WE are back on old ground here - bands that pretend not to be who they are.

But unlike The Uncle Devil Show (Del Amitri singer Justin Currie's latest outfit, reviewed here two weeks ago), The Alarm have reverted to true colours for their album release. Their particular deception saw a new band, The Poppy Fields, gatecrash the charts with the single 45RPM, reaching number 28.

The Poppy Fields were, of course, The Alarm, having sent the single to radio stations under the pseudonym to garner an honest reaction to the music, not The Alarm's faded image.

Curiously, that is the track that sounds least like The Alarm, with its Big Country tendencies, but this is the album of a freshly invigorated outfit. Opener Coming Home should have been the chart hit, with its big open sound, while Close and the Ziggy Stardust-style True Life are also top notch.

It is the gaps between that dilute this offering. But this is the best from The Alarm in a long time.

Updated: 09:16 Thursday, May 06, 2004