Cheap Sin of Pride (Music) (Undertones) Price

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Customer Reviews of Sin of Pride

A third-rate Ulster Commitments.
SIN OF PRIDE, the fourth album the Undertones released with Feargal Sharkey, makes me glad there wasn't a fifth. This is British white-boy soul, and it goes straight for the gag reflex with hired horns, trebly harmonica, and female backing (blacking?) singers. The Undertones' trip to the new-wave hair stylist and their jump onto the 80s pop-soul bandwagon backfire, rendering this album hopelessly dated and ending the Undertones with a whimper.

If you close your eyes and pretend it's not the band who cut "Teenage Kicks," "True Confessions," and "Girls that Don't Talk"... well, it's better than Culture Club.

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FILE UNDER "NORTHERN IRISH SOUL"
Ah, the spring of 1983 - I was living in London, and the Undertones unleashed their FINAL album then and there. It got RAVE reviews in the British music weeklies! And I'm sure NOTHING in the USA. This is where The Undertones ventured into soul music and more psychedelia, a great combo!! Lots of keyboards on this one, but soulfully done - NOT techno!! Standout tracks: SOUL SEVEN, GOT TO HAVE YOU BACK, BYE BYE BABY BLUE, CHAIN OF LOVE, LOVE PARADE, but there's not a bad tune on the album. OH, this album brings back great memories, and never fails to impress me!!

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Underrated
The Undertones weren't the first band to blend punk, soul, gospel, and pop, but they did a better job of it than just about anybody else. The guitar melodies and energy of their early work remain prominent on this record, but the arrangements are fuller, tastefully incorporating organ, piano, horns, and occasionally female backup vocalists. Amazingly, the end result is sophisticated yet never slick. Every seeming embellishment proves to be essential to the power of each song. And Feargal Sharkey's quavering vocals carry as much conviction as Smokey Robinson's or Marvin Gaye's.

Unlike a lot of reissues, the bonus tracks for this one are a must. "Bittersweet" is a lost classic that really deserved to be a hit single. And the psychedelic "I Can Only Dream" is an absolute masterpiece.

I have always felt that Positive Touch is the Undertones' best record. But The Sin of Pride deserved far more credit than either fans or EMI gave it when it was first released. Twenty years later, it sounds better than ever. Fans of The Jam's The Gift, The Beautiful South's Choke, or The Prisoners' In From The Cold will treasure this album.