Positive Touch

Positive Touch is a 1981 album by the Undertones. The album, the third to be released by the band and the last to be produced by Roger Bechirian, was recorded between January and February 1981 at Wisseloord studios in The Netherlands.[3] The LP was released in May that year, reaching number 17 in the UK Albums Chart.[4]

Positive Touch
Studio album by
The Undertones
Released5 May 1981
RecordedJanuary–February 1981
StudioWisseloord Studios, Holland
GenreRock
Length37:49
LabelArdeck-EMI (UK)
Harvest (US)
Rykodisc (US CD reissue)
Dojo Records (UK CD reissue)
Sanctuary Records (UK CD reissue)
ProducerRoger Bechirian
The Undertones chronology
Hypnotised
(1980)		 Positive Touch
(1981)		 The Sin of Pride
(1983)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]
Robert Christgau(B+)[2]

The original LP release included the UK chart hits: "It's Going to Happen!", which reached number 18 in the UK Singles Chart in May 1981, and an album version of "Julie Ocean", which reached number 41 upon release in July the same year.

Although the majority of the songs contained upon this album were largely inspired by the same subjects as the songs upon the two previous albums released by the band at this stage in their career (both of which generally contained lyrical matter concerning teenage angst), Positive Touch was the first and only album released by the Undertones to contain songs which drew lyrical inspiration from the Troubles relating to the political and social background in which the members of the band had been born and raised. The single "It's Going to Happen!" was directly inspired by the 1981 hunger strikes in Northern Ireland and was performed on Top of the Pops on the day one of the participants in these hunger strikes, Bobby Sands, died.[5] Three further songs upon the LP ("You're Welcome", "Crisis of Mine" and "Sigh and Explode") were also lyrically inspired by the Troubles, although none of the material the band were to subsequently release drew influence from these sources.

Background

The majority of the songs released upon Positive Touch were more experimental than the band's previous material, with instruments such as pianos, recorders, and brass instruments added to the group's sound. Guitarist Damian O'Neill recalled: "We'd moved away from the Ramones. Dexys was my thing. And we were listening to a lot of the Stones, Aftermath in particular—it's more 1966 than 1981—Love, Blues Magoos, that kind of sound, which was out of sync with the likes of Duran Duran. But it was also out of sync with what we were doing a year earlier. It wasn't a complete failure: 'It's Going To Happen!' was Top 20, but that turned out to be our last hit."[6]

Track listing
Side one
No.TitleWritten byLength
1."Fascination"J. J. O'Neill2:19
2."Julie Ocean"J. J. O'Neill1:45
3."Life's Too Easy"J. J. O'Neill, Michael Bradley, Damian O'Neill2:30
4."Crisis of Mine"J. J. O'Neill2:23
5."You're Welcome"J. J. O'Neill2:43
6."His Good Looking Girlfriend"J. J. O'Neill, Michael Bradley, Damian O'Neill2:35
7."The Positive Touch"J. J. O'Neill2:16
Side two
No.TitleWritten byLength
1."When Saturday Comes"J. J. O'Neill2:49
2."It's Going to Happen!"Damian O'Neill, Michael Bradley3:34
3."Sigh And Explode"Damian O'Neill2:44
4."I Don't Know"J. J. O'Neill, Michael Bradley, Damian O'Neill2:17
5."Hannah Doot"J. J. O'Neill2:50
6."Boy Wonder"Damian O'Neill, Michael Bradley2:04
7."Forever Paradise"J. J. O'Neill2:54
Bonus tracks (issued on CD releases only, the first five bonus tracks are also issued on download releases)
No.TitleWritten byLength
1."Fairly in the Money Now"Tommy Tate and The Torpedoes*2:30
2."Beautiful Friend"J. J. O'Neill, Michael Bradley, Damian O'Neill3:27
3."Life's Too Easy" (single version)J. J. O'Neill, Michael Bradley, Damian O'Neill2:43
4."Julie Ocean" (single version)J. J. O'Neill3:36
5."Kiss in the Dark"J. J. O'Neill, Michael Bradley,2:33
6."Untouchable" (Peel session)Damian O'Neill3:19
7."The Love Parade" (Peel session)Damian O'Neill, Michael Bradley4:08
8."Luxury" (Peel session)J. J. O'Neill2:28
9."The Sin of Pride" (Peel session)Damian O' Neill, Michael Bradley3:44
  • Tommy Tate and The Torpedoes was a pseudonym for Damian O' Neill.
"We went into it, and came out of it, very happy with the direction we were going in. It wasn't based on any great discussions within the band; it was a natural progression for us. The first LP was based on what we were listening to in [the] O'Neills' front room. Positive Touch came out of what we'd been listening to since that."

Michael Bradley, reflecting on the Undertones' mindset and musical inspiration behind the songs upon Positive Touch (2009)[7]

Accolades
  • Positive Touch was voted number 28 in the 1981 NME 'Albums of the Year'.[8]
  • In 1986, one album track from the Positive Touch album, "When Saturday Comes",[9] became the inspiration for the title of the UK football fanzine of the same name.[10] This song was not released as a single in the United Kingdom, but was released as a single in the Netherlands.[11]


Personnel
The Undertones
Additional musicians
  • Paul Carrack - piano (upon "Life's too Easy" and "Fascination")
  • Neill King - trumpet (upon "It's Going to Happen!" and "His Good Looking Girlfriend")
  • Dick Blewett - saxophone (upon "It's Going to Happen!" and "His Good Looking Girlfriend")
gollark: Probably, but it's one of the annoying ones with non-user-replaceable batteries!
gollark: In the car situation.
gollark: Also, wireless probably uses more power than wired on the phone end, for... not much benefit as far as I can tell.
gollark: I would prefer a car with *less* fancy shiny computer stuff in it, because computers → horrible security flaws everywhere.
gollark: I'm so excited about the amazing shiny technological future.

References
  1. "Positive Touch - The Undertones - Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 11 December 2017.
  2. "Robert Christgau: CG: undertones". Robertchristgau.com. Retrieved 11 December 2017.
  3. Teenage Kicks: My Life as an Undertone p. 185
  4. "Positive Touch". Connollyco.com. 2006-02-27. Retrieved 2012-03-05.
  5. Archived 2012-10-03 at the Wayback Machine
  6. Houghton, Mick (November 2008). "The Undertones: Teenage Dreams, So Hard To Beat". Uncut. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
  7. Sleeve notes for Positive Touch/The Sin of Pride 2009 CD reissue p. 6
  8. "Rocklist.net...NME End Of Year Lists 1981..." Rocklistmusic.co.uk. Retrieved 11 December 2017.
  9. The Rough Guide to Rock ISBN 1-85828457-0 p. 1121
  10. "When Saturday Comes magazine". Wsc.co.uk. Retrieved 11 December 2017.
  11. "The Undertones – When Saturday Comes". Discogs.com. 2014-05-15. Retrieved 2017-03-06.
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