While the Elvis Costello/ Imposter-style subterfuge of releasing their 'comeback' single "45RPM" under the psuedonym The Poppy Fields suggests confidence in their commercial prospects was relatively low, even the most hardended cynic would have to admit - thirteen years after they last graced the charts - that The Alarm still sounding relevant and selling records into the process was something of an achievement.
Actually, "45RPM" takes its' place as The Alarm's 14th Top 50 hit, which is pretty respectable in itself and suggests that Mike Peters' recent jaunts with Glen Matlock, Pete Wylie and Kirk Brandon as Dead Men Walking has re-energised him and made him realise that his old band (surely one of THE faces of mid-80s stadium bombast) could actually have a reformed future out there.
Inevitably, it's far harder to maintain the interest over the course of a full-length album and this reviewer would be lying if he proceeded to tell you "In The Poppy Fields" is any kind of radical new statement which will annihilate the younger, trendier opposition, because it's not (bless 'em). However, it IS a darn sight better than the dog's dinner this writer (never an overt Alarm fan even back in the day) had been expecting to land with a dull thud on his stereo.
Actually, around half of "In The Poppy Fields" is truly decent fare, though it must be said the album does rather shoot its' load by sequencing most of the best gear during the first half-dozen tunes. "Coming Home" is a good start, full of churning guitars, crunching and typically anthemic, though Peters' voice is straight outta "The Unforgettable Fire", whis is probably inevitable, though a tad worrying at this stage.
Still, a good enough effort, and it's followed by some more perfectly acceptable stuff like "Close", "The Drunk & The Disorderly" and the single "45RPM". All of these kick up a credible enough thunder, though they are all weirdly redolent of familiar rockist ghosts of the past. "Close", for instance, is eerily reminiscent of The Mighty Lemon Drops; "45RPM"'S intro apes SLF'S "Alternative Ulster" (which had a B-side called "78 Revolutions as well) and the lengthy "The Drunk & The Disorderly" is quite obviously based on The Who's "Substitute" riff, though Peters' social commentary ("I know where the bodies have been buried, I know things only the dead should know") suggests he sees this as The Alarm's "Won't Get Fooled Again." For all that, though, it's well-observed and drenched in experience and is one of the bast things here.
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More of this and we'd be pleasantly sated, but the album's second half sags atrociously under the weight of the importance the band try to invest in it. OK, "New Home New Life" (slow-burning, U2-ish, windwept and distantly adorned with piano) just about gets away with it because it's genuinely haunted, but much of what surrounds it is ham-fisted at best.
"Right Back Where I Started From" is about the best of the bad bunch. It's an obvious flag-waver, but it's chiming, semi-acoustic framework suggests it could be a single. "True Life", though, is truly gauche, with a vocal like "Heroes"-era Bowie cut with Bono really hampering it, whilst "The Unexplained" is a desperate attempt at the portentous epic, resultingly coming over as empty posturing. The absolute nadir, though, comes with "The Rock'n'Roll". The title alone gave your reviewer the collywobbles, but the ensuing sub-lighter-waving bollocks is embarrassing in the extreme. "Rock and roll is still not dead, there's still much more to be said," dribbles Mike at one point. Oh yeah? Is that why you're firing blanks at the corpse then?
Thankfully, they claw back some credibility with the closing title track. Quieter, wistful and quite far-reaching, it's a chromatic-fuelled slice of remembrance, not (I don't think) directly relating to either the drugs or war themes the title suggests. Whatever, it's weirdly affecting and well-timed after several increasingly desperate misfires.
So yeah, "In The Poppy Fields" is fatally flawed in terms of being a consummate return, but really it's far better than this reviewer (and most people with any realism at all) could - and should - have expected. "It's been a long time coming but it's good to be back," strains Mike at the tail end of "Coming Home" and for a good 50% of the time here you can willingly concur.
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