The Undertones is the 1979 debut album by The Undertones. The album was recorded at Eden Studios in Acton, West London in January 1979 and was released on 13 May that year. The original release included just one single release: "Jimmy Jimmy" and an album version of "Here Comes The Summer", which was never released as a single. A re-released version of the album, was issued in October 1979. The re-released album also included The Undertones' first two singles: "Teenage Kicks" and "Get Over You" alongside both "Jimmy Jimmy" and a single version of "Here Comes The Summer", which had been released in July. In addition, the song "Casbah Rock" was included as the final track of the album.
Recording
The Undertones' eponymous debut album was recorded at Eden Studios in January 1979. The album was produced by Roger Bechirian, with whom the band had worked with for the first time the previous month, when Bechirian had produced the band's second single, "Get Over You". Much of the material upon this album had been performed regularly at the Casbah; a venue in Derry where the band had regularly performed since 1977, with some songs having only been written towards the end of 1978. The album itself was recorded in the space of less than four weeks.
Cover photography
The photographs of the band which adorn the front and rear cover of the initial release of The Undertones were taken in Bull Park, Derry, in late January 1979 following the completion of the Eden Studios recording sessions of the LP. The photography was taken by Derry Journal photographer Larry Doherty. The band themselves insisted on the photography being black and white, with them depicted sat upon a wall within Derry as the band wished to replicate the cover photography of the Ramones' first album—albeit only to a degree. The front and rear cover photography of the re-released version of the album was taken by Jill Furmanovsky.
Critical reception
Reviewing in , Robert Christgau wrote: "Nice lads, nice lads—suddenly the world is teeming with nice lads. I like their punky speed and adolescent authenticity, but I'd prefer the reverse—among adolescents these days the speed takes care of itself, while finding something besides teendom to write about is a problem."
Accolades
Numerous polls conducted since 1979 have placed The Undertones as one of the greatest albums to be released in the 1970s and one of the Top 40 punk/new wave albums of all time, with the single "Teenage Kicks" being listed by BBC Radio 2 as the 51st best song ever released.
A 1979 end of year critics' list published by Melody Maker placed The Undertones as the sixth best album to be released that year.
The album was ranked at No. 17 among the top "Albums of the Year" for 1979 by NME, with "Get Over You" ranked at No. 32 among the year's top tracks. A 1993 poll by NME placed The Undertones as the 50th greatest album to be released in the 1970s.
In a 2000 poll conducted by Q magazine, to find the '100 Greatest British Albums Ever' as voted by the British public, The Undertones' eponymous debut LP was voted the 90th greatest album ever written by British artists.
A 2006 poll by UK-based rock music magazine Kerrang! lists The Undertones as the 19th greatest punk album ever to be released.
The Undertones' debut LP was also listed in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die:" a poll selected and written by 90 leading international music critics.
Track listing
Sides one and two were combined as tracks 1–14 on CD reissues.
