HYPNOTISED

The Undertones: Feargal Sharkey (vocals); Damian O'Neill, John O'Neill (guitar); Michael Bradley (bass); Billy Doherty (drums). Recorded at Wisseloord Studios, Hilversum, Holland and Eden Studios, London, England. Includes liner notes by Paul Lester. Despite initial appearances--a blurry sleeve shot of two band members enjoying a seafood supper--1980's HYPNOTISED marked the Undertones' commercial apogee. It announced itself with an opening salvo called "More Songs About Chocolate And Girls," both a cheeky nod to Talking Heads' own second album and a mission statement of sorts. To the relief of fans, the band's concerns hadn't changed since their debut LP and accompanying flurry of spunky, guitar-driven pop 45s. If the comedic teen angst anthem "My Perfect Cousin" marked a logical edge towards center in the pop arena that welcomed them, then its follow-up "Wednesday Week" was a more intricate effort. The album's "Girls That Don't Talk" and "Tearproof" further displayed the Undertones' emergent '60s bubblegum and garage influences beside the closer to home punked-up glitter pop stomp of "Hard Luck." It may have lacked the concise, blistering perfection of "Teenage Kicks," and John O'Neill's songwriting hadn't yet developed into the complex and occasionally dazzling clutch of songs that made up POSITIVE TOUCH, but HYPNOTISED, as knowing as it sometimes appeared nanve, was truly the Undertones' moment.