The Alarm came roaring out of Wales in the early 80s and peaked with their third album (well, that’s my opinion), Eye of the Hurricane. When it appeared in October 1987, this single led the way. As seems to happen a lot with so many bands, the biggest song on the record was the last one written for the album. It didn’t, however, come easily.
Up until this point, lead singer Mike Peters and bassist Eddie MacDonald wrote pretty much all of the songs, which meant that guitarist Dave Sharp and drummer didn’t get any songwriting royalties, something that annoyed them greatly. Rain in the Summertime was a rare collaborative effort but not without plenty of fighting.
Producer John Porter needs a lot of credit. He took a loose 20-minute demo jam, cut it up, into something a little more concise, and then got the band to work with his edit.
It was worth it in the end. The record revitalized the band enough for them to make it through two more albums before they broke up in 1991.
In another universe, this song was written and recorded by U2. You’ll hear it.
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