I'm sure this has been discussed on this forum before, but I thought I would bring up the subject of the Vh-1 Bands Reunited show from October 2003.
I have only watched it for the first time this week, and I wanted to ask a few things about it.
1. On the way to the gig, Mike said that he couldn't perform The Stand and Spirit Of '76, and by not playing them, it wasn't really a proper Alarm show. I didn't totally understand why he couldn't perform them, especially considering it was very likely to be the final peformance by the original line-up. I'm sure earlier in the show he mentioned he was looking forward to playing Spirit Of '76. Can anyone explain Mike's reasons for not playing them?
2. I can understand Eddie and Nigel not being able to continue performing with Mike because of their jobs, but was there ever a discussion between Mike and Dave about the possibility of Dave becoming a member of the Alarm again? Or were their differences from the past still present, and enough to prevent a lasting reunion?
3. Was the entire concert shown on the dvd? I'm sure Mike made a reference to performing One Step Closer To Home, but it wasn't on the dvd.
It was fantastic to see the classic line-up together again, and remove that bitter taste in the mouth that remained from the split.
I know this subject is old news, and I hope I've posted it in the right section.
My oh my! Calum, you sure know how to jump straight in, this being your first post
A proper Alarm show? with only 2 days, yes 2 days rehearsing together i'd say they did a mighty mighty job.
Life's full of dissapointments and we don't always get what we want.
The chosen songs the 4 lads played were all voted for equally by Mike, Dave, Eddie & Twist.
A majority rule called democracy decided which songs would therefore be played...hence to say at least two didn't vote for Spirit of '76 but more than two voted for 68 Guns
Everyone has their own thoughts & inklings who declined certain songs and why...some claim they had inside information to what actually happened/what went on behind the scenes of The Scala reunion.
One thing that came out of it was the agreement between the lads that the peace, love & harmony was there like never before in the constant bubble of The Alarm days.
Like they said, it was a marriage 24/7 for ten years +. Endless touring, label pressure....record/tour/record/tour...promote!promote!promote!
They weren't half good in their day tho
I probably haven't answered any part of your questions, just my tuppence worth on the subject (for now)
Robbo!
P.S. Remember, Mike said the same thing on every interview, including television & radio both sides of the Atlantic when asked "what happened to The Alarm?" "The Alarm went Underground in 1991..."
It's about as believable as the Bobby Ewing "waking up saga" after being dead during a whole series of Dallas, his Wife Pam had infact dreamt it.
Anything's possible in todays world...Welcome onboard Calum, you've only opened up a small can of worms...cough!
Back to why One Step Closer wasn't played
"PLAY UP SKY BLUES"
Posts: 233 | Location: Royal Leamington Spa | Registered: 08 March 2006
It's a good thing you posted it in this section as it's pretty well hidden. Things can get pretty passionate regarding the topics you want to discuss.
Let me take a crack at it:
Question 1: Robbo pretty much covered it. They voted on the songs they would play, and those were the songs that they played.
Question 2: Mike answered a similiar question in the Q&A sessions here on this website over the summer that during Bands Reunited, Dave still had the same issues from when the band was together that were just beneath the surface. (Something to that effect, you can look it up here.) As a result, Mike didn't think that it would be a good idea for them to tour together.
We asked Dave the question at last year's Decaturville weekend, and he'd said he'd do it if Mike asked him to, but I think he may have been pulling our legs a bit knowing that Mike probably wasn't going to ask.
In all honesty, I can't see it happening. Musically, Mike and Dave are on opposite ends of the spectrum. Mike is still mining punk/rock/pop for his musical inspiration, and Dave is rooted in rock\folk\blues\country.
3) At the end of the show, the crowd was calling out for One Step. The story that I heard or read was that Mike was encouraging Dave to go out and perform it solo as they hadn't rehearsed it, but Dave didn't want to because they came to perform as a band.
Thanks for taking the time to reply to my post. It's cleared up a few points for me.
Anyway, for the record, I was a fan of the Alarm from the time 68 Guns hit the charts, until the split in 1991. I never thought the Alarm received the critical aclaim and record sales they deserved, but I'm guessing all Alarm fans think the same about this. Eye Of The Hurricane should have been a multi-million selling album, but it wasn't to be. Mike said on Bands Reunited that it could have been down to timing, and had it been released earlier, things could have been different.
You're not sounding a bit nostalgic. We've got a good discussion going.
Regarding EOTH, yeah, timing is one thing, but I've always felt it wasn't one of their best efforts as a follow up to Strength. At this point in the bands history, Mike and Dave were fighting to control the direction the band was going to go, and you had Mike/Eddie vs Dave/Nigel camps.
And remember the year when it came out. U2 released Joshua Tree, which was HUGE. I still marvel when I hear tracks from that album. I can't say the same for anything off of EOTH, except for One Step.
Jim, my viewpoint of EOTH is completely different from yours. It is my favourite Alarm album - I think Strength was far weaker - and full of great songs. Apart from the 3 fantastic singles, I love Newtime Jerico, Shelter and the title track. In fact, I think One Step is the weakest song on there - I've never liked Dave's singing - and would have replaced it on the album by the b-side, Rose Beyond the Wall.
Of course, this would have meant the songs would have been written almost entirely by Mike and Eddie, and Dave would have probably walked out. Peters/McDonald were always by far the superior songwriting team in the Alarm - it's just a pity Dave thought he was better than he was, and consequently, there would have been less tension in the band. This could have meant the album being released sooner, and possibly being more successful than it was.
I hope I'm not being too controversial in my views!
I have to disagree with you about who wrote the "better song"
Like a lot of bands things fell apart not because of who's song was deemed better/more commercial but down to money. The 4 way Equal split of 40 40 10 10 was hardly encouraging for all concerned.
Endless touring across the globe using TWO Globetrotter Trucks making little in way of profit from gigs and much less from record sales must have been so demoralising for all the lads. Stripping to the bare bones on The RAW Tour using minimal costs was too little too late. Having caught a few dates of this final tour i believe the lads were on fire on stage but off it the opposite. Finally for this latest instalment...When Mike suggested all the written/recorded? songs for the Raw album get chosen by the record company it must have been really difficult for everyone to even speak to each other let alone record anything else thereafter. That wasn't the end of it and total chaos followed.
They all said @ bands reunited it had become a strained marriage after 10 years of constant touring/recording...etc...i'm allowed to repeat myself you know []
What i loved about The Alarm was the interactions, the ever changing singers, the complete live gig experience...it wasn't a battle to see who was better on lead vox... it was the way of The Alarm. This is what i loved most about them!
They Are the best...Ever!
I could beat this Alarm Drum forever but remember this....Dave Sharp also wrote songs that Mike Peters took lead vox on...i'll leave you with this one: CHANGE..."It's been a long time comin' and it's good to be back...."
What an explosive opening line to a gig if ever i heard one!!
Fills me with so much joy & happiness.
THE ALARM FOREVER! MIKE, DAVE, EDDIE, TWIST!!
Robbo xxx
"PLAY UP SKY BLUES"
Posts: 233 | Location: Royal Leamington Spa | Registered: 08 March 2006
Anything I say here is probably going to be taken out of context and used against me because I post much more often on Dave's blog which gives me a bias towards Dave.
In thinking about what you said, you bring up some very good points. I have to agree with you about replacing One Step on EOTH. In the context of the rest of album, and because it is a live version, it really never fit. By the time of EOTH, One Step was really an older song that had been played live since the Declaration days. They tried to record a proper version of it for Strength, but couldn't get it right. Rose Beyond The Wall would have been a better choice for EOTH than the live One Step. But I have to disagree with you that it was a weak song.
Regarding Strength, I gained a new appreciation of it when I attended Alarmstock in New York and Mike played the songs acoustically and explained how they came about. I was never that crazy about the record, but hearing the stripped down arrangements made me realize that Mike and Eddie had come into their own as songwriters and wrote some great material.
But I have a different viewpoint about the MacDonald/Peters songwriting tandem than you do. I don't think they were superior songwriters to Dave, it's just that they wrote what became the "Alarm" songs. Dave had a different style from Eddie and Mike, and it would have been hard to mesh the two distinct styles onto an album. It's one of the reasons why Raw doesn't work.
If you have the EOTH 2000 CD with the B-sides and demos, one of Dave's songs was "My Land, Your Land." I think it's a fine song, but where would it fit on EOTH? It wouldn't fit because Eddie and Mike were in a different place with their songwriting than Dave was.
I don't know if you heard some of Dave's solo work, but Hard Travelin' came out around the same time as Raw, and it proved that Dave could write some excellent songs. It's right up there with what Mike and Eddie wrote. Give it a listen and then judge for yourself if Dave thought he was better than he was.
I just wanted to comment on something that Robbo touched on and was trying to get at. For me, my favorite period of the band was up to the release of Declaration that was chronicled with the King Biscuit live CD. That's the way I will always remember the Alarm. Mike sung the majority of the songs, but Dave got to sing a few of his, Eddie sang "Third Light" with Mike taking over on bass guitar, and they would finish the shows with "We Are The Light" with Twist on tambourine. That's the band I remember almost a quarter century ago, and I remember it as clear as day. They had all this potential, and somehow, someway, it turned out the way it did.
So I in fact may be more controversial in my views than you!
Jim, perhaps I was a little harsh on Dave. Maybe he was/is a better songwriter than I gave him credit for. I did listen to his album when it was released but I didn't think much of it. This is simply because I thought the songs were average, and I'm not a fan of his singing voice either. That's just my opinion, however.
I can understand why Dave was frustrated in the Alarm. He had to fight to get his songs on an Alarm album, and on EOTH and Change, he only had one on each, I think. During Bands Reunited, it was said Dave wanted the songwriting to be done by all four band members together, rather than split into two camps. I can see why, because he was finding it hard to compete with the Peters/MacDonald team. Also, I'm sure he wanted a more togetherness attitude in the band.
On another point, I don't understand why the Alarm only put a small section of the Stand on Declaration, rather than the full version. Also, I wish Unsafe Buiding had been included, and that would have made Declaration even more of a classic than it was. Perhaps it was down to the length of the album being long enough as it was, but I'm sure the full version of the Stand could have still been included.
If you didn't like Dave's singing then, then you'll probably hate it now that his voice has matured over the years.
You know, I've often wondered why a full version of The Stand wasn't on Declaration. I would have to think that it was because it was on the five song EP. I don't think it would have hurt to have a full version of it on Declaration, although I don't think an Alan Shacklock produced version would have been as good as the Mick Glossop original.
With Unsafe Building, I don't see where it would fit in the context of the other songs on Declaration. I think their songwriting had taken a great leap forward in the three years spanning the making of Unsafe Building to Declaration.
A question - Calum, are you in the UK? If you are, come on over to Dave's Decaturville in Preston and I'll buy you a few drinks.
Calum, Sharpy's singing and writing abilities might not come up to your mark but surely you couldn't fault his guitar playing, especially live as well? Could you?
The man's a legend, as all will see with the upcoming dvd release of "Spirit of '86"
Robbo x
"PLAY UP SKY BLUES"
Posts: 233 | Location: Royal Leamington Spa | Registered: 08 March 2006
Jim, I do live in the UK - in Aberdeen, Scotland - and thanks for the offer. I haven't even seen Mike Peters live in concert since the original Alarm split, never mind Dave. I do hope to see Mike and maybe even Dave sometime in the future. I'll have to buy some of the many Alarm dvds that are available at the website to see how the live shows are these days. I'm sure the concerts are as great today as they were back in the heyday. Once a great live performer, always a great live performer.
Robbo, I can certainly not fault Dave's guitar playing. The best two things in the Alarm for me were Mike's singing and Dave's guitar playing. I love the guitar intro to Rain In The Summertime, amongst others. Yes, Dave's guitar playing characterised the sound of the Alarm. I'm sure he is as good today as he was then. I hope one day Mike and Dave can play live together again, even if it's a one off gig.
Calum, Mike & Dave played two acoustic gigs together. One @ Alarmstock, one @ Gathering. The first one @ Alarmstock was something i didn't think i'd ever see again... Mike & Dave and two acoustic guitars!! Playing numerous Alarm songs, Together!
Jim, i know what a big Clash fan you are. Well i was down in the capital tonight (London) opposite The Scala, home of The Alarm reunion. I couldn't leave without passing by Ladbroke Grove, Sheperd's Bush, Westway, Crinklewood...etc. Sure great memories of one Joe Strummer.
Robbo x
What about The Twistman! What a great drummer he was.
"PLAY UP SKY BLUES"
Posts: 233 | Location: Royal Leamington Spa | Registered: 08 March 2006
As well as sharing each others stage in New Orleans (the first time they reunited) and most recently at the Alarm mmiv's June Saturday gigs in Manchester.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - "I've Fought for what I Believe in on the Punk Rock Barricades"
Posts: 1079 | Location: Across the Border | Registered: 05 March 2006
didn't vote 
