¡Alarma! (album)

Background

¡Alarma!, released weeks after the band's the Beatles- and The Beach Boys-influenced Horrendous Disc, took a decidedly new wave direction along the lines of Elvis Costello or Talking Heads.

Lyrically, the album contains social commentary so harsh that CCM described it as "perhaps the most scathing ever put out by a Christian label."

¡Alarma! was the first of a four-part series of albums by DA entitled The ¡Alarma! Chronicles, which also included the albums Doppelgänger, Vox Humana, and Fearful Symmetry. This album, along with the other three albums from the Alarma! Chronicles, was rereleased as part of the Alarma! Chronicles book set in 2000. The book set included three CDs and a hardcover book of lyrics, photos, liner notes, essays, interviews and other information that amounted to over 200 printed pages.

Bass guitarist Marty Dieckmeyer left the band before the ¡Alarma! Tour, and was replaced with bassist Tim Chandler.

This album was listed at No. 62 in the book CCM Presents: The 100 Greatest Albums in Christian Music (Harvest House Publishers, 2001).

Reissue

In 2013, the album was remastered and repackaged as a two-CD deluxe edition by Stunt Records. Tom Gulotta and Eric Townsend were put in charge of compiling the project - bringing together previously unseen photos, never-before-heard out-takes, mixes and demos, and a reading of the first chapter of the Alarma Chronicles by Malcolm Wild.

Side one

1. "Central Theme" (Taylor)
2. "¡Alarma!" (Taylor)
3. "Big Time/Big Deal" (Taylor)
4. "Props" (Taylor)
5. "My Room" (Taylor)
6. "Faces To The Window" (Taylor)
7. "Cloak & Dagger" (Taylor/Chamberlain)
8. "Colored By" (Taylor)

Side two

1. "C & D Reprise" (Taylor/Chamberlain)
2. "Through The Speakers" (Taylor)
3. "Hit Them" (Taylor)
4. "Baby Game" (Taylor)
5. "Shedding The Mortal Coil" (Taylor/Cook/Chamberlain)
6. "Endless Summer" (Taylor/Chamberlain)
7. "Walls Of Doubt" (Taylor)
8. "Ghost Of The Heart" (Taylor)

Deluxe edition bonus disc

1. "Little Things" (demo)
2. "Off My Mind" (demo)
3. "As Long As I Live" (demo)
4. "No Spaceship" (demo)
5. "Out Of Town" (demo)
6. "Only One" (demo)
7. "Central Theme" (demo)
8. "My Room" (demo)
9. "Faces To The Window" (demo)
10. "Colored By" (demo)
11. "Through The Speakers" (demo)
12. "Hit Them" (demo)
13. "Endless Summer" (demo)
14. "Walls of Doubt" (demo)
15. "Props" (Vocal mix)
16. "Big Time/Big Deal" (Alternate Mix)
17. "Shedding the Mortal Coil" (Alternate Mix)
18. "Ghost of the Heart" (Alternate Mix)
19. "¡Alarma!" (Instrumental)
20. "Colored By" (Instrumental)
21. "¡Alarma! Reading" by Malcolm Wild

Personnel

Additional musicians