The Alarm

[SonicBoom]

Any fans of this band here?

I thought their first three albums were pretty decent. Very similar to the likes of big Country, Simple Minds and of course U2. Rain in the summertime is a great song i like hearing often. Any opinions on them?

[Qbertqubes]

All their albums are fantastic along with B sides, demos, etc etc...Get everything by this amazing band. They have an awesome Box set out tthere that is a must have. Even the new alarm line up (superchannel) is great

[quote]Originally posted by SonicBoom
[br]Any fans of this band here?

I thought their first three albums were pretty decent. Very similar to the likes of big Country, Simple Minds and of course U2. Rain in the summertime is a great song i like hearing often. Any opinions on them?





[/quote]

[djcraig]

I give Mike Peters credit for having the ambition to be even more bombastic than Bono.

Used to love "Marching On" back in the day. Think I have their vinyl debut EP around here somewhere.



<a href="http://www.djcraig.net/los_angeles_dj">DJ Craig</a>

[coop41]

Their CD from last year was pretty darn good IMHO

[Screen 13]

I really liked their first few singles and Declaration. Some songs on Strength are very good as well, especially "Absolute Reality," but the next album was when I decided to move on. I know there may be those that disagree, but "Spirit of 76" was a very over-baked tribute to my ears, especially due to it's timing sounded a bit opportunistic with all of the fashionable Punk Reminiscing that was going on. It had a good tune, but with trying for some kind of Springsteen Epic feel, I think you know what I mean.

The singles from "Unsafe Building" to "Absolute..." plus that first album formed a solid collection of music I will forgive their Big Sound/U2 Arena Rock era for because their first few years were that good. At least parts of their Late 80's era were still pretty damn ambitions and far better than Post-1985 Simple Minds (Although I still need to hear their 1998 album to see if I will edit my judgement). "A New South Wales" is good, and the Welsh version is a highlight that shows that if you cut the sonic bloat of their Late 80's songs, you can still hear at some good emotion at times.

I'd like to hear Mike's solo work as well as the new stuff, though (time to catch a couple of You Tube clips).

[Jeffrey]

New Wave Outpost Members:


Is there an Alarm compilation that has all their 12-inch mixes on it? Of course, I want it to sound wonderful too. Is there such a thing?

Thanks in advance,


Jeffrey

[Screen 13]

The only official release I know of which has the "12 versions is a whopping 9 disc set collecting what I think is every official release they had in their original time together. I don't know of if there's something that has only the remixes all in one shot when it comes to an authorized disc.

The Stand, The Chant Has Just Begun, Strength, Rescue Me, Rain in the Summertime, and The Rock were the ones that were given the treatments to my knowledge, so that would make it only an EPs worth of music than a whole album even with two remixes of "Rain..." to make it complete.

I don't think that they were the types to really go for the Dance Mix, filling their singles instead with acoustic versions and original B-Sides.

Here's a Discogs look at the mega set...

http://www.discogs.com/Alarm-The-Alarm- ... se/2309632

[Jeffrey]

Major thanks Screen 13.


Jeffrey

[bigwavedave]

"The Chant Has Just Begun" is up there with my fave 12" mixes of the 80s; very creative remix. It's on the above mentioned box set that the band released via their website several years back (just for kicks, Mike Peters also threw in a personalized cd with a greeting and an acoustic take on the song of your choice...I went for "The Deceiver").

Their eponymous ep is still the best...the lyrics would sound kind of silly on their own, but they were well matched to the energy of the early songs. I saw them live in '84 (opening for the Pretenders) and they were just as energetic live, if not more.

By Change (1989), the lyrics started to sound forced; as if the band suddenly fancied themselves as Bruce Springsteen but no longer had the tunes to back up the message (save for the occassional cool track).

Regardless, I still dig the eponymous ep and the first three albums everytime I play them.