Salute the end of summer with some cool cats from Wales. The Alarm with "Rain in the Summertime"
This song I very much like. One could say, I might actually love. Sure, the entire album "Eye of the Hurricane" from The Alarm is kind of stellar, but to add to those accolades, "Rain in the Summertime" has the melody, lyrics, instrumentation, vocals and production sheen that innately feels like the song's subject matter. Here comes a cheesy-cheese fastball coming right at ya', but ... I actually feel like I am in the rain ... in the summertime. Portions of the guitar melody consist of these singular notes being plucked out of the air, giving off this ethereal soundscape, arguably representing raindrops inside a light spring rain. Combine that with the occasional tribal drum rolls + thunderous cymbal crashes, the chorus (expectant sing-along chants) and the overall smooth spiritual air throughout the song, and you can argue the whole piece of work is a rain dance. A celebration of the rain, of course. That's what The Alarm wanted to deliver. We have a bit of musical James Joyce being thrown your way.
This song and band represent, and certainly remind me of my earliest days in college at the beginning of my slow conversion from pure '80s metalhead into well, an amalgamation of an insane barrage of sounds that followed from then on. One month into my University of Pittsburgh days in the fall of 1987, my new found friends and I rolled about 9-10 deep (as in, we walked, probably only 7 of us) down to Carnegie Mellon University's basketball gym to check out these dudes called The Alarm. One of the next bigs, possibly? Sure, I heard of them, but I never HEARD them. Holy shit! Two hours and maybe three thousand students later, my statement was definitively reversed. Of course, I heard the notable anthems "Strength", "Knife-Edge" and "Sixty Eight Guns" along with awesome newbies "Rescue Me" and "One Step Closer to Home", but there was something about another brand-new song called "Rain in the Summertime" that sincerely stuck. It FLOATED over the audience. You could see and almost touch it. All you had to do was pay close attention. Those five minutes and twelve seconds had quite a lasting effect on me. I may have been housing my third beer at that point, but I am confident with that declaration.
The Alarm was an excellent band, not made up of many additives or preservatives... practically unadulterated substance. Never evolving into the enormous international success they were touted to become, they made a substantial mark around the world, even if only for a decade. They inspired several future musicians and bands, and Mike Peters has continued to carry the torch in many ways, both in a post-Alarm unit and as a solo artist. I will always remember back in 1995, while working as a talent buyer for The Bayou nightclub in Wash. DC, I had the opportunity to meet Mike Peters on his first solo tour of the United States. I obviously shared my college-time concert story, because I can't ever shut up, and he threw a great smile back at me, followed by a handshake and a hug. So cool. So so cool. On a more important note, Mike Peters has provided amazing inspiration over the past 18 years, regularly battling through leukemia as he kept the tunes and shows rolling ahead! (Recommendation: The Mike Peters documentary, "Man in the Camo Jacket").
"Rain in the Summertime" definitely mattered at its moment of birth to the world in 1987, and it still does in 2023. It feeds your soul. At least I think so. It's also just an obvious piece of pop brilliance.