The Undertones - Dig Yourselves Deep

Middle-aged dreams: even harder to beat

“The Undertones have never had a career plan,” pleads bassist Michael Bradley, “but around the start of 2006, it occurred to us that maybe it would be good to make another record…” Jeez, what kind of world do we live in, when every 60s band still capable of standing just won’t sit down; when tickets to see The Police at Twickenham are £90, and arguably the best band in the world ever feel they have to apologise for existing? Here are huge riffs, attitude, lovelorn wistfulness, a cheeky singer with a vaguely familiar warble in his throat, timeless Undertones guitars, and jeans that haven’t been in the wash for four months. All-time sublime power-punkers are pointed up with Tomorrow’s Tears and the quirky delicacy of Fight My Corner. If only Peel were still spinning with us. Here Comes The Rain could easily have been spun twice on the trot (like Teenage Kicks in 1979 and Thrill Me in 2003), quite possibly with seven or eight seconds of dead air and a breathless apology for having been off “bopping” around the studio. Mercifully, some things never change.

Cooking Vinyl | COOKCD 438

Reviewed by Derek Hammond
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