THE ALARM CLOCKS
Yeah! (Norton)
Reviewed by John Sekerka

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"Savage 1966 Ohio garage raunch!," so it says on the cover, and there's a pic of the band playing out of their garage to prove it. In fact the drum set is actually in the garage, and it looks like the door is closing, as the neighbourhood kids dance up a storm in the laneway. Now that's rock and roll. The Alarm Clocks are another obscure band dug up by the rawk sleuths at Norton. You know the story: whompin' regional rock teens form band, punk it out, manage to squeeze out a forgotten single and the draft snafus their career before it gets a chance to roll. The single in question is the killer double whammy "No Reason To Complain/YEAH," a snarly two pack of unbridled garage stomp full of sultry beats and mop shaking yowls. Simply divine. It opens this rag tag collection which is augmented by seven choice covers captured live to one mike, and three surfy tunes by predecessor group The Perceptions. The Alarm Clocks sounded like they had it all: an excellent guitar player, a pummeling drummer and a crazed vocalist who could bring the house down. Another worthy document of a grand and very brief moment.

© 2002 - John Sekerka