This is the last 7″ Single I found at Mad Jack’s on the last dig I had back earlier in the Summer. This time around it is the song “Strength” by the UK band The Alarm. This was the first single off the album of the same name. The song came out prior to the album release which was in 1985. It reached #40 in the UK but didn’t chart in the U.S. However, I saw the video for this song on MTV and my brother had their prior album, so I was really in to it and in fact, the album ‘Strength’ is a personal favorite of mine.
The song is credited to the whole band which is not normal for them. The song came to Mike Peters in the middle of the night while at a hotel in Newcastle. He and his friend went down to the get his guitar out of the van so he could start writing. The next day during soundcheck, the whole band worked through the song as Mike still didn’t hav the right chords for it. And that is why the whole band got credit.
My copy is the Pinckneyville Pressing from the U.S. Pretty standard. The cool thing about it is the B-Side is a non-album track. The song is called “Majority”. You can now get it on subsequent re-issues of the album, but not back in the day. This was the only place which would’ve made this a prized single to get.
Continue reading “The Alarm – “Strength” – 7″ Single”
Sheryl Crow – Live from the Ryman and More – (Big Machine Label Group)
 
 
 
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 Macklemore – Gemini – (Bendo LLC)
 Matthew West – All In – (Sparrow)
 Josh Ritter – Gathering – (Pytheas Recordings)
 Midland – On the Rocks – (Big Machine)
 Van Morrison – Roll With The Punches – (Exile Productions)
 Leon Russell – On A Distant Shore – (Palmetto)
 Chris Hillman – Bidin’ my Time – (Rounder)
 Steve Martin / The Steep Canyon Rangers – “The Long-Awaited Album” – (Rounder)
 Cradle of Filth – Cryptoriana: The Seductiveness of Decay – (Nuclear Blast)
 Lecrae – All Things Work Together – (Reach Records)
 Haley Reinhart – What’s That Sound? – (Concord Records)
 Brian Wilson – Playback: The Brian Wilson Anthology – (Rhino/Warners)
2 Loud 2 Old Music 