Hypnotised
The Undertones
1980
Album Summary
Hypnotised is a 1980 album released by The Undertones. The album, the second of four released by the band, was recorded at Wisseloord Studios in the Netherlands in December 1979, and at Eden Studios in London in January 1980, with the majority of the songs to appear on the album being written between March and December 1979. In addition, although the primary lyrical concern of the songs upon this album focused upon teenage angst, boisterousness, and heartbreak (as had been the case with their debut album), several of the songs upon Hypnotised are notably both lyrically and musically more sophisticated than material released upon The Undertones.Produced by Roger Bechirian between December 1979 and January 1980, Hypnotised was released on 21 April 1980, reaching number 6 in the UK Albums Charts and making Hypnotised the highest-charting album of their career. The original release of Hypnotised included two singles: "My Perfect Cousin", which was released on 28 March 1980 and reached number 9 in the charts; and "Wednesday Week", released on 5 July 1980 and which charted at number 11 three weeks later.
WikipediaAnd this is exactly why I wanted to join this group. Why have I never heard of these guys? And I'm from Canada where we love everything from the UK (apparently). UK music gets plenty of airtime. I've been going through 90's rock recently discovering some of the pioneering UK bands from that era (that are excellent) and I'd put these guys in that mix for 70's-80's punk. Just as good as any Ramones album. Loved it all - and now I've got a band to go listen to more of.
Hypnotised is dumb pop-punk fun from a band that seems smart enough to see the value in such a thing. The melodies and riffs are catchy, and while it's far from a unique sound (even the vocalist's almost-bleating style reminded me of Roxy Music on occasion), I figured it was from further on in the 80s than it was. I feel like I'm getting an incomplete picture going into it blind given that there appears to be a theme of avoiding a sophomore slump for this second album, but the band feels genuine in their insecurities, making the irony of a track like "More Songs About Chocolate and Girls" come off less smug than it may be coming from another group. Cutting a track or two would probably make for a more enjoyable complete listen, but if I was thumbing through the soundtrack menu of a late-era Tony Hawk game, where this music sounds like it belongs, I wouldn't toggle any of them off. Key Tracks: Here Comes Norman, Under the Boardwalk, Hard Luck
The vocal tone is killer. I'm digging the bass work. There Goes Norman is a bop! Man, I am having a lot of fun listening to this album.
Just a solid punk album. I really enjoyed it. There wasn't much that stood out but it was fun. The lyrics didn't take themselves seriously, the tracks were full of energy, and the production was solid but not polished (which is proper for punk). I liked it.
Die 2. Platte der Undertones in dieser Liste. Leute: die Undertones sind gar nicht mal so gut! 0 Platten der Undertones wäre angebrachter. Kann ich nicht durchhören.
Love it! Even moreso than their last album we received. Simple pop punk with dumb (but aware) lyrics. Great fun! Top Tracks : “Hypnotised” “Whats With Terry?” “There Goes Norman”
I love punk, by which I mean the 70s' variant, not Green Day and their ilk. In fact, the music I was weaned on was punk; my brother is 15 years older than me, so I got all his old punk LPs in the 90s. Anyway, depite that, I have never liked the song Teenage Kicks; I found it mawkish and overplayed. It still never really appealed even after I realised it was about wanking. Nevertheless, I lsitened to listen without prejudice and I loved it! The Undertones were really a great adolescent band, and this album showed a slight addition of postpunk jerkiness. Above all, this album is fun, unalloyed joy. What else do you want?
A great album that reminds me of a better time in music when things were not afraid to be original
The first four Undertones albums are all great (same goes for Skids - not sure if their albums are also on the list but they should). I probably have listened to Hypnotized the most, nonstop catchy pop punk songs.
I love The Undertones' self titled, but I don't return to this one as much. Still, it's a great album. Maybe closer to 4.5, but I always round up and I've had so many bad albums recently.
Really good. Unmistakably The Undertones. Not as snarky as Sharkey often is. Wednesday Week is the clear stand out track from this album.
How have I've only just discovered the Undertones' Hypnotised album? I can't remember having this much fun listening to an album in a long time. And only 40 years too late! Is this the best album ever made? Absolutely not. But this proto poppunk makes me want to move and makes an bop my head. 4,5*
So happy to get this. Absolutely love it. Played it a million times at the time. It really reminds me of being a geeky teen (still am geeky!) Listening back it has an authenticity that can't be bought. This is New Wave at it's best. Guitars, drums, bass and Feargal Sharkey. And I did have that Perfect Cousin that is now a millionaire.....it's enough to make you cry.
I’ve enjoyed poppy-punk since the 90’s… so it is pretty fun to go back to the late 70’s and early 80’s to hear some older takes on that genre. I loved The Undertones’ debut album and I love this album. Fun!
Really had a fun time listening, but need to revisit to distinguish more songs since the sound was so cohesive it all blended together.
nice upbeat punk album that has lyrically a lot of content to add that might be lacking in other albums in the genre
Fun album. The music was good but the songs all sounded the same. I liked it overall.
Really fun album. Enjoyed the energy and that is was punk that’s only significant quality musically was being loud. Favorite Tracks: “More Songs About Chocolate and Girls” and “See That Girl”
Maybe it’s the crappy music I’ve gotten all week making me biased, but this album IS GREAT. Just some northern Irish blokes having a laugh
Este género rockero sí me gusta, jaja. Ya es como rock con algo de punk y pues el sonido del rock pop. El disco: ligero, fluye, rápido, ritmos ágiles, definitivamente su teenage angst me da para creer que ojalá lo hubiera escuchado justo en la etapa adolescente. No conocía ni sabía de The Undertones. Mis pistas favoritas: "Hypnotised", "Hard Luck", "My Perfect Cousin", "Tearproof" y, en primer lugar, "Wednesday Week", con una forma de arrastrar (?) las vocales que siempre me gusta. 9/10
Divertido, energético, vibras veraniegas, pero no sé si me atrapa lo suficiente para volver a escucharlo. Lo que sí puedo apreciar y agradecer del disco es que la corta duración de sus canciones hacen del disco más llevadero a pesar de que son 18 pistas. Ancestro de Vampire Weekend y ese tipo de banditas? Track favorito: Hard luck (again) B side porque es como un buen logro del copy paste dejando solo lo chido de la canción original Mood: chillin' an' killin'
Have never heard anything from them before but loved it! A fun easy listen in the early days of the Pop Punk sound. 1) More Songs About Chocolate And Girls 4* 2) Thee Goes Norman 4* 3) Hypnotised 4* 4) See That Girl 3* 5) Whizz Kids 3* 6) Under The Boardwalk 4* 7) The Way Girls Talk 3* 8) Hard Luck 3* 9) My Perfect Cousin 4* 10) Boys Will Be Boys 4* 11) Tearproof 3* 12) Wednesday Week 4* 13) Nine Times Out Of Ten 4* 14) Girls That Don't Talk 4* 15) What's With Terry 4*
Enjoyed this way more than expected. Fergal Sharkey's voice is a bit marmite and I'm on the wrong side of that divide, but there's no denying the infectious energy. Interestingly and unusually for rock music, I think almost every song is in 2/4 time. In any event, all the same beat, and all the song lyrics are variations on either "it's not fair, he's got more than me" or "it's not fair, she doesn't love me" but nevertheless I still loved it. Avoided this sort of stuff like the plague in the 70s (along with all punk/new wave) but happy to discover I was wrong.
Album kind slaps I'll be honest. It gives me hard anemoia vibes. Like I feel really heavy nostalgia for the time period this album evokes. These like 1980's finding love for the first time next to a beach in the sun. It's pretty cool. It doesn't feel dated like most of the other albums I've listened to. At least not in bad cheesy way. But there is definitely some cheese in there.
Good solid punk album. The vocals started to grate on me after a while, though. Standout tracks for me: “There Goes Norman” and “Under The Boardwalk.”
Yet again, I am my parents child. I really enjoyed this album and have been singing My Perfect Cousin ever since. Very much seems like an influence of T-Rextasy who I would kill to watch at the Empty Bottle again.
This was a nice surprise and quite suitable for me as it was not too raw Post-Punk. Still melodic music, singing was also actual singing so this deserves a 4
Great album! Everything I love: punk guitar riffs, simple song structures, catchy choruses, and an overall fun experience.
This is kind of a weird album. The music is great and well-produced. Their voices are a bit grating, and their lyrics leave a lot to be desired. Overall it's a pretty interesting listen, but it kind of feels like the music is being wasted a bit by not having better vocal accompaniment 4/5, though very far on the low end of 4
This album is 100% fun to borrow from Matthew Sweet. This is pop punk at its best. Fearful Sharkeys voice gives the album a note of whimsy, but the chorus are as tough and ucompriing, 3 75 stars
A bit on the bizarre sounding side, but it's upbeat and fun. Solidly 3.5+, so we'll call it a 4.
Tolles Album. Hat mich an die Replacements erinnert. Der Sänger trällert manchmal wie Jello Biafra. Schön!
This was really fun and a good indicator of what PopPunk should be. A fun little tidbit about this band, they're from Derry, Northern Ireland and were popular during 'The Troubles'. I highly recommend the Netflix series 'Derry Girls' which takes place at the same time and gives a visual to what it was like being young during this period.
This was a straightforward but fun punk rock album that could grow on me even more with repeated listens.
I wish I had known about this kind of music when I was in high school and it was brand new. Who knows, maybe I would have rejected it because it wasn't the classic rock that I was passionate about, but man I really like it now. I guess I was vaguely aware of bands like the Clash and the Sex Pistols, but punk and post-punk largely escaped my attention. It would have been great to see some of these bands live. In any case, I liked this a lot. I've heard a couple songs by the Undertones, but most of this was new to me. 4 stars.
The Undertones are more of a singles band than an album band, imo. But this album does have one of the classic singles on it. Not just by them, but of all time. My Perfect Cousin and Wednesday Week are excellent examples of punk pop perfection, both in the lyrics and the melody. Great version of ‘Boardwalk’, too. Some of the album is a bit filler, but I love this band, and album, for proving that punk didn’t always have to take itself too seriously.
Super fun. Like a punkier and less mature Squeeze. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Has to be one of the daftest album covers of all time, but I can't help but like that too.
Just good clean fun, with a smart dash of self awareness that isn’t allowed to rise to such a level as to overshadow the intent. A little lightweight, but when it’s so clearly and deteriminedly by design, is that really a minus?
If this is punk, it's definitely one of the best I've heard. I had fun listening to it
Good garage rock. Not really punk, none of the anti-establishment content that marks punk out from the rest, and technically too smooth. Feargal Sharkey had a unique voice, that makes them unmistakable.
notes - cool delivery and style from the singer - most songs are under 3 mins, get in and get out - i like the cover art - i had head “my perfect cousin” at a store and it made me laugh, didnt know who it was until now fav song - hypnotised - cool guitar part, catchy chorus, lots of energy in the vocals least fav - whizz kids - felt like a bit of a by-the-numbers punk song album won me over more as it went on 4/5
Not too sure about the lyrics/subject matter of the songs, as I was doing dishes and making dinner while listening, but it was pretty darn catchy.
Simple and energetic pop punk from 1980. Very cool! I have only one issue with such albums - there's like 50 songs on it and they all sound very much alike. Hard to really pick something out of it as a result. Still, the album is very consistent throughout its entire duration (pretty short) and is packed with cool hooks. The instrumentals, production, lyrics - all of that is simple and just stands out of the way of pure fun coming from listening to this record. Plus, this is a great album to listen to while driving! Favorites: There Goes Norman, See That Girl (with a bit of a 60s parapapa in the background), Under The Boardwalk, Wednesday Week (totally sounds like a Beatles song) 4/5
Great album, but albums were not primarily where the Undertones were at imo. Peerless with the 3 minute 45rpm, with Teenage Kicks being in my all time top ten singles. On this album we have two absolute classics - My Perfect Cousin and Wednesday Week
bello, putroppo l'ho ascoltato veloce perche' e' un periodo che no trovavo le cuffie e devo recuperare
Loved this album, just bop after bop. Favourite tracks (in no particular order): Under the Boardwalk, My Perfect Cousin, What's With Terry, There Goes Norman, and Boys Will Be Boys. 4.5