This two-disc set is more or less a belated CD issue of the 1983 compilation
All Wrapped Up, thankfully replacing the icky cover photo of the earlier set with a more appropriate group shot. However,
Undertones completists and trainspotters might balk at some of the seemingly arbitrary track substitutions made on this issue: For example, the singles from 1981's
The Positive Touch,
"Julie Ocean" and
"Life's Too Easy," were completely re-recorded for their 7" release, but this set uses the original album versions. Similarly,
Hypnotised's album track
"Hard Luck" appears instead of the looser remake
"Hard Luck (Again)," which was the flip of the
"My Perfect Cousin" single. (These alternate takes are readily available on the
Essential and
Rykodisc expanded reissues of the four original albums.) Those minor nitpicks aside,
True Confessions hits the highest points of
the Undertones' career, which almost invariably occurred on their singles. Besides the obvious classics
"Get Over You" and
"Teenage Kicks," gems like
"Mars Bars," "My Perfect Cousin," and
"Wednesday Week" are among the finest
punk-pop songs of their era. Though
the Undertones never got the attention they were due in the U.S. and were largely ignored in the U.K. after their first couple of albums, they remain one of the most vital groups of their time, and one of the few whose best work sounds as fresh now as it did when it was released. ~ Stewart Mason
