The Best Of The Undertones

ELVIS PRESLEY was so lonely he could die, and he did. Sid Vicious self-destructed, his way. But The Undertones, they just wanted to get teenage kicks all through the night. Now, tell me, which of those epitaphs would you prefer?

The Undertones sprung up in an era when people, not manufactured personalities, made music. Yet, even by the standards of their time, there was something exceptionally raw and real about the band. Call it the height of anti-glamour if you like but these guys were still living at home and holding down day jobs in Derry during the period when they were appearing on Top of the Pops.

Emboldened by the security of family, friends and the town they love and hated so well, The Undertones took a punk safety-pin to their own lives and jabbed it in with devastating effect.

But all of that wouldn't have necessarily mattered a damn if they hadn't been so familiar with what makes things tick under the hood of a well-lubed rock song. And, from the vantage point of all these years later, one can really only marvel at just how musically sussed and canny these pop mechanics were. For all their adolescent vulnerability and naïve enthusiasm, there's an aura of accomplishment and savvied confidence that surrounds literally every beat of early singles like 'Get Over You', 'Jimmy Jimmy', 'Here Comes The Summer' and 'You Got My Number'. And then, there's 'Teenage Kicks'! What can you really say about this dazzling debut single that won't have you breathalysed by the superlative-police. Originally written as a paean to wanking, Feargal Sharkey apparently felt more comfortable singing "I wanna hold her, I wanna hold her tight' than "I wanna hold it, I wanna hold it tight" but the song is still the most seismic statement to issue forth from an Irishman's mouth since Fionn MacCool sat his oral Irish exam.

The Best Of The Undertones is a welcome release, especially since both previous compilations, the excellent All Wrapped Up and the not-quite-so excellent Cher O'Bowlies, seems to have been unobtainable for some time now. In twenty-five tracks, this new collection tells the whole story from soup to nuts, hits and misses all present and correct. It's especially interesting to see the band's musical development laid out in this way and, in particular, the maturing of Sharkey as a vocalist and Sean O'Neill as a lyricist, though I will still maintain that the latter's finest moment came with "His mother bought 'im a synthesiser/Got the Human League in to advise her" ('My Perfect Cousin'). Other band's stars may have burned brighter but few have shed so much light as The Undertones. We will definitely never see their like again.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to relive the glory days.

• Liam Fay