I've tried not to buy compilation albums since starting this blog, preferring to visit stand alone efforts, but for £1 in a charity shop in Leicester yesterday, a pang of 1980s nostalgia overcame me and persuaded me to relieve myself of the loose change in my pocket.
So, what of The Alarm? I seem to remember viewing them as also-rans at the time, their punk haircuts feeling half a decade too late, their earnestness worn as a badge. While the songs were at times a little preachy and bombastic, it felt like the band believed in them, in what they were doing and they carried an honesty which seemed naïve and twee in the consumer driven 'loadsamoney' mid 1980s.
And the songs have aged better than you might expect. 1990's not-a-hit single The Road opens up, a solid rocker before an almost chronological run of singles from their debut Unsafe Building, a bit of a plodder, up to the 1990 cover of Lennon/Ono's Happy Christmas (War Is Over) - no better or worse than you'd imagine, a solid, unspectacular version. And along the way, there are the bigger hits including their most successful single, Sixty Eight Guns (number 17 in 1983), which hasn't aged well, Where Were You Hiding When The Storm Broke, which has fared better, and Absolute Reality, which despite the over-earnest lyrics still packs a punch. Strength is another solid rock song, while their 'masterwork' Spirit Of '76, despite being over-sentimental feels authentic if it does struggle to hold the attention in the final couple of minutes. Rain In The Summertime isn't strong, Rescue Me is better, but still lacks something compared to the earlier stuff, and Sold Me Down The River feels like another leaden rocker, before Devolution Working Man Blues, a generic rock-blues number which nevertheless has a certain appeal. The CD version has two bonus tracks - Marching On and Blaze Of Glory from the band's debut album Declaration, the former a decent enough song, the latter completely over the top and awful.
The Alarm were never taken seriously musically, and while some of their own hearts-on-sleeves might have contributed, others such as U2 before and the Manics subsequently weren't similarly labelled. A lot of The Alarm's output isn't for me, and a lot hasn't aged well, but I can't help feel they've been harshly treated.
Mike Peters in particular has remained true to his principles, and has suffered serious health issues for two decades, yet using this as an opportunity to raise awareness and money to fund cancer research and care through his Love Hope Strength Foundation. He was awarded the MBE for his services to cancer care in 2019.
3* - not to everyone's taste, and a patchy output, but when the band hit the right note there was some solid rock music.
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