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All Wrapped Up

Here's another of the compilation cassettes I bought this summer, having taken home a Denon twin-deck hi-fi cassette player from the local charity shop. All Wrapped Up is a 1983 compilation of singles by The Undertones, with Side One filled with A-sides, and B-sides on Side Two. A cassette must be the least desirable medium for such an arrangement, with a long rewind required if one just wants to hear the hits repeatedly.

The Undertones were unapologetically provincial and anti-fashionable, with their songs sharply-written slices of life that pointedly avoided any mention of politics, or of the then-continuing violence in their native Derry. My favourite tracks are the obvious choices: 'Teenage Kicks', 'Jimmy Jimmy', 'Here Comes the Summer', 'My Perfect Cousin' & 'Wednesday Week'. Their later singles showed increased sophistication but lack the some of the straightforward charm of their earlier work.

The B-sides, not unexpectedly, are more hit-&-miss, but there are some gems among them too, like 'Emergency Cases' and the unsolicited advertisement that is 'Mars Bars'. I can't say I like the cover picture, which the insert notes explain is a shot by one Rupert Pretious entitled "Dressed to Grill". I only hope model Cath Johnson was well-rewarded for being encased in meat products.

After 333 posts in 341 days, this blog has come to an end, and is itself now "all wrapped up". I do have several hundred more CDs, LPs, singles (and a few other tapes) I could conceivably bang on about, but to continue would bring diminished returns. My thanks & apologies to anyone who has stopped by to take a look!

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