personal anecdote: daniel amos
New on eMusic today is a record that’s particularly close to my heart — mostly because it’s a record I worked with the Arena Rock label to get reissued. It’s one of my favorite records of all-time: Darn Floor — Big Bite by the group Daniel Amos. We’re giving a track away free, and I’ll explain why this record means so much to me after the jump.
In 1989, I walked into a Christian record store in Sayville, New York with a clutch of used Stryper, Carman and Petra tapes and a mission to better myself musically. Having been raised in a religious family, my musical choices were limited to whatever arena rock pabulum was being foisted on me by various youth pastors and the occasional odd Smiths album I could sneak without my parents noticing.
The cassette I left with that day, Daniel Amos’ Darn Floor — Big Bite was, from its first few notes, utterly baffling. A weird, jittery collection of nervous new wave, the album contained no huge hooks, no stacked-harmony choruses and — most notable to me at the time, no Capitalized Masculine Pronouns.
A little digging gave me some backstory: Daniel Amos was a hugely popular Southern Gospel group in the late ’70s, leading tent revival services for hippies who’d decided to follow Jesus. The band sold stacks and stacks of records and regularly packed out Southern California’s Calvary Chapel. Over time, though, they became disillusioned of the pat phrasings and turn-or-burn message being presented to new converts, and so they turned on a dime. In 1981, Daniel Amos released Alarma!, a strange, bleak record of angular post-punk that stunned their following and reduced their audience to the low triple digits.
The result, of course, is that Daniel Amos became even more marginalized. When Darn Floor — Big Bite was released in 1987 it sold 7,000 copies, a paltry number even by Christian music standards. It fell almost immediately out-of-print, with the few scant CD copies fetching in the low hundreds on eBay.
Three years ago, I got the wild idea that this record should be reissued. It seemed aggravating to me that bands like Mission of Burma and the Germs and Nick Drake had the opportunity to have their catalogs reappraised but, because Daniel Amos existed on the fringes of the fringes, they were routinely ignored.
What stands out to me about Darn Floor, 21 years after its initial release, is what always stood out: how the music pulls off some weird hybrid of Robert Wyatt and Brian Wilson, matching weird, loopy verses with huge, aching choruses. “The Unattainable Earth” is dizzying and majestic, a single spiraling guitar line whirling over and over and over, spinning the song into a towering refrain. “Divine Instant” is like prototype Pixies, a glassy-eyed surf number interrupted by fits of electric guitar and hefting ominous lyrics like “I see the clock on the wall/ I see the skull beneath the skin.” Two decades on, Darn Floor — Big Bite still sounds utterly bizarre, like some kind of warped Martian new wave.
I sincerely hope you’ll at least try out the free track, “The Unattainable Earth.” If you like that, try the rest. And people squeamish about the Christian thing, fear not: there’s no explicit God-talk on the record, and this hardened atheist still considers it a new wave triumph. It’s exciting to me that, after so many years of trying, this record is finally available for download. I hope you enjoy at least some of it!
Thanks Joe, this is really great! I love the “fringe of the fringe” aspect. It feels extremely odd to pay attention to Christian music again after so many years, but it’s completely true that in an already outside scene the actually worthwhile stuff just disappeared.
So anything else you’re working on getting re-issued? How about a selects re-issue label?
Nothing at present. I think we’re going to wait to see how this does before attempting any more. I am mostly just curious to hear what people think — this is a record I have absolutely no ability to hear objectively anymore, so it’s fun to hear other peoples’ reactions, both good and bad.
This is great! Thanks for working on this, seriously. I can’t hear this album objectively either, but look forward to hearing others’ opinions. And I can’t help but put a word in: a re-issue of ‘Fearful Symmetry’ would be amazing. It’s not quite as out there as ‘Darn Floor’ but there are some moments of beauty to be sure.
I mean, clearly all of the Alarma Chronicles needs to be reissued at some point…
OK, so I see we’re on the same page here! I’m not asking for miracles…but there is a short but fine list of indie Christan stuff from this era.
You’re my hero for posting this, and eMusic is my hero for finally adding DA to their site. I’d love to see the whole catalog on there.
Jim
Holy Cow. DA available on Emusic. That’s amazing. I loved this album, although I haven’t listened to it for years. I think I’ve still got a Horrendous Disk 8-track buried in a box somewhere. I do remember it was the only 8-track I kept when I threw all the others out.
You might be able to spike a bit of interest from more mainstream folks by pointing out that the wonderfully bizarre scores for The Neverhood and Skullmonkeys video games were products of the warped mind of Terry Taylor; although that might just connect to a different fringe of the fringe crowd.
Joe, I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again…you’re my hero.
Never heard of them but after such an impassioned piece by Joe I was all ready to hit the download button… DUH! Not available to UK!
Oh dear.
I’m so happy you guys are as excited about this as I am! And sorry it’s not available outside the US.
I am one of the fortunate few to have Darn Floor Big Bite on CD, but I bought the reissue anyway. As I was relistening to the CD, I was amazed by how remarkably fresh and creative it still sounds, the wonderful swirling dissonances underscoring the difficulty of communications, whether between God and humans or between two humans.
No, I’m not an objective listener either, but Terry Taylor’s lyrics are the only ones that have ever hit me with a new and profound insight after listening to one of his songs for eight years (If You Want To from ‘Kalhoun’). There are onion-layers of insight in all his stuff, which means you never get tired of these songs. The music is great as a vehicle for the words. Listening to Da for the music is like reading the Bible as literature – you are only scratching the surface of what is there.
This is actually the most recent in a series of deluxe remasters being done of the DA catalog. The bands first album was put out a couple of years ago in a beautiful 2 disc set with some added early home recordings. From what I hear, the Alarma Chronicles are already in the works in some format.
Oh also it is available outside the US.
Horrendous Disc was going to be next but Larry Norman died in the middle of planning. I haven’t heard yet whether its still going to happen or not.
Yes, the first album was done very well also. Looking forward to anything Stunt is able to release!