keep this album interesting. It's too much of a soundalike of its contemporaries. This will be one of those albums that I will have forgotten about by tomorrow. The sole track worth taking note of is (She's A) Runaround.
Ekki alveg að hitta í mark hjá mér. Röddin í Feargal Sharkey fer líka í taugarnar á mér.
Not my jam
Like a weak version of the sex pistols.
Extremely average, like most punk music from this time period. Completely uninteresting and unremarkable, but not the worst thing ever made or anything. Meh.
mid old rocky stuff
Okay
Not very impressed. It could be that modern bands have refined this style so much that this one album sounds too simplistic/dated to me. Will I listen to any song here again? Unlikely.
Not my favorite