When all else seems dark and gloomy now that Dark Mofo has finished in Hobart and all some of us are are left with are the cold clammy hands of COVID grasping at our throats, the news of a remastered reissue of the debut album from one of the best bands in the world, Underground Lovers, shines a cleansing, bright and radiant light across the wintry shadows.
‘Get To Notice’ was the Undies’ debut, released in 1990 after only five live gigs and before the faint whiff of commercial success began to drift through the air following the second album ‘Leaves Me Blind’. It is a raw and beautiful album, showing signs of the prodigious talent within this band that mixed an indie sensibility with a hypnotic dance thrum through a shoegaze lense before that was even a thing. Or, at the very least, contemporaneous with the growing shoegaze movement in the UK at the time. It’s a fine line.
Originally self-titled on its release in Australia in 1990, the Underground Lovers’ debut was subsequently put out in the UK in 1991 under the new title ‘Get to Notice’. The 1991 version contained updated artwork and a different track listing.
The 2022 vinyl re-release (remastered by John Ruberto) contains the original nine tracks that the band recorded for the album with producer Simon Grounds making the most of Underground Lovers’ original track listing idea.
The re-issue of Get to Notice by Underground Lovers will be on limited edition vinyl: 300 copies only – 100 blue, 100 white and 100 black. All vinyl comes with a digital download card. Release date is Friday 5 August and you can pre-order here. We can thank the magnificent Cheersquad Records and Tapes for this precious release.
To celebrate the news, the band has released a live video from a gig at the Annandale Hotel in Sydney in 1991 of the track ‘Looking For Rain’. The band comments:
Rare footage of a 1991 performance at the Annandale Hotel in Sydney. Filmed by Anthony McNeil. Happening simultaneously on this evening was the 1991 ARIA Awards where we won Best New Talent. We opted to play the gig rather than go to the awards.
I’m in the audience there somewhere.
And just to sweeten the deal, the Undies will be playing a series of special shows (some postponed from last year):
Saturday 25 June – Collingwood Town Hall – VIC
Vince and Glenn from Underground Lovers celebrate the upcoming re-release of their 1990 album Get to Notice and play an acoustic/electro set in support of The Killjoys.
Tickets
Sunday 3 July – Abbotsford Convent- VIC
Underground Lovers celebrate the upcoming rerelease of their 1990 album Get to Notice and will play a few songs at the Punters Club Reunion Show.
Tickets
Saturday 19 November – Northcote Social Club- VIC
Underground Lovers celebrate 30 years of their second album Leaves Me Blind.
Tickets
Saturday 26 November – Oxford Art Factory- NSW
Underground Lovers celebrate 30 years of their second album Leaves Me Blind.
Now I’ll go and order the vinyl and revisit the CD version while I wait for the test results to come back.
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