Chart entered : 24 September 1983
Chart peak : 17
Number of hits : 18
In sharp contrast to Howard Jones's disconnection from punk these guys were just a bit too keen to align themselves with their forbears.
The Alarm originated in the terminally unfashionable resort of Rhyl on the North Wales coast. Mike Peters ( born 1959 ) formed a punk band with drummer Nigel Twist called The Toilets which lasted about a year. He then formed another band, Seventeen, with his next door neighbour Eddie Macdonald on bass and guitarist Dave Sharp. They threw in their lot with the Mod Revival. They released one single in December 1979 "Don't Let Go" which is an enthusiastic but average power pop number in the Chords / Purple Hearts vein. The sleeve optimistically announced it as coming from the album "Best of British" but that never saw the light of day. After supporting the Stray Cats on their first UK tour they changed their name to The Alarm at the beginning of 1981.
The band relocated to London in September 1981 and released a privately pressed single "Unsafe Building" in an inexpertly typed sleeve. It's not an easy listen with wobbly timing, Dave seemingly unsure whether he wants to play in a melodic Pretenders style or be the Banshees' latest recruit and very unwieldy lyrics. It was eventually polished up and re-recorded, becoming a minor hit in 1990. It attracted the attention of U2's agent Ian Wilson who became their manager. The two bands played a gig together at the Lyceum in 1981.
In the summer of 1982 they were signed up by I.R.S's subsidiary Illegal who released their single "Marching On" that October. With Mike now finding his throaty rasp of a singing voice they sound like a semi-acoustic Stiff Little Fingers. The lyric about alienated youth harks back to The Who and unfortunately the hectoring rant is unaccompanied by any tune and after two minutes you just want to switch it off. More gigs with U2 followed at the end of the year.
Their next single "The Stand" in April 1983 was an enormous improvement . With lyrics inspired by Stephen King's apocalyptic novel of the same name and a Western feel enhanced by Mile's harmonica , it's much better produced and has a catchy anthemic chorus. David Jensen played it quite a lot and I was disappointed it wasn't a hit. This became something of a pattern with The Alarm; the singles I preferred tended to be smaller hits.
They then went to the USA, supporting U2 on their War tour. When they returned to the UK IRS gave them the green light to start recording an album.
"68 Guns" was the next single. A revamped song from their days as Seventeen, it was inspired by a book Mike read about the notorious street gangs of Glasgow in the sixties but its celebration of backs-to-the-wall defiance could apply equally well to Belfast or Paris. The sound is filled out by Hammond organ from Paul Young side man Ian Kewley and Arthur Fairlie's trumpet fanfares and either Mike or Dave comes up with a melodic Duane Eddy riff to lead into the song. It's a bit blustery and I was disappointed by it at the time but on hearing it again , it's held up quite well.
Pretty much everything this mob has passed me by, as I long dismissed them as a poor version of U2 or Big Country - I was slightly surprised to find out Steve Lillywhite hadn't produced them!
ReplyDeleteThat said, this song - which I agree has stood up well - tends to evoke the Clash if anything, probably in large part to the "gang" vibe it evokes.