Daniel Amos - "Get On the Bus, Aloha"
Songs From The Heart (1995)


Daniel Amos. Aka DA. One of the only "Christian" bands I've been a long time fan of. And by long, I mean more than 30 years.

A band that's always been fun, and stylistically diverse, from its mid-70's Post-Tribulation-Eagles roots through the years of ELO-Cheap Trick-isms, post-punk skinny tie herky-jerk, Beatly-synth pop and later years more akin to Super Furry Animals.

90% of their output has been free from god-genre irritants and dozens of their obscure tunes since 1975 on a myriad of obscure labels I count among favorite songs.

Also, the Lost Dogs alt-country and Swirling Eddies indie-comic side projects are excellent as are the Terry Taylor solo albums I've heard.

One of the only times I can point to a veteran Jesus Act and go "they good."

track from their power pop period:
"I Love You #19" - Horrendous Disc (rec. 1978, rel. 1980)

I fucking love Daniel Amos and Terry Scott Taylor.

My favorite song is "Strong Points, Weak Points" off of Fearful Symmetry.

I saw the Lost Dogs live last year.. tight as hell in concert.

Obner Christians: The Christians Who Say "Fuck"

Heh. I saw Daniel Amos in concert in '81 during the iAlarma! tour.

There were about 30 people there, six of them from my family.

If you go to a Lost Dogs concert, 90% of the people there are over the age of 45.

It's kind of awkward.

I've never heard Mr. Buechner's Dream, which is supposedly DA's best album.

Will have to pick that up sometime.

It all depends on what you like in music. Mr Buechner's Dream is a fantastically solid album.... it is also their most accessible material. I personally would take the Alamra Chonicles over it, though.

But I really like quirky, left-of-center music. And some of that early material sounds like Terry Scott Taylor was being influenced some by artists like The Residents and such.

Well, they've been at it long enough that one decade's non-accessible is another decade's accessible.

The earliest records ('75-'77) are so-cal country-based and sound like Don Henley railing about hell and the rapture, albeit a very funny Don Henley. Then after '78 they moved toward new wave and modern rock.

Regardless, they're one of the acts that Christian alt-rock is built one, even if most of their descendants aren't anywhere near as good.

It must have been hard to be a Terry Taylor, Mike Roe, Charlie Peacock or Sam Phillips in such a stilted, insular and self-righteous subculture.

Hmmm...I never really got Charlie Peacock. And when I heard that he is the guy responsible for the 80s PSA that can be viewed at the below link, it brought him down a few notches in my mind. I don't recall his music typically sounding like this. Perhaps they put the squeeze on him to make something "snappy" and the dreary sales of his Exit/Island Records releases just weren't paying the bills.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=9utLOSBzCiw

That IS him right? It's hard to tell...but that's what I've heard.



Well it probably doesn't help when he makes these kinds of faces...

DEMON POSSESION ALERT!!!!