<Doppelgänger>

Shotgun Angel

Doppelgänger

Daniel Amos

The ¡Alarma! Chronicles Volume Two
1983 ¡Alarma! Records & Tapes
Produced By Terry Taylor, Jerry Chamberlain and Thom Roy for Rebel Base Productions
Re-Issue produced by Tom Gulotta and Eric Townsend

The ¡Alarma! Chronicles Volume Two Text

Deluxe Edition

CD One:
1. Hollow Man (Taylor)
2. Mall (All Over The World) (Taylor)
3. Real Girls (Taylor/Chamberlain)
4. New Car! (Taylor)
5. Do Big Boys Cry (Taylor)
6. Youth With A Machine (Taylor)
7. The Double (Taylor)
8. Distance and Direction (Taylor)

9. Memory Lane (Taylor)
10. Angels Tuck You In (Taylor)
11. Little Crosses (Chamberlain)
12. Autographs for the Sick (Words by Taylor, Music by Taylor/Chamberlain/Chandler)
13. I Didn't Build It For Me (Words by Taylor, Music by Taylor/Chamberlain)
14. Here I Am (Taylor)
15. Hollow Man (Reprise) (Taylor)


CD Two:
1. Hollow Man [Alternate]
2. Mall (All Over the World) [Alternate]
3. Concert Intro
4. Real Girls [Live]
5. New Car! [Live]
6. Do Big Boys Cry [Instrumental]
7. Youth with a Machine [Toy Mix]
8. The Double [Extended Rough]
9. Distance and Direction [Alternate]
10. Distance and Direction [Vocal Mix]
11. Memory Lane [Live]
12. Angels Tuck You In [Rough]
13. Little Crosses [Fragment]
14. Autographs for the Sick [Alternate]
15. I Didn’t Build It For Me [Alternate]
16. Here I Am [Instrumental]
17. Hollow Man (Reprise) [Alternate]

All Songs 1983 Twitchen Vibes/Paragon Music Corp./ASCAP. All Rights Reserved
International Copyright Secured. Used By Permission.



Related Links

Album Reviews
DA Timeline 1983
DA Discography


Recording Information

Enginner: Thom Roy
Second Engineer: Derri Daugherty
Recorded and Mixed at Whitefield Studio, Santa Ana, CA.
Rehearsals and Arrangements Recorded at the Rebel Base, Santa Ana
Alternate Bonus Mixes by Eric Townsend

Credits

Mastered at MCA Whitney by Steve Hall.
Album Art Concepts Terry Taylor, Derrill Bazzy and Phillip Mangano
Photography: Derrill Bazzy and Bonnie Ferguson
Art Direction: Derrill Bazzy
Doppel-Ed photography by Linda Dillon Baley
Live photos by Brian Martin and others
Re-mastered by J Powell at Steinhaus

Special Thanks To Everything Audio for the use of the Emulator (E.M.U Systems), to Andrew for the use of his Toys on "Youth With A Machine (T.O.Y. Systems) and Sharon McCall for her assistance.

Keyboard Arrangements: Terry Taylor, Jerry Chamberlain and Tom Howard


Daniel Amos is:

Terry Taylor: Rhythm Guitars, Lead Vocals, Backing Vocals and Percussion
Jerry Chamberlain: Lead Guitars, Lead Vocals on "Little Crosses", Interpreter on "Autographs...", Backing Vocals and Percussion
Tim Chandler: Bass Guitar, 8-String and Fretless Basses, Backing Vocals and Percussion
Ed McTaggart: Drums, Skins, Tubs, and Traps (Say Five Times Fast!), Backing Vocals and Percussion


Additional Musicians:
Tom Howard: Keyboards on "New Car!", "The Double", "Memory Lane", "Angels Tuck you In", and "I Didn't Build It For Me"
Rob Watson: Keyboards on "Mall (All Over The World)", "Real Girls", "Do Big Boys Cry", "Youth With A Machine", "The Double", and "Here I Am"
Jeff Lams: Keyboards on "Real Girls" and "I Didn't Build It For Me"
Mark Cook: Keyboards on "Distance and Direction"
Marty Dieckmeyer: Keyboards and Bass Guitar on "Hollow Man"
Bill Colton: Sax
Alex MacDougall: Percussion

Occasional Backing Vocals:
Randy Stonehill, Tom Howard, Derri Daugherty, Janet McTaggart, Dori "Game Show Girl" Howard, Mark Cook, The Three Women from Istanbul, and Emilia Emulator

Foreign Correspondence on "Autographs...": Thim, Yolly, Joni, Vinnie and Constant
Hand Work on "Angels Tuck you In": The Eric "Clap-Tons"
Faces: Neal Boatwright and Frank M. Quinn




By by Brian Quincey Newbomb (Feb. 2015)

For the longest time, back when music made by Christians seemed to matter more than it does these days, there was a standard criticism offered up by both fans and critics, that CCM often seemed 5 to ten years behind what was going on in the mainstream. As a proof, meet the one exception to that rule back in 1983, Daniel Amos and, IMHO, the best Christian rock album of that year, Doppelganger, the follow-up to !Alarma!

Following the double releases of Horrendous Disc and !Alarma! two years earlier, and some touring to connect coast to coast with many fans who had rarely had the chance to see them live, DA sounds superbly confident as they throw themselves into the diverse and creative and at times aggressive songs that make up Doppelganger. It’s worth pointing out that the title suggests a “ghostly double or apparition” of a living person, a fun set of ideas to explore on this the second chapter in “The !Alarma! Chronicles.”

The disc starts with “Hollow Man,” an art piece framed by vocals played backward, a tribute to the T.S. Eliot poem, “The Hollow Men,” which describes humanity as having no distinct intellect or emotions, but rather as having heads stuffed with straw. In such a world, we miss the Kingdom’s goal, and the world ends “not with a bang but a whimper.”

This is not an end we choose from the beginning, it’s the culmination of life’s little choices and distractions, and the compelling call of materialism, which values things over people—the tangible over the spiritual, as found in the “Mall (All Over the World).” Now this song, it must be said captured the cultural zeitgeist, and with Tim Chandler’s funky bass line, the dance texture weaving of guitars and keyboard strings with Taylor’s clever, insightful lyrics… well, it coulda, shoulda, woulda been a hit if a Christian band ever got a fair shake on mainstream radio, the worlds aligned and justice had prevailed.

As a testament to Taylor & Co.’s relevance and timeliness, there was a hit on the radio by Robert Hazard called “Escalator of Life,” which echoed the lyrics of “Mall.” This music was timely and relevant. Hazard also wrote “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun,” the song that later became a hit for Cyndi Lauper, seemingly a response to Duran Duran’s “Girls On Film.” DA was right there with them, exploring the virtues and potential exploitation of female and male gender roles, with “Real Girls” and “Do Big Boys Cry.”

Feeling their oats a bit, Taylor was comfortable addressing the struggle of being spiritual beings in the physical world, the “double life we live,” in songs like “The Double” and “Distance and Direction,” and even go after their own fans who are still hoping for the return of the End Times Campfire Sing-Along Cowboys of their earliest releases, on “(you make too many trips down) Memory Lane.”

In that spirit they took a few jabs at some of the more popular theological distortions that were the bread and butter of TV preachers and mega-church evangelists. “New Car!” complete with its game show musical enthusiasm, takes on “The Prosperity Gospel,” while “I Didn’t Build It For Me” and “Autographs for the Sick” take down cult of personality leaders and so-called healers who take advantage of the hurting and less fortunate. Jerry Chamberlain’s “Little Crosses” questions the effectiveness of religious jewelry, while “Angels Tuck You In” challenges the idea of religious sentimentality and privilege, examining the “New Car!” concept that we’re the “King’s Kids.”

Just as “Youth With a Machine” proved prescient, imagining 30 years ago a youth culture obsessed with their electronic devices (they may have missed a bit by focusing only on the youth), musically DA taped a creative energy that was ultra-relevant and timely, but has also passed the test of time.  While !Alarma! felt stark and stripped back compared to Horrendous Disc, here they’ve layered on the keyboards and vocals, in a lush take on the current fondness for “new wave,” but with a bigger, broader, bolder palette, richer colors, deeper roots, crunchier guitars. This record is not about revisiting a time warp, but its music endures and its message remains relevant.

But throughout, there is a consistent witness to the alternative life source, a glimmer of the Gospel, an invitation to escape a dualistic existence and choose a more authentic, a more whole and human path, that is a more Christian life. It’s all there at the end as the last song plays out, “Here I Am,” presented as a slide show of the band’s activity in relationship to their fans: the recording of their songs, the presentation and relevance of artful music written and recorded for an audience. When a real connection happens, it’s anything but hollow, and this music, well it goes out with a bang, not a whimper.

(It’s worth pointing out that if you were to buy Doppelganger these days, and you should do just that, it now comes with a deluxe edition bonus disc that includes alternative arrangements and mixes of the songs, as well as a few recorded live in concert. As great as the original final product is, remixed and mastered for better sound, you’ll find these bonus tracks a nice addition to one of the best Christian rock records ever made.)

Copyright © 2015. DanielAmos.com. All Rights Reserved. Do not reproduce or publish without permission.





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