Background for sale

After 20 something years I am selling my prized collection of Undertones records. I started collecting as a spotty 17 year old and basically brought every single Undertones/Feargal Sharkey record I could find. I am now 43 and the time for sentiment has gone and the time is right to let somebody else enjoy my collection.

In memory of the great John Peel, for whom I am eternally grateful, where better to start than with my Teenage Kicks collection. Nothing like starting with the best. All my Teenage Kicks items are starting with a kick-off price of £4.99. Once you see the sort of stuff I am selling you will realise they are worth much much more. For each I have added a buy-it-now price.

This is item 1 of 10 different releases of the song up for sale. You can find all the others in my link, and are also listed at the bottom of this sale so you can get an overview.

First off is my favourite item - the original release from September 1978, on Belfast's Good Vibrations label. Copies come housed in a paper poster style sleeve, originally available in white, mustard, pink or green coloured posters (mine is the white one). The first pressing has the song titles printed upside down when the poster is opened, later copies correct this but some still omit 'Undertones' from the poster. Some labels on the actual vinyl credit ‘The Undertones’ and some just ‘Undertones’. The version I am selling here is one of the original ones before the correction. When you open it up the song titles are upside down (see picture). The label is printed with 'The Undertones' rather than just Undertones (see picture). The word Undertones is on the main poster (see picture). If you look at item 2 that I am selling you will see it is a slightly different version in that the word Undertones is missing from the poster. I don’t really know which is the rarer – the one with Undertones on the main poster, or the one where it is missing.

According to the Undertones official website, only 7000 copies were pressed so it is a rare item in its own right. What makes this one even more awesome and VERY VERY RARE is that it is signed by all 5 original members of the band – hence the reason it was my favourite item. How many of the original 7000 copies can boast that? Very few and certainly none appear on e-bay at the moment. How do I know the signatures are genuine? Because I stood outside Rock City in Nottingham and got it signed myself! I will print you out a flashy Certificate of Authenticity if you wish but frankly I don’t feel they really prove anything. If somebody is happy to sell something knowing the signatures are forged, then they would be just as happy to print a meaningless Certificate of Authenticity. I believe when it comes down to buying autographed items, you just have to decide if you believe the seller in how genuine the item is. I guess this applies here too in that you are just going to have to believe me. Hopefully the fact I have got such a vast collection of Undertones items will prove I was a ‘real’ fanatic and so it is very likely that I would have something signed by the band. All in all this is a superb item. Starting off at the crazy low price of £4.99.

The songs on this version are Teenage Kicks and Smarter Than You (later to be changed to just U) on side A and True Confessions and Emergency Cases on side B. Mickey Bradley recently wrote the following notes about the four songs:-

Teenage Kicks
'This still sounds good. John wrote it in late ‘77. The Ramones were an inspiration. The twin guitars make it - they still sound good 20-odd years on. John Peel's support surprised us. One night he played it twice in a row. I was working at the time in a builder's merchants, and Peter Powell made it his Record Of The Week, which meant it got played at lunchtime. I was a bit embarrassed, actually. Perfect pop? We never really liked that term. Perfect pop was Abba.'

True Confessions
'We thought we'd have one shot, not a long career, so we put on the EP what we thought were four decent enough songs. We weren't trying to be Cole Porter. This was the first song that John didn't write alone; it was me, John and Damian. They were all based around love and relationships. We knew where we stood. This was well before our own teen romances which started late due to the fact that we spent all our waking hours working on the group.'

Smarter Than U
'Myself and Damian wrote this. If ever a song was written as a B-side, this was it! Prince later used the letter 'U' in the same way - obviously Damian was onto something here.'

Emergency Cases
'It started off as a punked-up, speeded-up cover of ‘Parachute Woman' by The Rolling Stone's from Beggars Banquet. We loved The Rolling Stones. It was John's idea. You can still hear it ('Parachute Woman') on 'Emergency Cases'. Luckily, Jagger and Richards didn't call - look what happened to The Verve (whose 'Bittersweet Symphony' got them sued by the Stones).'

Year of release:- September 1978

Format:- 7” vinyl

Record label:- Good Vibrations

Catalog number:- GOT 4

Condition of record

The photo I have put on this sale may not do it full justice but I can assure you all the signatures are still in great nick and do not show signs of being 26 years old (maybe I should spend the money I sell the records for on getting a decent scanner). The rest of the sleeve is also in pretty damn good condition considering its age. If I had to give the sleeve a score out of 10 for its condition I would say 7½ to 8. As with all the items I am selling, the quality of the vinyl is excellent, with just normal wear and tear that comes from age and being played.

Below is the full list of Teenage Kicks versions that I am selling. All are on e-bay as separate items

All items are on the same 10 day cycle. Quiet a number of the other items are also very hard to find making the initial price of £4.99 a real bargain. 

1. 1978 ORIGINAL GATEFOLD POSTER ‘SIGNED’ 7” (Good Vibrations label)

2. 1978 ORIGINAL GATEFOLD POSTER SLEEVE 7” (Good Vibrations label) 4/11/4:- SOLD for £35 

3. 1978 UK PROMOTIONAL VERSION 7” (Sire label)

4. 1978 ORIGINAL OFFICIAL UK RELEASE PICTURE SLEEVE 7” (Sire label)

5. 1979 USA IMPORT PROMOTIONAL VERSION 7” (Sire label)

6. 1979 USA ORIGINAL OFFICIAL RELEASE 7” (Sire label)

7. 1980 DUTCH IMPORT VERSION (Sire label)

8. 1983 UK 7” RE-ISSUE PICTURE SLEEVE (Ardeck label)

9. 1983 UK 12” RE-ISSUE PICTURE SLEEVE (Ardeck label)

10 1979 UK 10” 4 TRACK PROMO (Teenage Kicks, Get Over You, Jimmy Jimmy and Here Comes The Summer) VERY VERY RARE ONLY 1000 MADE. (Sire label)

THE NEXT BATCH OF UNDERTONES VINYL I WILL PUT UP FOR SALE WILL BE MY COLLECTION OF GET OVER YOU, JIMMY JIMMY and HERE COMES THE SUMMER – KEEP WATCHING.

Payment for the item

UK winners:- Paypal or Personal Cheque. I do not charge additional fees for using Paypal.

Other countries:- Paypal or $US in paper cash, totally at senders risk, rounded UP to nearest $

Payment required in:-  4 or 7 working days dependent on feedback rating (see boring small print)

Condition of the records

I have tried to describe the condition of the record and sleeve as accurately as possible in the description. If though you wish any further information about the condition or anything relating to the item please contact me in advance of the closure.

ITEMS 4 AND 7 HAVE NOW SOLD IN ADDITION TO ITEM 2. ALL SOLD ON FIRST DAY SO GET IN QUICK WITH REMAINDER TO AVOID MISSING OUT. SOEM OF THESE ITEMS MAY NOT BE AVAILABLE AGIN ON E-BAY FOR A LONG TIME (ESPECIALLY ITEMS 1 AND 10)

AS THIS ITEM IS NOW GETTING TO QUITE A HIGH PRICE I FEEL I NEED TO ADD A MORE SECURE POSTAGE OPTION. I WOULD PREFER NOW TO SEND IT SPECIAL NEXT DAY GUARANTEED DELIVERY WITH INSURANCE THAT COVERS LOST OR DAMAGE BY ROYAL MAIL UP TO £500. THIS POSTAGE OPTION WILL BE £5 RATHER THAN THE £2.50 RECORDED DELIVERY OPTION. SENDING VIA RECORDED DELIVERY WILL ONLY COVER ITEMS UP TO THE VALUE OF £28 WHICH THIS HAS OBVIOUSLY WELL PASSED. IF THE ITEM ENDS UP WITH A BID OF £225 OR OVER I WILL PAY FOR THE POSTAGE AND FULL INSURANCE MYSELF.