Daniel Amos Message Board | Print: DA ~ Dig Here Said The Angel (2013)

Posted by DwDunphy on 06-23-2013 at16:40:

The album had the qualities I'm always looking for -- the first two "hook" songs in among songs I haven't warmed to yet (those would be "Now That I've Died" and "Waking Up Under Water"). After that you get to the mood piece that gets under your skin and won't let go ("Ruthless Hum Of Dread"). Then you have the songs you come back around to; not instant grabbers, but because you've been indoctrinated, you now have proper appreciation of them ("Our New Testament Best" and "Love Grace and Mercy").

Finally you go back to the start and appreciate the whole with different ears. The reason I like when albums do this is because, I find, when it is love at first listen it tends to be so much sugar water, an instant hit, and the hype wears off really fast.

I won't say, however, that Dig Here is a "grower" which tends to be code for "I forced myself to like it" which is exactly the wrong approach. All the songs were immediately recognized as worthwhile and enjoyable, but this multistage process tends to develop that deeper appreciation. In other words, rather than being a record I listen to obsessively for a month and then put away, I can rightly add this to the list of DA records that return again and again to the player.

Posted by Drtuddle on 06-23-2013 at20:54:

What he said~~~

Posted by joey on 06-24-2013 at14:56:

Tongue!

quote:

Originally posted by dennis
Yes I saved the Daniel Amos advance album to my phone, but it's not "for real" until I burn it onto a C.D. which I'm doing right now.

like i said at the face-place, i am not going to do that... that way it will be another cool thing when i get the actual real c.d.. Pleased

going on lunch break to play for about the 5th time on my phone's mp3 player right now... Big Grin

Posted by Audiori J on 06-24-2013 at15:55:

Since I went down and helped them film during recording, I heard the songs in a rougher state. I actually didn't want to say too much about how the album sounded and just wait and see everyone's reaction hearing it new and finished. Everyone seems to be reacting exactly the way I thought everyone would. The album, to me seems monumental. The budget (thanks to all the supporters) allowed the guys to really build it up and tweak it and polish it and make it pretty incredible.

I've tried to think how I would describe it say in comparison to Mr Buechner's Dream.. the song writing seems similar, but fresh, and the music is so many steps beyond that album. Its multi-layered and orchestrated, and yet cohesive. While I was in Nashville, the only word I could think of to describe it was that it was big. I think the themes of the album are far reaching and timeless and in that sense 'big' and the music expands beyond so many borders that it too seems 'big.'

It is an example of why I am a DA fan, they always take the listener to a new place. Everytime an album comes out you can never really say, oh this album is like such and such previous album. Or this one reminds me of that one. Heck, you can't even (thankfully) say oh this album or this band sounds like some other artist or their work. There just isn't any other band like DA.

Posted by Ron E on 06-24-2013 at16:54:

Sort of a best of Motorcycle meets Mr Buechner's Dream...???!!!

Posted by sondance on 06-24-2013 at19:06:

if you saw the video of Greg playing a mando-guitar (?) during the recording, have you found the song that lick is in?

Posted by ahanson on 06-24-2013 at20:22:

Who's Who Here, Said the Shotgun Angel

quote:

Originally posted by Ron E
Sort of a best of Motorcycle meets Mr Buechner's Dream...???!!!

This is EXACTLY what I thought after my first few listens. But I'm still coming to grips with it. Like most DA records over the years, this one is a completely different beast from anything that's come before it. But it's brilliant, of that I'm sure.

Posted by klaatu on 06-24-2013 at21:47:

quote:

Originally posted by Ron E
Sort of a best of Motorcycle meets Mr Buechner's Dream...???!!!

On my first listen, about halfway through, I said to my wife this is Mr Buechner meets Motorcycle.

lol

Steve

Posted by Josh&etc on 06-25-2013 at00:57:

I haven't commented here in years, but I've been listening to the album all weekend, and thought I should come over and give my two cents.

Anyway, I wasn't blown away the first time I listened to it, but the more I listened, the more I like it. The vocals seem a bit atonal and off kilter on the first listen through, but not after, and the instrumentation is killer. I was surprised that most of the songs were 5-6 minutes, which is not DA-like, but it really gives Greg, Tim, Jerry, and the rest of the guys the necessary time to pull off some cool stuff.

I was trying to describe what it sounded like to my dad.."it's reminds me a little of john wayne, some similarities to motor cycle and buechner, but with major differences.." I ended up helplessly referencing just about everything the guys had done in the past twenty years, because it really does have its own identity.

Sorry if this is rambling and unfocused, but please pass along my thanks for the album, and if they want to do this again next year, I might even spring for the vinyl next time Big Grin

Posted by Ritchie_az on 06-25-2013 at19:38:

An album review that I just published.

Posted by Ritchie_az on 06-25-2013 at22:11:

Found this review.

Posted by baxter on 06-28-2013 at11:08:

Is there a tentative release date?

Posted by power2uth on 06-28-2013 at14:21:

Uncle Terry commenting on my review!

I was stunned and delighted last evening to see that Terry had checked out my review of DHSTA and left some comments on song interpretation, personnel and some other cool stuff.

Instead of correcting and clarifying my review based on his input, I just put a link at the top to his comment at the bottom. Check it out, at http://moreofdave.wordpress.com/2013/06/25/dig-here-said-the-angel-review/.

Posted by power2uth on 06-28-2013 at14:51:

quote:

Originally posted by sondance
if you saw the video of Greg playing a mando-guitar (?) during the recording, have you found the song that lick is in?

Isn't that the one where he's working on the riff in the chorus of New Testament Best? I know there's a video up with that on it, but I don't remember if that's the one you're referring to.

Posted by Ritchie_az on 06-28-2013 at16:14:

RE: Uncle Terry commenting on my review!

quote:

Originally posted by power2uth
I was stunned and delighted last evening to see that Terry had checked out my review of DHSTA and left some comments on song interpretation, personnel and some other cool stuff.

Instead of correcting and clarifying my review based on his input, I just put a link at the top to his comment at the bottom. Check it out, at http://moreofdave.wordpress.com/2013/06/25/dig-here-said-the-angel-review/.

Wow, what an honor to have Terry personally reply.

Posted by mindgasket on 06-28-2013 at21:30:

Wow.

I just started listening to Dig Here today, and I gotta say that I'm really floored. My first couple of listens were at work where I couldn't turn it up and soak in it; I had to have it on low - background music low - which didn't do it justice, since I was distracted with work stuff, so my initial reaction was not floored but intrigued. I could tell that the mood and muse of the album was different from what I imagined it would be, even though I've been privy to all the Kickstarter rough cuts.

Then I got into my car and turned it up so I could hear everything. Wow. Really. But still not what I expected. My first reaction to My New Testament Best was, "Oh, that's nothing like the rough cut. I really loved the rough cut." Waking Up Under Water was immediate for me, however. I mean kick burro immediate. I think it's one of their best ever. Some of the other songs required a couple listens for the appreciation to take effect. That's when I remembered what C.S. Lewis said in his book, An Experiment in Criticism:

“A work of art can either be 'received' or 'used'. When we 'receive' it we expert our senses and imagination and various other powers according the pattern set by the artist. When we 'use' it, we treat it as assistance for our own activities. The one, to use an old-fashioned image, is like being taken for a bicycle ride by a man who may know roads we have not yet explored. The other is like adding one of those little motor attachments to our own bicycle and then going for one of our familiar rides.... The first demand any work of art makes upon us is surrender. Look. Listen. Receive. Get yourself out of the way. (There is no good asking first whether the work before you deserves such a surrender, for until you have surrendered you cannot possibly find out.).”

I find that I always come to a new DA album (or Eddies, or Dogs, or Sevens, etc.) with a reflexive prejudice that I want to love it like I've loved the last one, which tends to mean that I want this one to be like that one in some way, and I'm often initially disappointed. Then once I've shaken loose of my demand that it be like the others, the absurd requirement that Terry say (and play) something in some way that I was expecting, I fall in love with what the band created! By the time I got home from work today (an hour+ commute) I had arrived in full appreciation mode.

Which reminded me of something Voltaire wrote:

"Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well."

So thank you Terry and band, you are very appreciated. I think this is your best to date! My favorite song of the bunch has changed four times already. Smile