The Sunshine Underground’s 2006 album Raise the Alarm is probably the most under-appreciated album of recent years with its nonstop barrage of excellent songs. The Northerners’ indie rock punk funk vibes crash loudly throughout the entire record, but in all fairness it isn’t until the fifth song that it really breaks into its heel kicking stride..
Don’t get us wrong, Wake Up, Put You In Your Place, Dead Scene and The Way It Is aren’t disappointing by any stretch of the imagination, it’s just that it’s only when Commercial Breakdown fuzzes up the wavelengths that you know you’re listening to something special, and maybe that’s one of the reasons the band has never really lived up to its massive potential.
Craig Wellington shouts and screams his way through the lyrics, biting them out tunefully throughout the track. Then comes the majestic resonance of Somebody’s Always Getting In Your Way, followed by the brilliant Borders. The album closes with a double-header of excellence starting out with the cowbell induced title track Raise The Alarm, which eventually gives way to the hidden track, Climbing Up The Walls.
And yet, in spite of a wealth of stunning songs, we’ve only ever heard their music played on th’radio a couple of times over the years, and even less on telly. Admittedly, each time we got very exited and tried to tell everyone around how ace the song was, but in our opinion the band doesn’t get the recognition we think they deserve and we think we might know why.
After listening to Raise the Alarm we inevitably had to go to see them live, and a Bristol gig with some friends was up on the cards. One of which, we’ll call her Helen (it’s her name) had also heard of the band and we everyone was looking forward to the gig. But while we had a class time, Helen was a little less enamoured. It turns out the band were too chavvy looking, so no matter how good the songs were, they were never going to get Helen’s seal of approval.
Maybe The Sunshine Underground would have been much more loved if only they’d donned skinny jeans, Converse Allstars and had long hair instead of the short cropped ginger that stomped around stage like a disgruntled Man City fan. Is not looking the part really a valid reason for not liking a band? We don’t think so, but fook it, maybe one day they’ll read this, change their clobba and get played on the radio, so that XFM can stop booming the likes of Mumford And Fluffin Sons and their banjo ball ache.
The Sunshine Underground, Raise the Alarm review: 4/5
