O'NEILL,DAMIAN AND THE MONOTONES - Refit Revise Reprise (Sealed) (LP)

Damian O'Neill is the lead guitarist of the Undertones. Damian wrote several singles and many album tracks during the career of The Undertones, often writing with bassist Michael Bradley. Together, they wrote My Perfect Cousin which turned out to be The Undertones highest chart entry (top ten). After the Undertones split in 1983, Damian switched to bass duties and joined his brother John in That Petrol Emotion, a critically acclaimed group with an intense focus on Irish civil rights issues. After 2 albums, John left the band in 1988 and Damian switched back to guitar to record 3 more studio albums and a live album Final Flame which captured That Petrol Emotion at the peak of their powers. Damian has recently taken the opportunity to record a selection of material for solo release, under the name Damian O'Neill and The Monotones. The album comprises of 12 tracks recorded at home and at Press Play studios in South London. Co produced, engineered and mixed by Damian, Andy Ramsay (ex Stereolab) and Paul Tipler with musical contributions from Sean O'Hagan (The High Llamas) amongst others. There's some old, new, borrowed and blue on this record. You'll hear new songs and instrumental tracks that are guaranteed to thrill and melt your heart plus Damian's delved into his musical past and revamped selected self penned Undertones / That Petrol Emotion songs too. Explaining the reasons for this, Damian says "I wanted to put a fresh slant on some old songs that I'd written and recorded. For instance, I was never entirely happy with The Undertones overcooked version of The Love Parade and wanted to strip it down to it's original 60's Nuggets type influence. The same goes with That Petrol Emotion's Gnaw Mark. I think the final result is now closer to how I'd originally imagined it. Also, Everlasting Breath has been released in various guises over the years (bonus demo track on That Petrol Emotion's final studio album Fireproof for instance) but I'd like to think that this version is the definitive one. My original 1989 4- track demo of Compulsion neatly rounds off the record". Refit Revise Reprise - It's Glam / Stomp / Dreamy Pop with a cascade of guitars, vibes, organ, bells and whistles.