40 Year Anniversary: Declaration - The Alarm

I first saw The Alarm supporting U2 at The Lyceum Ballroom, London 20th December 1981. U2 were touring on the back of their second album 'October'.

I was totally unaware that The Alarm had released their debut single in September 1981 ("Unsafe Building"/"Up For Murder") and I was even more unaware that they had previously been a Mod band called Seventeen.

I had been standing in the upstairs bar when I heard the sound of Acoustic Guitars and what could only be described as a sort of cry of the heart and a call to arms all at the same time:

"Take this song of freedom

 Put it on and arm yourself for the fight

Our hearts must have the courage 

To keep on marching on and on"

Then it burst into a song called "For Freedom" and I was hooked. Every song seemed like an anthem waiting to be sung by the masses, except only a few knew who they were that night. It was sort of Punky without being Punk or sort of Folky without being Folk and Rocky without being Rock. In other words, very difficult to describe and maybe that's why I felt drawn toward them because they were like nothing I'd really seen before.

 

I have to confess that I remember little about the U2 set because I was absolutely blown away by this band who were totally new to my ears. It had been a very rare thing when the support band had stood out at the gigs I had been to up until that moment.

I saw that they were also on the following evening as support but it was way too difficult to get a ticket due to the ever growing popularity of U2.

 I would have to wait awhile before I saw them again and by that time they had released another single called "Marching On".

By 1983 they had signed with Miles Copeland's I.R.S. Records and contined to release some cracking singles: "The Stand" (April 1983), "The Alarm EP"  (June 1983) and their first Top 30 single "Sixty Eight Guns" (September 1983, reached #17 on the Charts).

A month prior to the release of the debut album came another great single in the form of "Where Were You Hiding When The Storm Broke?" that peaked at #22. An excellent foretaste of what was to come. "The Deceiver" (May 1984, #51) was the only other single released from the album.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Declaration - The Alarm
I.R.S. Records
Produced by Alan Shacklock
Released 13th February 1984
UK Album Charts #6
US Album Charts #50

Listen To The Album Here:

Side 1*

 A1 Declaration

A2 Marching On

A3 Where Were You Hiding When The Storm Broke

A4 Third Light

A5 Sixty Eight Guns

A6 We Are The Light

Side 2*

 B1 Shout To The Devil

B2 Blaze Of Glory

B3 Tell Me

B4 The Deceiver

B5 The Stand (Prophecy)

B6 Howling Wind

*All the links here are from the 2019 Remastered 'Declaration 1984-1985'

The Alarm
    Mike Peters - vocals, acoustic guitar, harmonica
    Dave Sharp - acoustic and electric guitars, vocals
    Eddie Macdonald - bass, guitar, vocals
    Nigel Twist - drums, percussion, vocals

Back in the day you didn't have all the details of a band available at click of a mouse or on a phone, yes kids, the Internet wasn't a thing back then. To access what was going on with a band you could sign up for a newsletter by post or you would read about them in the music press (who were not always favourable towards The Alarm), other than that it was TV performances on Top of The Pops or The Tube or The Oxford Road Show, where you would catch them or maybe a DJ on the radio took a liking to them and would spin their latest record.

Your streaming service back then was you physically getting up and putting the record onto the turntable and getting up to turn it over to listen to side 2. 😆

I have a number of Favourite Debut Albums that I have bought over the years and 'Declaration' sits sweetly among the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Eddie and the Hot Rods, The Clash, The Specials, Slade, Buddy Holly and The Crickets, Gene Vincent, Ramones, Blondie, Television, The Psychedelic Furs (to name but a few). I think I have bought it on Vinyl, Cassette and CD as copies have been played until they have worn out. 

When it comes to playing the album I always think that this one sounds much better when played from start to finish rather than today's habit of cherry picking a song here or there. That's not to say I don't have favourite songs on the album, because I do, "Tell Me" and "Howling Wind" are two of them.

Forty years on from its release I still think it sounds great and as a result of finding The Alarm that night back in 1981 at The Lyceum I have made some true and lasting friendships from many different places. I wouldn't trade that in for the world.