Name: Positive Touch
Brand: The Undertones

Tax rate EU

Default:19

Supplier EU

Warner Music Group Germany Holding GmbH

Total Cap

Format detail

Colour details

Discogs ID

Limited edition

Colour

Format Music EU

Extended format

Extended format: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Download code

Download code: No

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Release date

2023-08-25

Format multiplier

Catalogue number

405053886330

UPC / Barcode

4050538863307

Artist

The Undertones

Label EU

BMG Rights Management

Genre EU

Alternative / Modern

The Undertones formed in Derry, Northern Ireland, in 1975. Their debut EP, Teenage Kicks, was released by Belfast record shop owner Terry Hooley on his Good Vibrations label in September 1978. The song captivated Britain's top DJ, John Peel, who played the song on his BBC radio show. This attracted a deal from Sire, which released the band's debut LP in April 1979.

A second LP, Hypnotised, was recorded and released in 1980, followed in 1981 by their first LP for EMI, Positive Touch. The Sin Of Pride was released in 1983 before the Undertones split up after a series of summer festival gigs.

Feargal Sharkey launched a short-lived solo career while the O'Neills won critical plaudits for their tough-minded political band That Petrol Emotion. Hopes of re-forming the original lineup fell apart after the O'Neills' father died. Their first new album in 20 years Get What You Need was released in September 2003.

BMG Rights Management is a multinational label that was established as a joint venture between Bertelsmann AG and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. It operates under the name BMG Chrysalis in the USA, UK, and Sweden, following its acquisition of Chrysalis plc. In 2012, Bertelsmann bought out Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.'s share of the company after an unsuccessful attempt to acquire EMI's recorded-music assets. While BMG Rights Management is the successor of the original Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG), it has undergone significant changes and now operates independently with no connection to its former incarnation.

BMG Rights Management 

The Undertones formed in Derry, Northern Ireland, in 1975 and released their third album Positive Touch in 1981 which peaked at #17 in the UK Charts. Positive Touch marks the departure from speedy pop-punk of their first two debut albums though the songwriting remains as tight and lively with plenty of hooks that keep you listening. The punk-derived energy is almost entirely gone, replaced by a more varied and softer instrumental palette that features new textures like piano (courtesy of Paul Carrack, then in Squeeze) recorders and brass instrumentation. Features the lovely "Julie Ocean" which has an undercurrent of anxiety, as well as much faster tracks like the pounding opener "Fascination" and the near- paranoid "His Goodlooking Girlfriend" are downright nerve-wracking. This reissue is an exact replica of the embossed original sleeve and has been pressed on white colour vinyl for the first time.

Positive Touch

Music EU