THE UNDERTAKERS "Unearthed"

Twenty-one sides left behind by the Undertakers, and there's not a bad song in the bunch. The first eight sides comprise their Pye Records singles, and these are pretty sharp -- this band was one of the few in England of that era that found a balance between the sax and the guitars, and melded American R&B with a thumping Merseybeat sound without coming across as either artificial or hopelessly primitive. "If You Don't Come Back" is one of the best recordings in the whole Pye catalog, even if it did herald the band's departure. Then there's the American recorded stuff, which is in a class by itself -- the Undertakers were leaner with just one guitar, and their sound is tighter, giving Lomax more room to stretch out vocally. The result is a dozen killer tracks on what ought to have been one of the great mid-1960s R&B albums by any British group; this stuff rivals The Beatles' Second Album or the My Generation album by the Who. The pity is that the band never got to follow it up -- they still had slight vestiges of that thumping Merseybeat sound, muted by the absence of a heavy rhythm guitar, and where they would have gone from here makes for fascinating speculation (one longs to hear the Lost Souls album). It's also easy to understand, after hearing this material, why George Harrison was so eager to bring Lomax to Apple. (Bruce Eder, Allmusic)trax:
01 (Do The) Mashed Potatoes 02 Everybody Loves A Lover 03 Money 04 What About Us 05 Just A Little Bit 06 Stupidity 07 If You Don't Come Back 08 Think 09 Be My Little Girl 10 She Said Yeah 11 I Need Your Lovin' 12 Tell Me What You're Gonna Do 13 Tricky Dicky 14 Irresistable You 15 Love Is A Swingin' Thing 16 Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey 17 You're So Fine And Sweet 18 Leave My Kitten Alone 19 Watch Your Step 20 Throw Your Love Away Girl 21 I Fell In Love
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