Contains all single versions - none of 12 inch B-sides and a 4:19 version of 'The Love Parade'

Mick Houghton

Some records just stop you dead in your tracks when you first hear them, 'Teenage Kicks' was such a record. It was never a gigantic hit, of course, but it heralded the .arrival of the Undertones, the first of thirteen singles in the course of their recording history from 1978 to 1983.

Single by single they made music which was largely against the grain of post-punk pop. In a world of mods, rockabillies, new romantics and dour northern groups in long raincoats, the Undertones were, simply, the Undertones. Refreshingly unfashionable, lacking the required image, they looked and sounded like nobody else around. They were unmistakable. Not all the singles were hits, as such, but you'll remember them all from the early thrust of .Teenage Kicks', .Get Over You' and 'You Got My Number', via the brash charm of .Jimmy Jimmy' and 'My Perfect Cousin' to the later more sophisticated songs 'It's Going To Happen', .Julie Ocean', .Beautiful Friend' and 'The Love Parade'. These were peerless, precision pop songs, timeless because they were so totally uncontrived and so completely out on their own.

Scarcely a harsh word was ever written about the Undertones, their genuine inability to pose or pontificate disarmed the most hardened critics. No-one could ever quite come to grips with their apparent innocence and naivity. They weren't at all naive, of course, they just came across that way and, to some extent, it prevented their, later work from being taken as seriously as it deserved. Regarded as perpetual teenagers, no-one, it seemed, wanted them to grow up. Accordingly, the songwriting prowess of John O'Neill, and later of brother Damian, usually writing with Michael Bradley, never received the acclaim it warranted.

Perhaps the most overlooked aspect of the Undertones was the sheer brilliance of their musicianship, particularly on their later recordings. Inevitably Feargal Sharkey's remarkable singing was singled out for attention but there was no weak link in the group.

And nowhere was the Undertones chemistry more inescapable than in live performances. I'd swear that on their day they could have raised the dead.

It's sad to think that we'll never see the five of them amble on stage together again but at least we still have the records to wonder at and they'll still be as fresh and vital ten years from now. That's the true test of a great group, this collection provides ample evidence that they will pass that test.

All Wrapped up label

Management - Andrew Ferguson, Nancy Phillips, Cracks YO Ltd

Thanks - Rocking Humdinger's members, John Peel, Paul McNally Martin Cole, Geraldine Oakley, Paul Woolf, Paul Charles,Lionel Martin, Rob Dickins, Graham Cook, and Mineko Yokoyama

Dressed to Grill

• Photograph by Rupert Pretious
• Model: Cath Johnson
• Group Photograph:Eric Watson
• Design Coordination: Bush Hollyhead N.T.A