TONED DOWN

BEWARE OF white-label advance cassettes. In my eagerness to encourage you all to rush out and buy the new Best Of The Undertones album, my review in the last issue jumped the gun by a couple of weeks.

The official release date is actually scheduled for September 13th though it may be a little while after that before it becomes widely available. However, judging by the number of people who've been asking me about the compilation since I wrote about it, it seems certain that when it does eventually reach the shops it's going to sell like the proverbial heated bakery products.

Now comes my second mea culpa. The Best Of The Undertones is not being released on Sire Records as I suggested, but on the Castle Communications label. The final days of The Undertones were marred by record company hassles but manager Andy Ferguson has at last succeeded in untangling most of the legal undergrowth and regained the rights to virtually all of the back catalogue. Castle Communication with whom they have signed a new deal are a label that specialises in best ofs, reissues and compilations.

declined

Meanwhile, there is still considerable disappointment in the camp about Feargal Sharkey's ongoing refusal to involve himself in any Undertones reunion. Earlier this year, Asgard Promotions offered a figure "very close to a quarter of a million pounds" if the group would reform for a series of only five dates on five Saturdays during this summer. Four members of the group (Mickey Bradley, Billy Doherty, Damien O'Neill and John O'Neill) jumped at the offer but Sharkey who now works as an A&R man with Polydor in London emphatically declined, citing work commitments as his reason.

The former frontman has so far proved reluctant to even involve himself in publicity for the forthcoming compilation. Recently, the aforementioned Undertones Four travelled to London for interviews with some of the British music mags. Sharkey was invited along and informed where the press confabs were taking place. However, he failed to show up.

The Undertones Four are all at present in gainful employment. Mickey Bradley is a producer with BBC Radio Foyle, Billy Doherty works at the United Technologies factory in Derry and runs his own studio (Big River Studio), Damien O'Neill plays guitar with That Petrol Emotion and John O'Neill is heavily involved in Derry's North West Musicians Collective.

WITHDRAWN

However, as founding member and drummer, Billy Doherty, explains the reunion appealed to each of them as a once in a lifetime offer.

"We could all do with the money," he says. "This is the first time that we'd really been given a chance to make any money out of The Undertones. It seemed a brilliant deal. There was also talk of a live video being released after the gigs. And the fact that they were going to be on five Saturdays meant that it wasn't even going to cause much disruption to people's jobs."

Nevertheless, despite his colleagues' enthusiasm for the project, Feargal Sharkey remained unmoved and the Asgard offer was eventually withdrawn.

Maybe when he sees how well the compilation does, he'll change his mind. After all, he does have a 'Good Heart'.