What is a perfect album? One could make an argument that a perfect album is one that sets out a specific set of artistic criteria and then fulfills them flawlessly. In that respect, and many others, ' 1979 debut is a perfect album. The Northern Ireland quintet's brief story is no different than that of literally dozens of other bands to form in the wake of and, more importantly, , but the group infuses so much unabashed joy in their two-minute three-chord songs, and there's so little pretension in their unapologetically teenage worldview, that even the darker hints of life in songs like the suicide-themed are delivered with a sense of optimism at odds with so many of their contemporaries. There's no fewer than three all-time classics here; besides that song, the singles and are simple declarations of teenage hormonal lust that somehow manage to be cute instead of Neanderthal; perhaps it's 's endearingly adenoidal whine, or the chipper way the brothers pitch in on schoolboy harmonies, like a teenage Irish . All of the other 13 songs, even the 47-second blip are nearly to that level of brilliance, with the frenetic a particular standout. The CD adds seven demos and single sides, and also includes an entirely different, punkier version of than the nervous, -influenced throb of the version on the original U.K. vinyl. ~ Stewart Mason