40 years ago  I discovered my future. One day early in the year 1984  I was watching Video One with Richard Blade.It was a syndicated TV show that many 80’s teenagers in the Los Angeles area watched on a daily‚ religious basis.   Without access to MTV‚ Video One It was a window into the outside world through the eyes of 80’s pop music and a very large helping of British New Wave. Richard Blade was the morning DJ at our local station KROQ‚ which added both legitimacy and a distinct editorial viewpoint for the videos shown on Video One. Effectively that  meant videos by Michael Jackson‚ Huey Lewis‚ Twisted Sister and Herbie Hancok were liberally sprinkled with videos  from the likes of REM‚  Big Country‚ Captain Sensible‚  A Flock Of Seagulls and Duran Duran.  Soft Cell and Depeche Mode intermixed freely with Madonna and Cindy Lauper. The Go Go’s‚ the Bangles and The Waitress danced together with Queen and Prince (and a bit later‚ King).  I watched music videos‚ every day‚ and consumed them as the diverse musical styles of the early 80’s happily coalesced  together‚ bravely allowing each the space to breathe but also live as one. It was a tiny world of course‚ but a  small window into something greater‚    And it was in this world that I discovered my future.   I vividly recall one afternoon in about February‚ 1984 when Richard Blade played two videos back-to-back I’d never seen before. The first was Sunday Bloody Sunday by U2.  I was used to seeing “rock” bands on Video One‚ but this band was different.  The song they were playing was not the unintentionally funny “swagger” like I saw in videos by the J. Geils Band and Journey‚ nor was it the tongue-in-cheek‚ video-ready over-the-top  theatrics of bands like  Twisted Sister or Devo. Instead‚  U2 looked like they truly meant what they were playing.   It was an honesty I felt I’d never seen before.I was intrigued.As I sat and watched I looked over at my Quiet Riot‚ “Metal Health” album next to the family stereo and realized instantly‚ that era of my musical was suddenly over.  But that was only the first video. The video that followed directly after “sunday Bloody Sunday” was totally different‚ yet somehow‚ exactly the same. A band of four guys with electro-shock hair‚ in a recording studio‚ banging away on acoustic guitars while spray-painting the walls with lyrics about “making stands” and “meeting makers”.   The music stomped‚ The guitars rang-out. Harmonicas blared Drums kept-time like military charge.   I could not believe what I was seeing.   It was like this band came from another planet entirely. A totally different planet than the rest of the slick pop and new wave on Video One.  Yet‚ at the same time‚  it felt like the exact same planet *I* came from.  I don’t how to say this any other way‚ but the entire thing‚ the music‚ the visuals‚ the message all formed into a ragged. missing  piece of my soul‚ firmly shoved into place as I watched the 3 minutes and :24 seconds play out as broadcast on Ch. 9‚ Los Angeles on our 19” Hitachi CRT TV  I waited until the  last few seconds of the ‚ when the chyron displayed the name of the band and the song. “The Stand”“The Alarm”“IRS Records” To say I was completely blown away is an understatement I love the passion of U2 but   The Alarm  grabbed me. They shook me. They made me feel…something. Whatever they were singing about‚ it felt like they were singing it directly to me. I felt like whoever they were‚ I needed to hear more as soon as possible.  It was an earthquake of a performance‚ shaking to my very 14 year-old core. I subsequently heard the song “Sixty Eight Guns” on KROQ and realized The Alarm was here to stay. A few weeks later at The Wherehouse Record store‚ my brother and I found a copy of the debut album from The Alarm named “Declaration” on an audio cassette.   I saw that it had Sixty Guns and The Stand on it‚ and it was an instant buy.    The Declaration cassette went into my tape  recorder/player that afternoon‚ and honestly‚ I don’t think it left for the next 8 months.  From the first magnificent strums of the song Declaration‚ to the final crescendo of Howling Wind‚ I loved every second of it.Every nuance.Every guitar strum‚ drum fill‚ and backing vocal.I loved every lyric‚ every tape loop‚ and every bass line.Every middle-8‚ every harmonica blast‚ and every orchestration.Every trumpet‚ banjo‚ bugle‚ e-bow and power chord.  I’d never loved any album more before and have never loved any album more since then. The songs sounded magnificent. The  message sounded magnificent.  I loved Declaration and listened to it at least 1000 times in 1984.The album followed me everywhere I went. At 14 years old‚ I suited-up myself in the music of The Alarm‚ and attacked the rest of my life with the power of its inspiration behind me.    It  became part of my identity. I will never not think that Declaration by The Alarm is the best damn album ever put onto vinyl. But. When I was finally able to converse with other Alarm fans from around the world in the late 80’s and 90’s‚ I found out something that surprised me. Many‚ many Alarm fans were not happy with the production of Declaration.These were mostly fans who had experienced the immense power of The Alarm as a live band first‚ and who felt that power was just not translated onto the recording of Declaration (or really‚ any of their records). My cognitive dissonance began to grow.  I firmly believed that Declaration was an amazing album perfectly recorded and the best album I’d ever heard  However‚  most “true” Alarm fans did not. I’d heard the album first‚ then saw The Alarm live. Could I even be a “true” Alarm fan if I didn’t also think Declaration was not produced well? For a while‚ I did try to change my mind.   I imagined different productions of the songs‚ more like The Alarm’s livesound.I’d cull mix-tapes together from various live recordings and try to imagine what an alt-Declaration might sound like.Would it have grabbed me the same way as the Alan Shacklock produced one did in 1984? However‚ I was never satisfied with any of my attempts at “remaking” Declaration. Now in 2024‚ I no longer need to wonder‚ as Mike Peters has taken to job to heart himself‚ and produced album named “[alternative] Declaration” which takes the best radio sessions and other rare recordings of The Alarm from the 1983/1984 era and recrafts them into a “What If Declaration was produced more like The Alarm as a live band”. The songs on this collection were produced by The Alarm themselves‚ and appear as is‚ with “no overdubs!!!”‚ (as Mike Peters emphatically told me).   This then is The Alarm in its’ purest form‚ before the “arena rock” sound  (as Mike describes it in the sleeve notes) was produced‚ engineered and mixed for the final Declaration album. . What follows is my real-time notes of listening to “[alternate  Declaration]” ‚ almost 40 years to the day that I saw that video of The Stand on Video One with Richard Blade. — The songs start. Declaration and Marching on both jump out of the speakers in a way that was only hinted-at on the album versions.  Marching On‚ in particular‚ has muscle and heft‚ reminding me that this band had its’ roots in punk and power-pop.   Are they better than the album versions?  Declaration me is almost identical here‚ while Marching on sounds like it does in a live setting‚ with a kind of “wall of sound” style production with powerful middle-8 and satisfying ending.   Where Were You Hiding When The Storm Boke? Takes its power-chord attack to another level. Punctuated with harmonica and middle-8 that is pre”-playing card-throw”‚ we get the idea that The Alarm can go high and low at the same time‚ mixes acoustic and electric guitars  in large helpings. There is just something more “in your face” here than on the album version.  Do I like this one better? I guess it depends on how “in your face” I’m feeling on any particular day.   Third Light‚ a song sung by Eddie Macdonald with lyrics based on Mike Peter’s grandfather’s WWI experience‚ breaks out with the thumping bass missing from the album version.  When the song hits the chorus‚ it’s less of a tempo-shift here‚ and shows how the song would have felt just as at home in a Stiff Little Fingers set as in The Alarm’s.    I have to admit‚ I like this one better than the original album version.  There is just something about where Third Light is placed on the album that‚ I think was supposed to be a down-shift before “68 Guns” but instead sounds out-of-place.   This one sounds better‚ but really‚ wouldn’t have Unsafe Building sounded even better here  instead? Fans looking for the “live” sound on record have to look no further than the version of Sixty Eight Guns here. It sounds like it’s being played from the stage of the London Marquee in May ‘83. The Alarm’s signature backing vocals are still here‚ but without the layered synths and horns‚ etc that enraged so many Alarm fans  (but also the ones that‚ in my view‚ made this song a hit pop single…certainly a paradox.)  Now those fans can pretend this is how it was on the album.  However‚  the one caveat I have is that I suspect  the original arrangement and production of 68 Guns cemented The Alarm as new wave heroes to casual Alarm fans.  Fans like my friend Brandon‚ who recently passed away. While he was a heavy metaller at heart‚ Brandon was an aficionado of the great New Wave tracks.  He loved “I Melt With You” by Modern English‚ and he loved “68 Guns” by The Alarm.   He loved the horns on this track and felt it turned it into a New Wave classic.  I agree with him.   So which is right” The die-hard fans who wanted the lice sound‚ or the casual fan who loved the single version?  I won’t  even try to answer that one.    We Are the Light comes out of the gates with the signature Alarm backing vocals‚ acoustic‚ and some meatier electric guitar than on the Declaration album.   The drums-fills feel more authentic here too‚ striking me as one of the best‚ most fully realized songs on this collection so far.   It also happens to be one of my favorite Alarm songs‚ and the one that really GRABBED me in the spring of 1984.  Could this one be actually better than the one on the Declaration album? It’s quite possible.  Shout To The Devil sounds downright goth-punk here.  The first ever song The Alarm played as a band named The Alarm‚ this song has been outshone by others over the years‚ but really for no damn good reason.  The beat layed-down here is sick‚ and wonderful‚ and all the words you would use to describe a song that grabs you from the first second and never lets go.  Power chord slice and soar‚ as Mike builds the lyrics up to a final line that sums up the entire era for The Alarm.   Like We Are The light‚ this version may actually be  more at home on the final Declaration album than the one that actually made it.  Maybe not‚ but it’s close.  Maybea combo of the two.    It’s also one of the songs that I feel U2 “borrowed” for bits on their album October‚ but that;s just my impression.  Blaze Of Glory is played at a slightly faster tempo here‚ with more dynamics in the vocals‚ and overall more power with the guitars.  This is the song that should have been The Alarm’s “Sunday Bloody Sunday”‚ but there was never a version that felt right for a single.  This one captures everything the way it should have been.  Even though I adore the 2nd half of the song on the Declaration album‚ the song here that begs the audience to sing “Going Out In blaze Of glory” over and over.  I adore the Declaration version though‚ so what do I make of this?  On a version of Declaration with a different production angle‚ like this one‚ it fits perfectly.    Dave Sharp’s “Tell Me” comes next and it’s again‚ another track where everything sounds thicker and deeper and like the song sounded in a live setting.  Is it better than the one in the Declaration?  I’m not sure.  I like the song here far more though‚ showcasing much of The Alarm;s live sound.  I guess I’ll have to listen again‚‚‚and again..and again to figure it out.  The Deceiver is another acoustic-goth anthem like only The Alarm could produce when Macdonald/Peters/Sharp combined efforts on a single song. Here with added piano that gives the song more depth than the album version but maybe overpowers a bit too. Still‚ like We Are The Light‚ it’s a lovely excursion away from the Alarms; regulation-issue all-out assault.    Speaking of that “regulation issue all-out assault”‚ one of the great missing pieces on Declaration was a full version of The Stand. We get it here‚ and it sounds great and also‚ just like it would have been played live at the time.   It sounds complete with proper middle-8 and the restored “Roll out the red carpet” verse missing from the single version. It also has a proper “get off your ass and change the world” ending. Howling Wind Here is not the “acoustic” version I was expecting‚ but a full-on rock song that blew my socks off.  I LOVE this song in its many forms as I believe it’s the precursor to everything U2 (might have) stolen from The Alarm and added to their own repertoire with extreme prejudice (adding to a pile that already includes both Shout To The Devil and Blaze Of Glory).  Here it sounds like the prosper send-off and lead-in to next album Strength.  Would this have worked on the Declaration album? Maybe.  I like the one on the album‚ but this is another track I may need to listen to a few (1000) more times before I make my decision. As b-sides go‚ it’s nice to have a more proper version of For Freedom.   What Kind Of Hell is good to hear too in its demo form. Long before I was able to acquire the actual records these songs were released upon‚ I heard them on the “live tapes” I coveted and traded with other Alarm nuts via a network of Alarm fans scattered around the world.  In this day and age of instant communication‚ it’s hard for me to fathom how we found each other‚ passed around set-lists‚ copied cassettes‚ and mailed them to each other sight-unseen‚ but we did‚ and it was glorious.  On those scratchy audio recordings I got to first hear my first “glimpses” as all the “missing” alarm songs I’d read about for years‚ but never heard.     To me‚ the best of these “B-sides” is really an A-side : Unsafe Building.   This is The Alarm’s monster hit that never was.   Their first single‚ which sounds great on vinyl already‚ but grew into quite a powerhouse over the years in the live setting.  Now we can hear it as it might have sounded among the other Declaration tracks. And I have to say. It’s stupendous! This is  the version of Unsafe Building I fell in love with while listening to those bootleg live tapes in my teenage bedroom:  Guitars strike‚ drums roll‚ bass thumps‚ and Mike sings this sucker like he’s gonna save the freakin’ world.  This is THE ALARM the way many of us first discovered them‚ or discovered them on bootleg tapes‚ and the way we always wanted them to be.  I’ll say it right now‚ It’s a misdemeanor and maybe a high crime that this song‚ in this form‚ never made it onto the final The Declaration album. Unbreak The Promise‚ to me‚ is a better song than many on Declaration and should have made the album. It shines here just as it always has shined.  It’s the soul of The Alarm right here.  Yes‚ by all means Unbreak The Promise.  As I’m writing this and listening to the album‚ we have the actual California Earthquake.  It’s 4.5‚ centered under my brother’s. House.  I pause and ask if he’s okay.  He is. If the Earthquake Gods are trying to give me a sign about how much “Declaration” shook me to my core 40 years ago‚ they do not have to be so damn on the nose right?   — An actual earthquake occurring while I was listening and writing was just too damned appropriate   But then‚ so were The Alarm.   They wore their heart on their sleeves‚ and they played music that blasted out of a PA and speakers alike. Music that inspired people‚ like me‚ to get off their asses and figure out what they wanted to do with their lives.   In the spring of 1984‚ it’s just what I needed. I’m not exaggerating when I say I listened to this original album 1000 times that spring and summer and fall. The cassette playing over and over on Radio Shack Realistic Cassette player‚ through giant Realistic  headphones‚ as I did my homework‚ learned to program a computer‚ finished my Catholic confirmation‚ and graduated from Jr. high.    One side would finish‚ and I’d just turn the cassette over and hit play.   Then do it again‚And again. And over.  I know the nuances of the original album better than anything I’ve known in my life.  I love it with every fiber of my being. In 1984‚ Declaration gave me everything I’d been searching for.    Yes‚ I’ve listened to it a 1000 times‚ and damn it‚ I could listen to it a 1000 more. At the same time‚ there are songs on “[alternative] Declaration” (i.e.“Unsafe Building”‚ “We Are The Light”‚ “Shout To The Devil” and “Howling Wind”) that are in danger of becoming my new favorites.  So I guess the question is‚ after all of these years Is  [alternative] Declaration better than the original?  Honestly‚ I don’t know yet. It’s certainly a great listen‚ with many songs from Declaration never sounding better. But I suppose‚ it’s up to you to decide which is better for your ears. For me‚ I will immerse myself in just that challenge.I’ll hit replay and listen again. And again. And again.And After I do that 1000 more times Maybe i’ll come back and have an answer for you..     — Please note:  At the time this review was written I was not aware the album [alternative] Declaration would only be available in a limited release. Check thealarm.com for availability   My hope is that everyone who wants to hear it will have a chance to get a copy in the near future.