In my quest of the finding cool things on vinyl, occasionally I pick up 7″ singles or 45’s of bands I like and while in Florida, I found this 45 Single from the band The Alarm. Mike Peters and crew released their debut album, ‘Declaration’, in February 1984 and the single for “Sixty Eight Guns” well before the albums release in August of 1983. Due to the success, they put it on their debut album. Now, the single I have is not that particular single. My single is a re-issue of the single done on February 14, 1984 for the official release of the album. Where the original single had alternate version of “Sixty Eight Guns”, mine has a previously unreleased track called “Pavilion Steps”.
The Alarm were a new wave, alternative rock band that liked to take on the “Establishment” and were not afraid to write politically charged songs. Something other bands at the time were not doing. “Sixty Eight Guns” was inspired by a book called A Glasgow Gang Observed by the Scottish author Patrick James that Mike Peters was reading about gangs in Glasgow around 1968 (thus the title). The song is a battle cry for that gang mentality that you were invincible and ready to take on the world. Continue reading “The Alarm – “Sixty-Eight Guns” (45 Single)”
2 Loud 2 Old Music 