This should have been the album that put the Alarm on the path to major stardom; instead, it marked the limits of their appeal. From the early fervor of their punk/acoustic debut, the group had evolved into more of a mainstream rock act without ever getting out from under the shadow of their mentors, U2. In fact, here, they sounded more like U2 than ever, and now that that group had ascended to superstardom, the comparison only hurt them. The signal hit here was "Rain In The Summertime," an overproduced leadoff track followed by "Rescue Me" and "Presence Of Love." All three tracks got AOR radio play in the U.S., so you couldn't say the Alarm wasn't getting exposure, especially when they were touring with Bob Dylan. However, they weren't getting through.
© William Ruhlmann /TiVo