Alarm go off

Press, 30 August 1984, Page 18

Alarm go off

THE ALARM “Declaration” (IRS ELPS 4430). The Alarm are being desperately touted overseas as front-runners of the “new optimism for the ’Bos.”

But, apart from their use of acoustic guitars, the sound is very standard post--1978 rock in the Stiff Little Fingers/U2 mould.

“Declaration” sees the Alarm reacting against both the nihilism of the hardcore scene and the candyfloss of many current pop groups, with a series of stirring lyrics.

Well-meaning, certainly, but stretching their earnest call-to-arms approach over eleven songs results in a rather one-dimensional LP.

Even the better tracks, such as “Where Were You Hiding When the Storm Broke,” “Sixty-eight guns,” and “We Are The Light” suffer from this crusading style (and this also applies to you, U2).

Admittedly, a band as blatantly political as the Alarm are making it very difficult for themselves.

People such as the Sex Pistols, the Jam, and Elvis Costello have all written great songs in a political vein, without ever becoming as obsessed with the subject as this band has. On the evidence of “De-

claration,” however, the Alarm could be in danger of degenerating into “rent-a-cause” merchants by album number two, as the Clash became on their later LPs. Hopefully, future recordings from this worthy band will generate more excitement than this rather tepid debut.

-TONY GREEN.