Customer Reviews

Our Personal Favorite World Famous Hits

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have been following Daniel Amos' music for at least a decade and have over 30 CD's of DA's, Terry Scott Taylor's, and the Swirling Eddies' music. This Daniel Amos collection was long overdue but well worth the wait. The samplings of early, middle, and later Daniel Amos music show how diverse in style and theme this band has been.

As a long-time fan of Daniel Amos, I was thrilled when I heard about this greatest-hits package. My biggest disappointment is that the two cuts associated with DA's waaaaay-ahead-of-its-time "Horrendous Disc" CD are actually live performances, not the original studio cuts. And I'd have loved to have "A New Car" or "Dance Stop" included. But those are quibbles. Terry Scott Taylor is a literate, howlingly-funny satirist who can cut to the heart of folly within and outside the church; he's also got the soul of a poet, as "The Pool" and "Sanctuary" can attest.

Is Daniel Amos a country band? Yes. A synth-happy new wave act? Yes. An acid rock throwback? Again, yep. Punky garage rockers? Uh-huh. At various times in their career, the California based group of Terry Taylor has been every one of these musically mixed with an often dense lyrical imagery inspired by the likes of Freidrich Buechner, William Blake, and George, John, Paul, and Ringo (not to mention Brian Wilson).

That's why trying to encapsulate a band that had been together for more than 20 years when this 1998 compilation was assembled (and yes, they're STILL making music in 2006) was difficult. KMG chose to try and take a fairly inclusive approach, representing cuts from nearly every album released during that span. This type of approach has its pluses and minuses.

PROS:
The band has many facets from the bouncy New Wave of "The Pool" or "Mall (All Over the World)" to the Beatlesque tinge of "Grace is the Smell of Rain" or the Eagles-ish twang of "Father's Arms". This is a good way to see the group from all angles.

Some interesting rarities are included, such as their first release on the Maranatha 5 compilation ("Ain't Gonna Fight It") and the unreleased live cut "Twilight Love".

CONS:
Many fans list a four-album cycle (nicknamed the "Alarma! Chronicles") as the band's best work and this 'one from each' grab-bag treats those releases as equal to the rest of their ouevre. Any honest critic realizes that not every album can be a band's "SGT. PEPPER" or "NEVERMIND". Only ALARMA! gets 2 cuts..FEARFUL SYMMETRY, VOX HUMANA and DOPPELGANGER all are represented by just 1 cut.

Absolutely nothing is included from the group's self-titled 1976 debut.

Due to licensing issues, there's absolutely nothing from their groundbreaking HORRENDOUS DISC (though 2 cuts from that album appear in live renditions). That album was the band's representative when CCM Magazine took it upon themselves to rank the 100 Greatest CCM Albums Ever.

BOTTOM LINE:
This is probably the best way to sample the band for a complete novice since nearly their whole catalogue is out of print and tends to fetch collector's prices. But if you know anyone who has SHOTGUN ANGEL, HORRENDOUS DISC, ALARMA! or MOTOR CYCLE, you owe it to yourself to try and borrow those next.

3 stars (because of the gaps and omissions)

This is a great introduction to an ecclectic powerhouse band...
It's got country, country-rock, New Wave, 'rock n roll', worship songs (yes, you heard right. WORSHIP SONGS! Most notably are "Sanctuary" "Soon" and "The Pool")
It's got songs that speak comfort and peace to you in times of turmoil... "Sanctuary", from their Vox Humana album.
It's got biting satire as well, such as (like I mentioned before) could be appreciated by even National Public Radio. (NPR, care to give these guys a whirl?)
Their music over the years has been quite the diverse kind.
Fans of the Beatles, Talking Heads, Steve Taylor, The Fall, Eagles, Farrell and Farrell (Yes, you heard right) and other related artists would fully appreciate the diverse music on this one.
For all you BOOKWORMS out there, fans of William Blake would definitely like the poetic pose and imagry used by lead singer Terry Scott Talor. Especially seeing that on their "Vox Humana" cd, they have a tribute done for the poet/mystic!

I bought this CD based on a review in [magazine], and was immediately hooked on Daniel Amos. .... . They are a very quirky and weird band with fantastic lyrics that will stimulate your imagination, and the music is usually quite good too, although it's rarely the same from song to song. If you like quirky stuff, I'd give this CD a try, because these guys are probably THE most respected Christian band EVER. (No, they're not gonna preach at you, except in their really old songs.) I'll warn you, though, the songs here are their more mainstream stuff; their regular albums are even weirder!