For
those not too familiar with The Alarm, here’s a brief background. First of all,
they hail from northern Wales, which is in the United Kingdom and not “England” as former
New York City Mayor Ed Koch mistakenly claimed when he introduced them as the opening act
for contemporaries U2 in June 1983. If you’re wondering how significant that
seemingly minor error is, I’d like to point out that this is a band who took
their Welsh cultural roots so seriously that they recorded and released a
second version of both Change, and of the following album Raw, with vocals in the Welsh language (entitled
Newid and Tân respectively).
 |
| Considering that language spawned town names like this (yes it's a real place, I've been there), those albums got off easy... |
On The
Alarm’s fantastic first two albums, 1984’s Declaration
and 1985’s Strength, they reflected
this local roots mentality by combining the folk lyricism of Bob Dylan with the
punk energy of the Sex Pistols, both of whom vocalist Mike Peters has cited as
major influences. With their third album, 1987’s Eye of the Hurricane, the punk influence dropped out significantly
as the band instead edged towards the synth-oriented new wave sound of their
contemporaries such as The Smiths and the previously mentioned U2. The album
isn’t inherently “bad”, (in fact most of its tracks are quite good), but it’s
definitely something of an outlier compared to the rest of the band’s
discography, and its probably for the best that the band ultimately didn’t hold
onto that particular style. Instead, after their slight musical detour the band
opted to give a more stripped down and traditional rock sound to their fourth
studio album, and in continuing the descriptive theme of the first three album
titles, the word “Change” ended up as the entirely appropriate name given to
the excellent end result. With hardly any weak tracks to be found, there is a
strange but stimulating sort of energy that’s carried within the album from beginning
to end.
It’s
been a long time coming, so let’s get started...
1.
Sold Me Down the River
The
album opener is one of the most straightforward rock songs of the band’s
career, which may have helped it become one of the album’s two charting
singles. While somewhat formulaic, the song has some serious blues rock edge,
and on that note, the aggressive piano bits are an excellent touch.
2.
The Rock
This
track sounds like it might have been a leftover recording from the previous
album, as it sounds very polished. Just like Eye of the Hurricane was the enjoyable outlier of the band’s
discography, this song is an enjoyable outlier of this album.
3.
Devolution Workin’ Man Blues
While
it does kind of sound like “Sold Me Down the River: Part II” at some points,
it’s still got an enjoyably catchy hook and a cool bluesy guitar solo to enjoy.
4.
Love Don’t Come Easy
This
light electric guitar and piano-driven ballad may sound similar to Bon Jovi
(“Blaze of Glory” comes to mind), but in my opinion Mike Peters is a much more
soulful vocalist.
5.
Hardland
It’s
at this point in the album that the songs start to really sound definitively
like The Alarm. This song is a great example of the band’s ability to create
songs that have serious weight without having to be musically “heavy”.
6.
Change II
Yes,
there was an original “Change I” recorded (and eventually a “Change III” on
2010’s Direct Action), but this is
the version that ultimately became the pseudo-title track of the album. The
song opens with the line “It’s been a long time coming and it’s good to be
back,” which is fitting considering how much it sounds like a throwback to the
first two albums. Overall, a great rock anthem that features even more
aggressive piano.
7.
No Frontiers
This
track is another uplifting ballad-style song. It’s a quality song, but like
“The Rock”, U2 fans may find it a little too musically similar to fully enjoy.
8.
Scarlet
The overall dark vibe of this track is very cool, and sounds somewhat similar to something The Smiths might have recorded, though Mike Peters clearly has a much higher vocal range than Morrissey.
9.
Where a Town Once Stood
This
track opens with an absolutely brilliant guitar and piano based intro, and the
aggressive piano remains strong throughout the whole song. This is my favorite
track off the album, with some of my favorite Mike Peters vocals and lyrics.
This song is just goddamn awesome.
10.
Black Sun
This
haunting track gives the criminally underrated Dave Sharp a chance to showcase
some absolutely beautiful guitar playing. If I wasn’t such a cruddy drummer,
I’d get in touch with this guy right now and ask him to join my band.
11.
Prison Without Prison Bars
Dave
Sharp’s simple but brain-searingly memorable opening guitar riff to this song
was one of my favorites growing up, and I still think it’s killer. The
keyboards add great ambience, especially on the extremely cool bridge portion,
and Mike Peters is in great vocal and lyrical form on this track. An album
highlight for sure.
12.
How the Mighty Fall
I’ve
always found this introspective ballad very relaxing with it’s slow pace,
ambient keyboard segments, and choir-like choruses. On top of that, it contains
yet another great Dave Sharp guitar solo, one of his best on the album.
13.
Rivers to Cross
The
Celtic orchestral elements in this track are an appropriate nod to the band’s
roots, and also give the song a highly unique flavor that contrasts nicely with
the rest of the album. This is folk rock from the right kind of folks.
14.
A New South Wales
The
album closes with this somber orchestral and choral piece, which
laments the historical decline of Welsh industry and, indirectly, Welsh culture
as well. On that note, it's definitely worth looking for the Welsh language version of this track as well, entitled "Hwylio Dros Y Môr". This song goes beyond rock music. This is pure art. To top everything
off, as the last notes fade, the album ends with an audience’s applause.
Perfect.
There really are no “bad” albums by The Alarm, as they never gained the fame and recognition of U2, The Smiths, or several of their other 1980s British new wave and alt-rock contemporaries, and therefore were never really compelled to alter their authentic and homegrown “folk-punk” sound too much to stay commercial. That integrity is probably a big reason why The Alarm has remained my own dad’s favorite band since the 80s, and I’m sure he’s very happy knowing that the appreciation has been passed down to the next generation. Today I would easily count The Alarm among my top ten favorite bands, or even quite possibly among my top five. This album is a big reason why.
Top
Three Tracks:
1.
Where a Town Once Stood
2.
A New South Wales
3.
Prison Without Prison Bars
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