Daniel Amos Message Board | Print: How did you "discover" DA?

Posted by Ritchie_az on 07-04-2008 at09:54:

Question

How did you "discover" DA?

There are over 10,000 threads on the DAMB, so I'm sure this must have been done before. I couldn't find it, though, so here it is:

How did you "discover" Daniel Amos?

I said this in a different thread (it was off topic), but here is my story:
In 2000, I was looking for better Christian rock than what I had in my collection. I had a lot of Petra, some DeGarmo & Key, Whiteheart, Whitecross, Deliverance, Holy Soldier (their Last Train album is pretty good), Guardian, Newsboys, PFR and Bloodgood. I was at a Christian book store and found DA's Preachers From Outer Space, which looked different and interesting, so I purchased it. The first four songs didn't make a big impression on me, but then I heard track five, Hound of Heaven, and track seven, Horrendous Disc (which I'd heard Deliverance's cover of), and I was hooked.
I quickly ordered (on-line) Horrendous Disc. Wow, where was this my whole life? So a couple weeks later I ordered Alarma, which I liked even better than HD. A couple months later came Bibleland, which didn't impress me (I have come to love Out In The Cold and Bakersfield, which, after my father-in-law's passing in Bakersfield from "incompetence, tubes and wires, indifference, fools and liars," has special meaning) and Our Personal Favorite World Famous Hits. A few weeks afterward I purchased Songs of the Heart, which, really, is underrated. I love Glory Road and I still can't believe a rock band--any rock band--let alone DA, covered Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You, but they did an awesome job of it. A few months after that I found a lone copy of The Alarma Chronicles Book Set at a Christian book store. I had to have it--best "book" I ever purchased. (However, I let someone barrow the third CD--with the second half of Vox Humana and all of Fearful Symmetry--and he would never give it back and later he moved then I moved). All of this within the first year of purchasing Preachers From Outer Space.
Since then I've found probably 45-50 albums that I would consider "better" Christian rock--including The 77's, The Choir, The Lost Dogs, The Swirling Eddies, LSU, ProtoKaw, etc, etc, etc--stuff I never heard, or rarely heard, on the Christian radio and rarely saw in the Christian book stores.
A highlight of all of this is when I saw Terry Scott Taylor live (with Phil Madeira) in Chandler, AZ, for his Pretend I'm Elvis tour. I sat right up front not more than 12 feet from Terry, and got to talk with him after the show. Best concert I've ever been to.

Posted by colorblind on 07-04-2008 at15:13:

my first exposure to DA/terry was through LD's Scenic Routes.

Posted by me-is-e on 11-22-2008 at17:26:

Well, I was going to start a thread, but this one seems to relate so . . .

I have almost a guilty confession that I learned about Terry and Daniel Amos from the Lost Dogs at Scenic Routes, but I never really became amazed by Terry himself until recently. I had bought Bibleland around the time it came out, but never gave it a good listen and foolishly traded it. Also bought Sacred Cows and got the joke but didn't really want to sit through those songs that much. But I've loved "Lost Cabin" and other Lost Dogs recording so much that I recently bought MBD and Zoom Daddy and think those are great too. Waiting on DFBB, "Midget, speck, molecule" and "All Day Sing".

So, I've been wanting to start this thread for a while. Everybody please give some advice to someone who is impressed by almost musical genre, but especially creative lyrics (like Terry's, and been a huge Bob Dylan fan and artists related to him), and would list "Lost Cabin" as a favorite overall record, where are some good places to invest more DA and Terry albums when funding becomes available. Big Grin

Posted by wakachiwaka on 11-22-2008 at17:51:

quote:

Originally posted by me-is-e
Waiting on DFBB

Fresh off the presses, baby! You won't regret it.

Posted by me-is-e on 11-22-2008 at18:49:

quote:

Originally posted by wakachiwaka

quote:

Originally posted by me-is-e
Waiting on DFBB

Fresh off the presses, baby! You won't regret it.

Glad to hear! Have two songs as a sampler that a fan put up on youtube and love those. Thought it would be worth getting for those. Looking forward this like everyone seems to be. Happy

Posted by John Foxe on 11-22-2008 at19:28:

"Suspension's the buzz, out at Wheaton..."

Freshman year @ Wheaton College 1981, Scripture Press contest, won Horrendous Disc and Alarma. Those were the first recordings I ever heard.

Doppelganger was the first I actually bought. Bought Vox. After Vox, bought K&I, and I was a little worried that there would be no more DA. Bought FS, BftA, the DFBB. After DFBB, I heard about the Eddies, that Terry had formed another band, and decided it was the end of DA.

Lost track for a few years. 1994 I saw Bibleland in a store, bought it, then reconnected and started to get the back catalog. It got rather expensive at times having to bid on eBay for rarities like the CD version of Let's Spin and others.

Since then I've gotten every recording as soon as it was released, figuring they would eventually become rare and expensive to get after the fact. Very true for Alarma Chronicles and other rarities.

The point of all this:
Recordings are usually the cheapest and most available when they first get released. There are several new old items for sale right now. Buy them as soon as you get a chance, $15-20 is very little compared to what we spend for other things. In the end, you won't regret it.

Does anyone regret not getting some Terry rarity?
Confused

Posted by UnderDawg on 11-23-2008 at17:42:

RE: "Suspension's the buzz, out at Wheaton..."

A friend took me to a concert by this group "Daniel Amos". She was really into christian music, and knowing that I liked music in general, thought I'd enjoy it. I was floored by the show. Loved it. Bought the first two albums at the show. This was back in the late 70s.

Followed them ever since. Loved Terry's first two solo albums. Thought that "Motorcycle" was one of the best albums I'd ever heard. When the Lost Dogs began, I had a new band to follow. I kinda missed out on the Swirling Eddies, but I've caught up.

Last year the Dogs came through Houston, and I took a stack of CD booklets to have autographed. Terry was impressed that I'd seemingly bought everything he's ever done. And so far, I think I have....

Posted by PuP on 11-24-2008 at12:06:

RE: How did you "discover" DA?

quote:

...I'm sure this must have been done before. I couldn't find it, though...

If you are interested in the stories told on the previous incarnation - look here.

Posted by servantsteve on 11-24-2008 at12:57:

I posted my journey on the other thread. It stinks that you really have to look to find quality stuff like this while the bland sounds of worship are everywhere.

Posted by brother joel on 11-24-2008 at15:12:

In the Bargain Bin

I think I posted this elsewhere but. . .

It was 1992 and I was shopping through the discount bin at Insight Christian Bookstore in Schenectady, NY. I had gone to buy some other album, probably the newly released Petra or something. I had a couple of extra bucks and I saw a tape copy of "Let's Spin." I already had "Catch that Angel" on a sampler disc from Frontline and I remembered appreciating it so I decided to purchase it. As soon as I got in the car I brok the celpophane and placed it in my mom's tape deck. Neither of us was prepared for the opening sequence, particularly while driving through downtown Schenectady. My mom thought someone near by was in trouble. Anyway, it was a little beyond me at that point so I did not listen to it very much. Not long after this I purchased a sampler tape at the same bookstore called WalPaper that had "Hole in the World" on it. I immediatly loved the creativivity of the song. So I quickly went back to the store and bought "Motorcycle" on tape. I also bought "Dig" because I was impressed by Adam Again on the same sampler. It was not too long after that when I was listening to the frontline sampler and discovered the stylistic similarities and I got to wondering. Eventually I figured out that the eddies and DA were the same (for the most part) and I continued to fall in love. All of a sudden "Let's Spin" got a lot more attention. The next Christmas, my brother gave me "Little Red Riding Hood" and I discovered Terry and Gene in that band. I also discovered Derri's name was there. I knew Derri because my brother and I were really into "Speckled Bird" at the time. I also started liking Mike more at this point. Well, then I started getting everything I could find with Terry's name on it. It is a joy each time I hear a new or old sound connected with Terry Scott Taylor.

Posted by Jevon the Tall on 11-24-2008 at18:10:

For me it goes back to the one two punch of HD, and Alarma. I cut my teeth on HD and to this day it is one of my favourite albums - however, it was Alarma that really got me hooked deep. I remember being sprawlled ( I can really take up space) out in my room with the gatefold open, and the liner notes and story trying to puzzle it out. Over the years the Chronicles better, but the collected story remained disconnected until the bookset brought it all together.

The next great one two punch came with FS, and then DFBB which took art and rock to another level.

Of course I'm not alone here - most of us are pretty hardcore musicologiests after a fashion, and we play connect the dots, as such I have a lot of related artists whose names I'd read in the credits somewhere.

To this day I still pick things up because of word and name association. Heck without DA, I'd have saved a lot of money.

Thanks Terry,

Thanks a lot.

Posted by ftg3plus4 on 11-24-2008 at19:02:

I first heard of them around '85 or '86 when my former boss, an older Christian lady who didn't like rock much, dumped a few pieces of vinyl on me that she'd gotten who-knows-where. One of these was the !ALARMA! RADIO SPECIAL. I listened to this & got curious. Later my best friend let me hear HORRENDOUS DISC. At that time one still could pick up HD & the debut album for $1 in cut-out bins, and I eventually did so. I don't know what order I got all the albums in, but I recall actually getting FEARFUL SYMMETRY (ultimately one of my least favorites) first 'cause it had just come out. I also recall that SHOTGUN ANGEL was near impossible for me to find for a long time.

Posted by George on 11-27-2008 at20:44:

I posted this elsewhere:

Angels Tuck You In was #1 song on the "hipper" of the 2 Christian radio stations in Tulsa, OK for 2 weeks in 1983 (the other station was the Imperials, Carmen, Sandi Patti station). Fell in love immediately and bought the cassette in the Oral Roberts University bookstore, where Doppelganger was #1. #2 was U2's WAR (It was, after all, a COLLEGE Christian bookstore). The irony--I always thought "I Didn't Build it for Me" had perhaps Oral Roberts in mind. There is a long hallway in the campus chapel with multiple portrait paintings of Oral and his family. These were the church icons. Anyway, I was hooked.

Vox Humana was released soon after and I didn't stop playing it for about a year. Saw DA at the State Theater in Minneapolis in 1984. Dance Stopped all night, all year!

Posted by Jotmo on 12-01-2008 at00:52:

RE: How did you "discover" DA?

Wow. I feel like an old timer.

I first discovered Daniel Amos from listening to a friends copy of their "Shotgun Angel" album in 1977. I was hooked immediately, and have been a fan ever since.

I saw them in concert for the first time at a Calvary Chapel in California, (don't remember the city) in 1980 (IIRC) just after Horrendous Disk came out. Place was packed.

Saw them several times through High School (class of '84) in various places and every year at Disney Land.

I've always marked the various phases of my life by the DA music of the time.

Starting HS, Alarma. Going into the USAF, Doppleganger. Got married/first house, Kalhoun. Kids, new job house and move to another state, Songs from The Heart and Mr. Buechner's Dream.

The music of each album bring back the feelings of those times.

Daniel Amos music has been a part of nearly every event in my life. Kid of a sound track for my memories.

Posted by Wriss on 12-03-2008 at22:51:

How did I find this site? Simple. I was digging through an old pile of disks when I found The Neverhood. I was then curious as to who created the soundtrack. Eventually, I found Terry Scott Taylor's name, which brought me here.

Posted by Ron E on 12-03-2008 at23:05:

great to hear the stories, especially from som of you who've only posted a few times. Welcome and keep posting.

Posted by wakachiwaka on 12-04-2008 at00:29:

quote:

Originally posted by Ron E
great to hear the stories, especially from som of you who've only posted a few times. Welcome and keep posting.

And to guys like Wriss, keep discovering. Trying to catch up with Uncle Terry's output is like drinking from a firehose.

Posted by jsjs13 on 12-05-2008 at17:59:

How i met Daniel Amos

I first discovered them - sort of - through LD's Green Room Serenade - i was hip to The Choir and Adam Again - so once i had Perfecta and Kissers and Killers i sought out some other stuff i could find at the local bookstore - ala GRS - so then i found out there were 2 other groovy members, Mike and Terry - it all came full circle and I picked up more Lost Dogs, more 77's and eventually some Daniel Amos - I think my first shots were the HD reissue and probably Songs of the Heart, which i still think is a masterpiece, but I have since been able to dig into just about every release - what struck me was Terry's consistent ability to create classic musical moments on each album - it seems Terry has a need to create real albums where the music and songs fulfill a theme - which is cool - but beyond that, there are always classic songs on every record - where the music transcends the "theme" so to speak - those are the songs that live on for me - My favorite records have and will probably always be:

Doppelganger
Fearful Symmetry (i've always dug that one)
SOTH and MBD

Posted by haveapez on 12-10-2008 at12:21:

The first I ever heard about DA was a few years ago when CCM magazine did their "Top 100 CCM albums" or whatever, in what may have been their 20th or 25th anniversary issue. I don't remember as I don't pay attention to much CCM now.

I saw a short blurb for Doppelganger. I hadn't heard of them, but the review was talking about how it was great music that no one really heard, and then I thought the cover art was way cool as well.

Years later I buy the occasional Larry Norman's site and I saw the review for Horrendous Disc. I gave it a try, found this site, and have been a fan since.